What Involvement Did Uncle Sam Have in Capturing Fugitive Mexican Businessman?

David Nanes Schnitzer

David Nanes Schnitzer, the Houdini of international fugitives, remains at large since absconding from Belize after receiving bail on November twentieth.  But the story won’t go away and in fact the call for an investigation was narrowly defeated in the Senate on Wednesday. In fact it is known that the government of Mexico has expressed its disappointment that Nanes was able to get bail and leave the country since as far back as May, Mexico had asked for his extradition. Nanes was arrested and detained by local police in early November on san Pedro with assistance from the United States government.  The U.S. was instrumental in confirming the fraudster’s true identity although charges for his role in one of the largest financial schemes in recent history aren’t forthcoming in that jurisdiction.  While Mexico has expressed utter disappointment with the manner in which the case was handled locally, U.S. Ambassador Carlos Moreno is equally let down by the surprising outcome of the matter.

Carlos Moreno

Carlos Moreno, U.S. Ambassador

“In the first instance I believe that our government assisted the Belizean authorities in making the connection between his through name Nanes and his false name Banes.  That’s really been the extent that I know of, of our direct involvement.  We of course sympathize very greatly with the concerns of the Mexican government because it must be remembered that Nanes is a fugitive from Mexican justice.  There are no pending charges against him in the United States that I am aware of although the larger fraud scheme had its origins and greater repercussions in the Stanford Financial Group’s multibillion dollar scheme a few years back.  So to the extent that we can we are willing to assist Belize in its efforts to find him, but as to his current whereabouts we don’t have any information on where he is.”