{"id":6958,"date":"2014-10-29T08:59:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T15:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6958"},"modified":"2014-10-29T08:59:00","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T15:59:00","slug":"man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6958","title":{"rendered":"Man Who Stole Millions and Faked His Own Death Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Aubrey-Lee-Price\"<\/a>
Aubrey Lee Price Before and After Faking His Own Death<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

STATESBORO,\u00a0GEORGIA<\/strong> \u2014 A 48-year-old man who concocted a Ponzi scheme that conned more than a hundred people \u00a0in two states out of $51 million was sentenced on Tuesday to 30 years in federal prison, according to federal officials.<\/p>\n

Defendant\u00a0Aubrey Lee Price’<\/strong>s financial crimes led to the collapse of a federally insured bank, officials said.<\/p>\n

Price also faked his own death by sending “suicide letters” to acquaintances in June 2012. He was arrested during a traffic stop in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough a web of lies and deceit, Aubrey Lee Price conned his elderly investors and a federally insured bank of more than $70 million, and then attempted to further his con and avoid accountability by faking his own death. However, his life on the lam ended with a routine traffic stop. Today\u2019s sentence sends a strong message to those who seek to defraud the investing public and our financial institutions that we will pursue them and bring them to justice,\u201d stated U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.<\/p>\n

According to court filings, these are the facts and circumstances surrounding this case:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Price embezzled over $21 million in capital from MB&T, and lost much of it by investing in risky equity securities and options.<\/p>\n

To cover up his fraud, Price provided MB&T officials with bogus account statements and other false documents which falsely indicated the bank\u2019s capital was safely held in an account at a financial services firm, when in truth, most of the money was gone.<\/p>\n

A further investigation of Price revealed that between June 2009 and June 2012, he also defrauded approximately 115 individual investors who had invested $51 million in two investment funds he managed.<\/p>\n

Price lost almost all of that money through speculative trading, and to cover up his losses, Price posted fake account statements on a secure website that fraudulently reflected fictitious assets and fabricated investment returns for each investor.<\/p>\n

In mid-June 2012, Price sent acquaintances \u201csuicide letters\u201d in which he admitted he had defrauded MB&T Bank and Price\u2019s individual investors, and that he planned to kill himself by throwing himself off a high-speed ferry boat after it left Key West, Florida.<\/p>\n

As a result of the suicide claim, the U.S. Coast Guard searched to no avail for Price\u2019s body. Shortly after sending the letters, Price disappeared.<\/p>\n

After more than a year of searching for Price, he was arrested on December 31, 2013, after he presented a false identification during a routine traffic stop in Brunswick, Georgia.<\/p>\n

In an exclusive series of jailhouse interviews with Atlanta magazine l<\/a>ast February and March, Price claimed that he was a drug runner, a pimp, and a cage fighter, among other unlikely vocations, during what he called his \u201cdeparture\u201d from the seemingly simple and successful life he\u2019d known for four and a half decades. His supposed aliases included Jason, Diesel, and Gator, and he confessed to taking cocaine, smoking marijuana, and becoming addicted to Adderall while on the lam.<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

(Video: \u00a0Channel 11 NBC News Atlanta – July 2012 Report)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Price has been in custody since his arrest on December 31, 2013, officials said.<\/p>\n

As part of his sentence, Price will also be ordered to pay restitution to the victims. Restitution will be determined at a hearing in February.In addition, Price was ordered to forfeit a total of $51 million, representing the proceeds of his crimes, according to authorities.<\/p>\n