VALDOSTA, Ga. (WTXL) -- A federal grand jury has indicted a former south Georgia banker for stealing millions of dollars from investors.
According to a release from the Department of Justice, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York indicted Aubrey Lee Price of Valdosta, Georgia with securities fraud and wire fraud.
Price has not been seen since mid-June 2010 when investigators say he sent a letter to friends, reportedly admitting that he had lost a large amount of investor money through trading activities and that he planned to kill himself by jumping from a ferry boat in Florida.
According to the indictment, "Price managed investment funds PFG LLC ("PFG") and the Montgomery Growth Fund ("Montgomery Growth"). Starting in or about 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 web site that fraudulently reflected fictitious assets and fabricated investment returns."
Price quickly became featured as a "Most Wanted" fugitive by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Agents say Price has ties to Florida and Georgia, and may travel to Venezuela and Guatemala. He has been known to fund, finance, and build churches in South America, along with doing mission work in the same areas.
The FBI is offering $20,000 for information leading to Price's arrest.
