The sun shone Tuesday morning on attorney Travis D. Henry as he adjusted his papers atop the Hamilton County Courthouse steps. Few people usually attend foreclosure auctions, he told a reporter, but this one had received uncommon interest.
A man in a hoodie approached looking for the auction. Then Henry was speaking on the phone with another party, apparently nearby on some other side of the building.
Henry walked around to the courthouse’s shaded side. A dozen or so people stood about, wondering if they could get a bargain on property linked to Jonathan Frost, the former Chattanooga accountant who sold himself as a financial guru and ended up accused of defrauding financial backers out of tens of millions of dollars.
No criminal charges against Frost have been filed, although a federal investigation has been confirmed in two separate public proceedings this year. He has admitted in writing to running “investment fraud schemes,” and courts in recent months have brimmed with suits from stakeholders who say they’ve been betrayed by Frost, a scion of a considerable Chattanooga fortune whose present financial circumstances remain unclear. He did not attend the auction and did not respond to a text or phone call Tuesday.
Among the many who said they’ve been stiffed are First Citizens National Bank, which arranged the foreclosure auction and assigned Henry — a Cleveland, Tennessee, attorney — to run it.