Bank President Who Faked Death Charged With Fraud (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhYgp2CgmwoflsKq7kqdocLoGTJxLQJaXUMfWnJI3EosTfQ1Au7K7NHOgYgRKs2LH5cA9_LA3Mv3oDmzCAipuw0XhB2ftMd0FDQnayoVNtUvDO-8Uyqphshj2yPWEki8D5CcacNS-vbQ4/s1600/140103_ntl_fakingdeath_wg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhYgp2CgmwoflsKq7kqdocLoGTJxLQJaXUMfWnJI3EosTfQ1Au7K7NHOgYgRKs2LH5cA9_LA3Mv3oDmzCAipuw0XhB2ftMd0FDQnayoVNtUvDO-8Uyqphshj2yPWEki8D5CcacNS-vbQ4/s320/140103_ntl_fakingdeath_wg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1388811998962_10014" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">We've all had the fantasy - if only briefly - escape your current life and start over. Well, one Georgia banker went for it. Prosecutors say Aubrey Lee Price, a self-described evangelical businessman faked his own death and left a trail of victims - stealing millions in the process. Not the first person to try this, but now, the jig is up.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1388811998962_10026" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Price, who shuffled out of court with shackles and shaggy hair is a far cry from the slick businessman who was riding high a few years ago until he faked his own suicide and vanished.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1388811998962_10035" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Why did Price orchestrate such an elaborate hoax? Federal investigators say he had 40 million reasons.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1388811998962_10044" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"He's a thief and he's a liar," said Wendy Cross. Cross was one of 115 investors who lost a combined $40 million dollars to Price.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1388811998962_10053" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Justin Zegalia, a former business associate says he had no idea Price was losing money in the market and stealing from a bank he took over after infusing it with investor funds. In 2012 the Montgomery Bank & Trust was closed and the money was gone.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1388811998962_10063" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"Not just my money, but my dreams, and my future and my freedom - gone," said Cross who lost $300,000 dollars.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1388811998962_10073" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">One month after writing a bizarre suicide note, Price was seen on a surveillance tape at an airport in Key West, Florida.<br />A judge declared Price dead, but the FBI didn't buy it - and they issued a $20,000 dollar reward.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"He was planning this exit for a very long time," Cross said, "and he's a very smart, smart individual- it's too bad it was used for such evil."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">After 18 months of successfully dodging authorities, he was busted in a routine traffic stop on I-95 in Georgia. The reason? The tinted windows on his vehicle were too dark.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"You become comfortable and you become a little secure in your new identity, and you fail to perceive these types of dangers," said Nick Casale, a former NYPD detective."This officer was smart enough to run him, and then determined he was wanted - and apprehended him."</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1388811998962_10077" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">As for Wendy Cross who lost all the money she had been saving since age 22 - she says this is a great way to start the new year.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1388811998962_10092" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">If Price is convicted, he could serve 30 years behind bars.</div></div>

Bank President Who Faked Death Charged With Fraud (BLOG)

We've all had the fantasy - if only briefly - escape your current life and start over. Well, one Georgia banker went for it. Prosecutors...

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