Pittsburgh Man Sentenced to Prison for Stealing Microsoft Co-Founder’s Identity

PITTSBURGH—United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today that Brandon Lee Price, 28, of 6211 Station Street in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood, was sentenced before United States District Court Judge Terrence F. McVerry to eight months in prison, to be followed by two years’ supervised release. Price was also ordered to pay $658 in restitution.

In sentencing Price on his plea to four counts of bank fraud, Judge McVerry found that Price had attempted to cause a financial loss of greater than $15,000 to Citibank N.A. by convincing Citibank N.A. to send account information of a Citibank customer, Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, to Price at his mother’s residence in East Liberty. Mr. Price then used the account information to pay off an outstanding loan, and he attempted to access Mr. Allen’s accounts and funds through the use of a debit card that Price convinced the bank to send to him.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation that led to the indictment and guilty plea in this case.