conviction_status death_place death_date birth_place conviction_penalty charge birth_date spouse article_title name occupation
deceased havana , cuba 23 november 2007 detroit , michigan , u.s. 13 years fraud , conspiracy , drug smuggling 04 december 1935 lidia alfonso llauger robert vesco
 robert l. vesco financier
robert vesco

robert lee vesco -lrb- december 4 , 1935 -- november 23 , 2007 -rrb- was a fugitive criminal united states financier .
after several years of high-stakes investments and seedy credit dealings , vesco was alleged guilty of 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 in order to create an autonomous country and having a national law in costa rica made to protect him from extradition .
a 2001 slate.com article labeled vesco `` the undisputed king of the fugitive financiers . ''
after settling in cuba in 1982 , vesco was charged with drug smuggling in 1989 .
in 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 .
five months after his death in november 2007 the `` new york times '' reported he succumbed to lung cancer at a hospital in havana , cuba .
