As detailed by the U.S. Department of Justice, a Union County man has been sentenced to nearly four years behind bars after concocting a fraudulent scheme that pilfered more than $1.4 million. Nicholas Price, 45, of Marysville, found himself at the mercy of the justice system today, receiving a 46-month prison sentence for a scam that involved bilking electronic equipment supplier businesses and multiple state agencies. Price, through his company Right PriceIT, LLC, promised to supply electronic equipment to contractors on state agency contracts but failed to make good on these agreements, as the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio reported.
The scam entwined businesses and state agencies including the Ohio Department of Transportation, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, and while these organizations held up their end of the deal Price did not, refusing to settle the nearly $689,000 owed to one supplier, and in a similar fashion, failed to pay another supplier over $685,000. Price's escapades amassed three separate incidents of fraud totaling losses surpassing $1.4 million. The court also mandated that Price pay the same amount in restitution, a nod to the financial havoc he wreaked.
Moreover, the gravity of Price's actions was compounded by his attempts at laundering the proceeds from his fraudulent activities, sending money to proprietors of car dealerships under the guise of clean transactions and causing further ethical breaches. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Price took efforts to derail the court's proceedings by instructing the deletion of his iCloud account and partaking in substance abuse that blatantly disregarded the conditions of his pretrial release.
While out on bond, Price engaged in behavior that was reckless beyond the economic sphere; he was apprehended by law enforcement after driving luxury vehicles over 100 mph, one incident ending in a grievous accident involving a Ferrari F8 Spider and resulting in serious injuries to another driver — this incident prompting the revocation of his bond. Arrested on federal fraud charges in March 2024 and pleading guilty to wire fraud and monetary transaction money laundering in October of the same year, Price's sentencing was delivered by U.S. District Court Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr., capping off a case represented by Assistant United States Attorney Peter K. Glenn-Applegate.
