Busted boom project lost city guarantee

About 50 investors face the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars each invested from the collapse of a $4 million private housing development in Florida City. The city’s former housing director, Matthew Price II, who had ”backed” the project with guarantees on their investments, was apparently trying to reward a developer who had given him the down payment on a house. But before construction was completed, the project went bust in 2005. After a lengthy legal struggle, Price was sentenced Friday to 30 months on federal conspiracy charges to commit fraud.