A South Georgia bank tied to a mushrooming investment fraud allegedly engineered by a missing board member was seized Friday by regulators.
Ailey-based Montgomery Bank & Trust was closed by state regulators and sold to Ameris Bank by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
A former bank director and investment adviser is accused of wire fraud that could have cost the bank $17 million. That adviser, Aubrey Lee Price, who informed friends and colleagues of a plan to commit suicide, but whom federal agents have sought to arrest, remains missing.
The Securities and Exchange Commission also has accused Price of a defrauding more than 100 investors, making fraudulent account statements and improper transfers of money into business accounts he controlled.
Montgomery Bank is the sixth bank in Georgia to fail this year, and a nation-leading 80th to fail since mid-2008.
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