Firm Accused in $300M Ponzi Scheme Sought Investors at MLB Games

Step up to the plate and invest in the big leagues.

That was the pitch Drive Planning, a financial consulting firm in Georgia, made at Tampa Bay Rays games, urging Major League Baseball fans at Tropicana Field to “keep more, make more and live more” when investing their cash.

Russell Todd Burkhalter, the company’s founder and CEO, posted on social media that the advertising spots had provided precious exposure for an investment plan that promised returns of 10 percent within three months—and which was bringing in more than $1 million a day at one point.

Now, the Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Burkhalter, 52, of orchestrating a $300 million Ponzi scheme. He has denied the allegations and is cooperating with the SEC, his attorneys told Newsweek. No criminal charges have been filed.

With investors sitting on piles of capital and looking for more than they can get from the safest investments, schemes promising outsize returns, including Ponzi schemes, have been proliferating—creating a growing challenge to regulators more than 15 years after the arrest of Bernie Madoff on charges of defrauding investors out of more than $64 billion.

The number of Ponzi schemes uncovered by U.S. regulators reached a seven-year high in 2023, according to a website that tracks them. The 66 scams tallied by PonziTracker.com represented a 13 percent increase from 2022 and was almost double 2021’s total of 34.

“Ponzi schemes are able to proliferate during years where the financial markets perform well not only because of the typically lower volatility but also because the investing public is more apt to believe claims of consistent returns,” said Jordan Maglich, an attorney in Florida and the founder of PonziTracker.com.

“We’ve come a long ways since Madoff in terms of investor awareness and education, but the fact remains that we cannot regulate the Ponzi scheme out of existence because we just don’t have the manpower to staff our regulatory bodies at the levels you’d need—if that was even possible,” he continued.

Ponzi schemes need a constant increase in new investment to give the impression that they are generating returns, and they can even pay off early investors.

Drive Planning went hard to find new investors, including buying adverts at the 25,000-seat stadium of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, in May and June.

Burkhalter, of St. Petersburg, is an entrepreneur and self-published author who also proudly championed his sponsorship of Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, most recently in April at Anderson Speedway in Indiana.

The Tampa Bay Rays and Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing declined to respond to requests for comment on their relationships with Drive Planning and Burkhalter.

In April, at a Four Seasons hotel in Kapolei, Hawaii, Burkhalter spoke of a strong future for the company.

“We’re thrilled about the exciting opportunities ahead for Drive and our expanding reach,” he posted on Facebook. “Committed to helping more and more individuals, we’re staying true to our promise: Keep More, Make More and Live More.”

The SEC alleged last month that Burkhalter, who founded Drive Planning in 2015, spearheaded the scheme from September 2020 through June, affecting more than 2,000 investors across the country and overseas. About 20 percent of $336 million invested with the company through May came from retirement accounts, the agency alleged.

A federal judge has appointed a receiver and ordered Drive Planning’s assets to be frozen as SEC officials continue probing the alleged four-year fraud based out of Alpharetta, Georgia.

Burkhalter, who outlined his keys to wealth management in 2020’s “Bullet Proof Your Finances: Confidence in Creating Financial Security,” sold unregistered securities as real estate acceleration loans and promised returns of 10 percent within three months, SEC investigators alleged.

Investors paid at least $20,000 for their piece of the “bridge loan opportunity.” The alleged deception encouraged clients to tap into saving accounts and retirement funds and even to open new lines of credit, according to the SEC’s complaint.

“As of early May 2024, the scheme was receiving applications for over a million dollars every day, driven by an organization of more than 100 sales agents,” the 39-page filing said.

Employees who were “trained falsely” told investors that Drive Planning pooled their funds and loaned the money to real estate developers for profitable joint ventures, the SEC complaint said. The agency added that the company instead operated in “classic Ponzi fashion,” using money from new investors to pay the purported returns to existing clients.

Burkhalter allegedly used the ill-gotten gains to buy a $3.1 million yacht and a $2 million condo in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. He also spent at least $4.6 million to charter private jets and luxury car services, as well as more than $300,000 on clothing, jewelry and beauty treatments, the complaint alleged.

Investigators said Burkhalter also misappropriated investor funds to buy a ranch in Mineral Bluff, Georgia—where he built a barn that serves as an event space—and a clothing business in Blue Ridge.

“Mr. Burkhalter denies the allegations contained in the SEC’s complaint and looks forward to quickly resolving this matter,” attorneys Aaron Danzig and Kara Silverman said in a statement to Newsweek.

The SEC complaint also named Jacqueline Burkhalter, who was married to the Drive Planning CEO during the alleged Ponzi scheme—though she filed for divorce in 2023. The filing alleged that the CEO used at least $6.6 million in company funds to buy real estate in the couple’s name. Jacqueline Burkhalter received at least $1,232,300 in additional cash transfers from Drive Planning and another $2,122,018 in transfers from the Burkhalter Ranch, the filing said. Jacqueline Burkhalter did not reply to messages seeking comment.

No criminal charges have been filed against the Drive Planning founder, but an investigation by the FBI is ongoing. Though based in Georgia, Drive Planning also operated offices in St. Petersburg and Fishers, Indiana.

Many of the potential victims came from the greater Atlanta metro area. “Victims may be eligible for certain services, restitution, and rights under federal and/or state law,” an FBI website seeking investor information said. “Your responses are voluntary but may be useful in the federal investigation and to identify you as a potential victim.”

A class-action lawsuit filed this month by two women from Indiana and New Jersey alleged that Gerardo Lorenzo Linarducci, an Indiana-based broker employed by Drive Planning, recommended the firm, leading to losses of $112,000 and $50,000, respectively. Amanda Clark, Linarducci’s attorney, did not return messages seeking comment.

Attorney Ross Good, who is leading the class-action lawsuit, said Drive Planning investors began contacting him in June after being told all payments were suspended pending an SEC review. Dozens of potential victims have since been identified, including one man who said he lost $1.3 million. The SEC started looking into Drive Planning as early as February, but it’s unclear who tipped off regulators, Good said.

“We have more plaintiffs already,” Good told Newsweek. “We only filed with two because these were very clean and easy.”

Available bank records show Drive Planning raised $372 million from investors and repaid them $154.9 million between September 2020 and June, making it the largest scheme thus far in 2024, Good added.

According to the American Bankruptcy Institute, Burkhalter’s alleged scam was one of nine new Ponzi schemes uncovered in August.

The SEC has filed cases to stop Ponzi schemes as small as $2 million, while others have ballooned into billions.

Drive Planning was a “classic Ponzi scheme” that used new investors’ funds to pay existing clients, said Nekia Hackworth Jones, the director of the SEC’s Atlanta office.

“Investors should be vigilant when they encounter aggressive sellers who make over-the-top sales pitches and promise high rates of guaranteed returns,” Jones said in a statement on August 14, one day after the SEC obtained a preliminary injunction against the company.

The SEC’s Division of Enforcement oversees probes into possible securities law violations, such as the scheme Burkhalter is accused of coordinating. The agency, which files hundreds of civil lawsuits annually to recoup swindled investors, coordinates with federal and state authorities to file criminal charges if applicable.

An SEC spokesperson declined to elaborate on Burkhalter beyond the agency’s filing when contacted by Newsweek on Friday.

SEC records showed Burkhalter last served as a registered investment adviser in Georgia in 2014. He has been licensed as an insurance agent in the state since 1997, according to the agency’s complaint.

Several Drive Planning employees declined to comment when contacted by Newsweek.

One financial strategist in Ohio who worked as an independent consultant for Drive Planning told Newsweek, “It’s a really difficult time.”