Missing Georgia banker Aubrey “Lee” Price disappeared over two weeks ago after telling a few close associates that he’d lost “a large sum of money through his trading activities”. Following this revelation, Price announced that he planned to commit suicide by jumping off of a ferry boat. The U.S. Coast Guard has searched the waters around Key West, Florida for his body, though nothing has turned up as of late.
However, the story doesn’t end there. According to authorities, Price is believed to have embezzled over $17 million, which he hid from his superiors by funneling the money through a “clearing firm” out of New York. Instead of suicide, federal investigators feel that Price might be on the run, as he owns property in both Venezuela and Guatemala. What’s more, the FBI suspects that the missing Georgia banker may have a boat in his possession that would allow him to easily travel between Florida and Venezuela, a country he visited towards the beginning of June.
Agents from the FBI believe Price defrauded over 100 investors out of nearly $17 million over the course of two years while working with Montgomery Bank & Trust in Ailey, Georgia. According to reports, Price was supposed to wisely invest the bank’s capital in order to keep the troubled establishment afloat. Instead, he committed a number of fraudulent wire transfers through a dummy company and kept all of the money for himself.
“Certainly we are receiving any information that arrives locally, but any updates or comments would have to come from the U.S. attorney’s office in New York,” Stephen Emmett with the FBI Atlanta Field Office explained to CNN.
In short, this missing Georgia banker is currently thought to have $17 million in his possession while he hides out in a foreign country. If authorities manage to get their hands on the guy — assuming that he isn’t dead, of course — he could face up to 30 years in prison.