Roosevelt Bailey and Alvin Jones
Charged, not convicted. Roosevelt Tobias “Toby” Bailey, 70, of Duluth, Georgia, and Alvin Jones, 58, of Tampa, Florida — a former prosecutor and practicing attorney — were indicted by a federal grand jury on September 22, 2026, and separately arrested and arraigned in October 2026 on charges arising from two alleged multi-year Ponzi schemes run through Bailey’s company, Borg Global. The charges are allegations, and both men are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Introduction
Roosevelt Bailey and Alvin Jones are two Georgia-linked defendants charged in the Northern District of Georgia over two alleged Ponzi schemes that ran from roughly October 2018 through October 2022. Bailey, who operated the schemes through his company Borg Global, was arrested and arraigned on October 16, 2026; Jones — a former prosecutor who still practices law — was arrested and arraigned on October 20, 2026, the day the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta announced the charges.
The case pairs an alleged scheme-operator with the attorney whose trust accounts allegedly gave it credibility. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said Bailey allegedly lured people with “promises of massive returns and false assurances that their investments would be held in Jones’s trust accounts,” while Jones allegedly funneled the money to Bailey, “keeping a piece for himself.”
Background Information
Bailey ran two programs through Borg Global between approximately October 2018 and October 2022. The first, called the Micro-Cap program, promised that Borg Global would pool money to purchase precious stones and metals from outside the United States and resell them domestically at a higher price, effectively doubling the initial outlay.
The second, the Standby Letter of Credit (SBLC) program, promised returns of up to 16 times the principal within 30 to 90 days. Bailey allegedly claimed Borg Global could lease or monetize standby letters of credit from major banks or corporate entities, with the institutions using the instruments as collateral and returning the remainder for distribution.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, neither program used the money for its stated purpose. Instead, Bailey allegedly funneled it to himself and spent it on personal expenses, hiding the flows by directing participants to send their funds into Jones’s Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts (IOLTA) — accounts intended to hold client funds in trust. Jones, at Bailey’s direction, allegedly sent the money to Bailey’s personal and business accounts and to earlier participants to keep the schemes running, while keeping a portion himself.
Between October 2018 and October 2022, Bailey received nearly $2 million in funds from participants. In October 2022, he stopped communicating with them, resulting in substantial financial losses. On September 22, 2026, a federal grand jury charged Bailey with seven counts of wire fraud and a money-laundering conspiracy count, along with additional counts listed in the release.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The documented reaction is official. FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Marlo Graham said Ponzi schemes “prey on people’s trust and can devastate the lives” of those who put in hard-earned money believing it is secure, and that Bailey and Jones allegedly used extraordinary-return promises and “the credibility of an attorney’s trust accounts” to divert money for personal gain.
The concrete consequences are the September 22, 2026 indictment, Bailey’s October 16 arrest and arraignment, and Jones’s October 20 arrest and arraignment in federal court in Atlanta. Both men now face the charges as criminal defendants.
Current Status
As of the October 20, 2026 announcement, both defendants have been arrested and arraigned and their case is pending. Bailey, 70, of Duluth, Georgia, was arraigned following his October 16 arrest; Jones, 58, of Tampa, Florida, was arrested and arraigned October 20. The release states the charges are allegations and both defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Impact on Their Career/Life
For Jones, a former prosecutor and current practicing attorney, the charges strike directly at the credential the scheme allegedly exploited: his trust accounts. For Bailey, the scheme’s collapse is already recorded in the release’s timeline — the October 2022 cutoff in communications with the people who funded Borg Global’s two programs, and the nearly $2 million he is alleged to have received before the federal charges followed four years later.
Sources
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia, “Investment Broker and Attorney Charged with Running Multiple Ponzi Schemes,” October 20, 2026 — source