A Malaysian businessman who scammed the united states Navy in its largest fraud scandal ever has been recaptured after he escaped house arrest two weeks ago.
Leonard Glenn Francis, known as "fats Leonard", turned into captured in Venezuela making an attempt to board a flight to Russia.
He had been on the run for the reason that four September, when he fled his California home via cutting off his ankle bracelet.
a world Interpol warrant had been out for his arrest as US authorities tried to track him down.
On Wednesday, the fifty seven-year-old turned into arrested at Simón Bolívar de Maiquetía airport via Venezuelan authorities.
Interpol says he entered the country from Mexico by way of a stopover in Cuba. he is as a result of be extradited lower back to the USA.
Francis escaped condominium detention just weeks before he was as a result of face sentencing for his crimes. In 2015, he had admitted to bribery and corruption charges and had been a co-operative witness for prosecutors.
Authorities had allowed him to be detained at domestic in San Diego because he had suffered bouts of bad fitness in recent years, including kidney melanoma.
despite the fact on 4 September, police went to his apartment after problems with his GPS bracelet had been detected.
"Upon arrival they observed that no one was home," a US Marshal spokesman Omar Castillo instructed newshounds at the time.
Neighbours mentioned removing vans had come in and out of the property in contemporary weeks, he delivered.
His recapture is the newest chapter in an embarrassing scandal for the U.S. Navy. the U.S. justice department has described it as a big fraud involving tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Francis become the mastermind of a sprawling bribery scheme that operated via his Singapore-based business which serviced the united states Navy's Pacific fleet.
Prosecutors say he overcharged the navy to the tune of $35m (£30m) and plied officers with money, connoisseur meals, cigars, rare liquor and intercourse parties in luxury lodges.
He turned into arrested in 2013, and pleaded responsible in 2015 to providing $500,000 (£444,000) in bribes to navy officers to funnel legitimate work against his shipyards.
Dozens of US naval officers have additionally been implicated. 4 have been convicted to date and at least 27 different contractors and officials have pleaded guilty to accepting bribes.
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