Leonard Glenn Francis, the Malaysian defense contractor known as “Fat Leonard” who fled home arrest in San Diego earlier this month, was arrested Tuesday morning in Venezuela as he attempted to board an airplane at the Caracas international airport, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
The top Interpol official in Venezuela posted on social media that Francis, who orchestrated the worst bribery and corruption scandal in U.S. Navy history, was headed to Russia. He had traveled through Mexico and Cuba and was captured at Simón Bolívar International Airport in the Venezuelan capital.
The arrest was made after Interpol, the international policing agency, had issued a “red notice,” a request by law enforcement to locate and arrest someone, Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Omar Castillo said Wednesday.
