Fugitive Seattle developer Mastro arrested in France
Oct 24, 2012, 4:17 PM | Updated: Oct 25, 2012, 5:29 am
Fugitive Seattle real-estate developer Michael Mastro and his wife, Linda, have been arrested in France at the request of U.S. authorities.
U.S. Marshals Service supervisory deputy Kayla Celaya says they were arrested Wednesday in Annecy, a lake town near the Swiss border in southeastern France.
They are charged with six counts of bankruptcy fraud in a newly unsealed complaint in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
The now 87-year-old Mastro was a developer and money lender who oversaw more than $1 billion in projects during the real estate boom last decade. But the market’s crash left him short, and three of his creditors forced him into bankruptcy in 2009. He owes more than $200 million to creditors, who are expected to receive just pennies on the dollar.
Mastro and his wife disappeared 16 months ago after a bankruptcy judge ordered them to turn over two diamond rings valued at $1.4 million.
James Rigby a court-appointed trustee in the Mastro bankruptcy case has the job of finding the assets and distribute them to creditors.
He told KIRO Radio he hopes the Mastro’s arrest means he’ll be able to find additional assets and money to send the defrauded creditors.
Of the rings missing, he described one of them, a 27-carrot diamond the size of a Native American arrowhead. It would almost completely obscure Linda’s finger when she wore it, described Rigby.
The Marshals Service says that if the Mastros fight extradition it could take months or years for them to be returned to the U.S.
KIRO Radio reporter Tim Haeck and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
