Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Georgia

When you say "legal," if you are asking if there is a crime and he can be arrested, the answer is no, that is highly unlikely. You have a civil matter. Had you wanted to keep him from selling the stock, there are ways to protect you had you taken those steps. Otherwise, no one here has the paperwork.

You made a series of $50,000 mistakes in not spending a few dollars on a lawyer up front.

First of all you would have been told that it is ALWAYS a foolish mistake to loan people money. If the person has such poor credit that a bank won't loan them money, you have a bold loud warning that they can't pay you.

Second, if you were going to ignore advice and do it anyway, you should have used a lawyer to properly secure your interest. While I could get very technical here, as the proper methods involve both the UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) and also, in some cases, federal securities laws, at a minimum you would have wanted physical possession of the stock certificate, some form of written notice to the company issuing the stock of your interest (to prevent a transfer), and probably a UCC filing.

Your trying to save a few hundred dollars in legal fees potentially has cost you $50,000.

At this point, you can, IF you have appropriate paperwork, sue him. If he has no assets or income (or goes bankrupt), even if you win you are out of luck. Your best bet now is to see a collections attorney, who may be willing to work for a third of your recovery.