Montgomery Bank & Trust, based in Ailey, Ga., became the 32nd bank to be closed this year.
The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) as receiver for the failed bank. The FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Moultrie, Ga.-based Ameris Bank to assume all of the deposits of Montgomery Bank & Trust. As of March 31, Montgomery Bank & Trust had approximately $173.6 million in total assets and $164.4 million in total deposits.
Montgomery Bank & Trust has been the subject of criminal investigation. CNN reports that bank director Aubrey Lee Price (pictured left) has been charged with wire fraud and is suspected of defrauding more than 100 investors of at least $17 million dollars. Price was last seen in Key West, Fla., in mid-June, and had left behind a note claiming that he planned to drown himself off the Florida coast. However, a recent search by the U.S. Coast Guard has not recovered his body, and federal investigators believe that Price – who owns property in Venezuela and Guatemala – remains a fugitive.