Robert Vesco

Robert Lee Vesco (December 4, 1935 – November 23, 2007) was an American criminal financier. After several years of risky investments and dubious credit dealings, Vesco was alleged to have committed securities fraud. He immediately fled the ensuing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation by living in a number of Central American and Caribbean countries.

Vesco was notorious throughout his life, attempting to buy a Caribbean island from Antigua to create an autonomous country and having a national law in Costa Rica made to protect him from extradition.

Although, during the time Vesco was residing in Costa Rica, Time Magazine published an article about how the Costa Rican government refused to extradite Robert Vesco to the United States to face securities fraud charges. It was well known by many in the international diplomatic corps within Costa Rica, that the reason Costa Rica wasn’t cooperating with U.S. extradition requests was because the U.S., despite repeated requests to do so, never followed the standard legal format and procedures required. The Costa Rican press published their government’s view that, despite Time Magazine’s reporting, it was clear the U.S. didn’t want to extradite Robert Vesco.

A 2001 Slate.com article termed Vesco "the undisputed king of the fugitive financiers." After settling in Cuba during 1982, Vesco was charged with drug smuggling in 1989. During the 1990s he was indicted by the Cuban government for "fraud and illicit economic activity" and "acts prejudicial to the economic plans and contracts of the state" in 1996.

Vesco was sentenced to 13 years in jail by Cuba. In November 2007 The New York Times reported that he had died of lung cancer at a hospital in Havana, Cuba, five months before, although it has been suggested that he faked his death.