frozen the assets of Brentwood financial planner Gordon Grigg and his company, ProTrust Management

frozen the assets of Brentwood financial planner Gordon Grigg and his company, ProTrust Management, after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against him for allegedly defrauding 27 investors out of at least $6.5 million.The complaint filed this week in U.S. District Court in Middle Tennessee alleges ProTrust committed ongoing securities fraud by investing in “fictitious securities,” as well as the federal government’s $825 billion bailout package, also known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.“In this case, not only were such claims false, but there is in fact no program in which investors can buy debt guaranteed by the TARP program,” says Katherine Addleman, regional director of the SEC's Atlanta regional office.The SEC says Grigg was never a licensed financial planner or securities broker, lied about his credentials and lied about affiliations with gold-plate financial services firms such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company owned by Warren Buffett.

At a hearing Wednesday, Grigg, represented by attorney Mark Pickrell of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, agreed to the restraining order freezing his assets. His Web site, which has been disabled, marketed him as a “financial life coach.”