ATLANTA (AP) — A prominent Georgia Republican accused of running a $140 million Ponzi scheme publicly apologized on Friday as a federal judge ordered his assets frozen and appointed a receiver to try to recover cash for investors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and Georgia officials are investigating a Georgia businessman and GOP supporter accused of perpetrating a Ponzi scheme defrauding hundreds of investors out of more than $140 million,

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accuses Georgia man Edwin Brant Frost IV and his First Liberty Building & Loan, LLC, of a Ponzi scheme.