FBI: The Fraudster Who Faked His Own Death

The FBI web site offers a piece on an interesting case:

When a federal judge recently sentenced Aubrey Lee Price to 30 years in prison for bank fraud, embezzlement, and other crimes, it closed a chapter on the once successful businessman’s sensational criminal saga.

Price went from a devout Christian minister and trusted financial adviser to a schemer who wiped out many of his clients’ life savings and then faked his own death to avoid taking responsibility for what he had done. When a routine traffic stop in Georgia resulted in his arrest on New Year’s Eve in 2013—nearly 18 months after his disappearance—Price acknowledged that he had become a drug dealer.

His well-publicized rise and fall makes for a fascinating tale, but our agents who investigated the case and who specialize in white-collar crime are quick to point out that the real focus of this story should not be on Price but rather on his victims.

“It’s unbelievably sad,” said Special Agent Ed Sutcliff in our Atlanta Field Office. “Most of Price’s victims had worked 30 or 40 years to save for retirement. They were living off those funds,” said Sutcliff, who interviewed many of the victims while investigating the case. “They had to learn from us that Price—their friend and adviser—was missing, and all their money was gone.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/december/the-fraudster-who-faked-his-own-death-inside-the-aubrey-lee-price-case  

You can read an earlier post on Aubrey Lee Price via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/01/former-bank-director-who-faked-own.html

Former Bank Director Who Faked Own Death Is Captured

The U.S Justice Depatment released the below information on January 2nd:

BROOKLYN, NY—Earlier today, Aubrey Lee Price was presented at the federal courthouse in Brunswick, Georgia, near where he was arrested. The defendant, who sent acquaintances a suicide note stating that he planned to kill himself by throwing himself off a high speed ferry boat in Florida, has been wanted since June 27, 2012, when the Honorable Viktor V. Pohorelsky, United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York, issued a warrant for Price’s arrest based on a complaint filed by the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

At the time, Price was charged with wire fraud in connection with his use of brokerage accounts in New York to misappropriate millions of dollars belonging to a bank in southern Georgia where Price was a director. A grand jury in Brooklyn later expanded the charges against Price to include securities fraud in connection with Price’s theft of funds from both the bank and other investors in investment funds controlled by Price. The defendant also faces a charge in the Southern District of Georgia.

The arrest was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and George Venizelos, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI).

According to the indictment, Price managed investment funds PFG LLC (“PFG”) and the Montgomery Growth Fund (“Montgomery Growth”). Starting in or about June 2009, PFG raised approximately $40 million from approximately 115 investors from across the nation. Price unsuccessfully invested PFG funds in various equity securities, options, and real estate, including farms in South America. To cover up his losses, Price allegedly lied to his investors by posting fake account statements on a secure PFG website that fraudulently reflected fictitious assets and fabricated investment returns.

The indictment further states that, starting in or about January 2011, Price became a director of Montgomery Bank & Trust (“MB&T”), a financial institution in Ailey, Georgia. After telling MB&T that he would invest the bank’s capital in U.S. Treasury securities, Price instead lost much of the bank’s money by investing in risky equity securities and options. Price also embezzled MB&T money to pay redemptions to some PFG investors. The indictment charges that Price covered up his embezzlement and losses of MB&T’s funds by giving the bank’s management fabricated documents falsely indicating that approximately $17 million was on deposit in the bank’s name at a large financial services firm in New York.

“Aubrey Lee price created a life and death out of whole cloth, telling hundreds of investors and a Georgia bank that their money was safe when he was flying high, and telling the world he was dead when his lies crashed down around him,” stated United States Attorney Lynch. “But Price proved as unsuccessful at faking his own death as he was at faking his victims’ investments. Every person who seeks to harm our financial markets through fraud should be on notice. With the help of our law enforcements partners, both federal and local, we will find you, and we will hold you accountable for your behavior in a court of law.” Ms. Lynch expressed her grateful appreciation to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Atlanta Regional Office, and the Lowndes County Georgia Sheriff’s Department for their cooperation and assistance in the investigation. She also thanked the Glynn County Georgia Sheriff’s Department, who arrested the defendant following a traffic stop.

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys David C. Woll, Jr. and Brian Morris.