Aubrey Lee Price, a Georgia banker who contributed to the collapse of a federally insured bank and faked his own death to try to avoid being caught, was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney’s office announced.

Price, 48, of Valdosta, Ga., was sentenced in federal court in Statesboro, Ga., for running a Ponzi scheme that resulted in millions of dollars of losses to dozens of investors. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Court Judge B. Avant Edenfield.

“Through a web of lies and deceit, Aubrey Lee Price conned his elderly investors and a federally insured bank out of more than $70 million, and then attempted to further his con and avoid accountability by faking his own death,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Loretta E. Lynch said.
                                                                                                          
“The sentence reflects the magnitude of Aubrey Lee Price’s fraud,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia Edward J. Tarver added. “Price engaged in a staggering betrayal of trust, leaving his elderly investors practically penniless. For his crimes, Price richly deserves the heavy sentence handed down.”

According to court records, Price embezzled more than $21 million from MB&T Bank and lost much of it by investing in risky equity securities and options. To cover up his fraud, Price provided MB&T officials with bogus account statements and other false documents that indicated the bank’s capital was safe.

The investigation subsequently revealed that Price, between June 2009 and June 2012, also defrauded 115 investors who had invested $51 million in two investment funds he managed. He lost most of the money through speculative trading. As the schemes began to unravel, Price sent acquaintances suicide letters in which he admitted he had defrauded MB&T Bank and the investors, and saying he planned to kill himself by throwing himself off a high-speed ferryboat after it left Key West, Fla., the court papers say.

Authorities searched for his body without results. He was eventually arrested after a routine traffic stop in Georgia on New Year’s Eve 2013. He pled guilty to bank, securities and wire fraud in June. A restitution hearing will be held in federal court in February to determine how much restitution he will have to pay to the victims.