ATLANTA – A bank director accused of losing millions of investors’ dollars before vanishing last year was arrested Tuesday during a traffic stop in a city in south Georgia.
Aubrey Lee Price, 47, was arrested Wednesday during a stop for a vehicle and traffic violation on Interstate 95 in Brunswick by members of the Glynn County Sheriff’s Department, the U.S. attorney’s office in Savannah said. Price is set to make his initial appearance before a federal judge in Brunswick on Thursday.
Price disappeared in June 2012 after sending a rambling letter to his family and acquaintances that investigators described as a confession. A Florida judge declared him dead a year ago, but the FBI had said it didn’t believe Price was dead and continued to search for him.
Prosecutors have said Price had raised roughly $40 million from about 115 investors, mostly in Georgia and Florida, through the sale of membership interests in his investment firm. Authorities believe Price slipped away with up to $17 million of investors’ money. He has been indicted in federal courts in New York and Georgia, and the Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a complaint against him in federal court in Atlanta.
FBI Special Agent Stephen Emmett said in an email Tuesday that he didn’t know whether Price’s wife and children had known that he was still alive. His family had previously told investigators they believed Price was dead. A call to a number listed for his wife in Valdosta on Tuesday evening did not go through.