FILED UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA STATESBORO DIVISION

U.S. DISTRICT COURT SAVANNAH DIV.

2012 JUL I I PM 4 : 16 CLERK SO. DIST.

A.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CR6124010
INDICTMENT NO.

V.

VIO: 18 U.S.C. 1344 (Bank Fraud)

AUBREY LEE PRICE

THE GRAND JURY CHARGES: Introduction: At all times material to this indictment: Montgomery Bank & Trust ("MB&T") was a state-chartered bank which operated through its branches in Ailey and Vidalia, Georgia. MB&T's deposits were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC"). In 2010, the FDIC issued a cease and desist order to MB&T, which required the bank to raise significant capital or face closure. 2. In December of 2010, an investment group controlled by Defendant Aubrey Lee

Price invested approximately $10 million in MB&T. Other investors, including employees of MB&T, invested approximately $4 million in the bank. 3. As a result of his group's investment of capital, Defendant Aubrey Lee Price was

made a director of MB&T and put in charge of investing the bank's capital. Defendant Price represented to MB&T officials that he would invest the bank's capital in United States Treasury securities. 4. From January of 2011 through June of 2012, Defendant Price fraudulently obtained

over $21 million of MB&T finds, which he then misappropriated, embezzled and lost in speculative trading and other investing. 5. In order to conceal his ongoing theft and depletion of MB&T's capital, Defendant

Price provided bank officials with fabricated account statements which falsely showed that millions
of

dollars of the bank's capital was secured in an MB&T account at a financial services firm. 6. As a result of Defendant Price's fraud upon MB&T, the bank's cash assets and

reserves were depleted. On Friday, July 6, 2012, state regulators closed MB&T and appointed the FDIC as receiver.

COUNT ONE 18 U.S.C. 1344

Bank Fraud

7.

Paragraphs I through 6 of the Introduction are incorporated by reference as if fully

set forth herein. 8. From in or around January of 2011 and continuing through in or around June of2012,

in Montgomery and Toombs Counties, within the Southern District of Georgia, and elsewhere, Defendant, Aubrey Lee Price, knowingly executed and attempted to execute a scheme and artifice

to defraud MB&T and to obtain monies under the custody and control of the Montgomery Bank & Trust by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, using the manner and means identified below, which manner and means were material to the scheme and artifice: 9. The Scheme and Artifice: (a) It was part of the scheme and artifice that the Defendant would be put in

charge of investing MB&T's capital. (b) It was further part of the scheme and artifice that the Defendant would falsely

represent to MB&T officials that he would invest the bank's capital in United States Treasury securities. (c) It was further part of the scheme and artifice that the Defendant would instruct

MB&T officials to transfer millions of dollars of the bank's capital to accounts controlled by the Defendant. (d) It was further part of the scheme and artifice that the Defendant would

misappropriate, embezzle and steal MB&T's monies. (e) It was further part of the scheme and artifice that the Defendant would

fabricate account statements which falsely indicated that MB&T's capital was safely held in an MB&T account at a financial services firm. (f) It was further part of the scheme and artifice that the Defendant, in an effort

to conceal his unlawful activities, would provide bank officials with the fabricated account statements. 10. On or about June 7, 2012, to execute and attempt to execute the scheme and artifice,

Defendant Price provided MB&T officials with a fabricated account statement purporting to show 3

that over $17 million of the bank's funds were held in an MB&T account at a financial services firm. All done in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344.

A True Bill.

Foreperson

Edward J. Tarver United States Attorney

9^J Q,urm*

^es D.

First Assistant United States Attorney

Brian'T. Raty Assistant United Sta Attorney Criminal Division Chief

if

denotes lead counsel