Fugitive financier facing extradition

Am Hasenberge jail : Scene of Frankel's failed escape attempt

HAMBURG, Germany -- Fugitive financier Martin Frankel is set to be extradited by German authorities to the U.S. where he is wanted for allegedly masterminding the country's biggest insurance fraud.

Frankel, 46, faces up to 410 years imprisonment if convicted on 36 counts of money laundering, securities fraud, racketeering, conspiracy and other crimes.

He is accused of stealing at least $200 million from several small insurance firms he either owned or controlled.

U.S. authorities had expected Frankel, from Toledo, Ohio, to be returned this month and German authorities confirmed he would be sent back after he attempted to break out of the Hamburg jail where he has been held for the past 18 months.

Frankel was imprisoned by a German court after being arrested in a Hamburg hotel room in September 1999 following a worldwide manhunt for the high-living former securities broker.

He was sentenced in Germany to three years in jail for evading tax on imported diamonds and for possessing nine passports.

"He will be extradited in the foreseeable future. All the legal conditions are now in place," said a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Hamburg.

"We do not see this escape attempt having any effect on the process," he added.

Frankel was caught by a guard on Tuesday as he tried to saw with a piece of wire through the bars of his cell in the Am Hasenberge prison.

He was transferred the same night to another, unnamed jail, and security was tightened.

"We do not rule out further (escape) attempts. We want to make sure we get him back (to the United States) nice and cleanly," said the prosecutor's spokesman. Frankel, banned from securities trading by U.S. authorities in 1992, he is alleged to have operated an unlicensed brokerage from a mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Four of his former associates were indicted by a federal grand jury last month on similar charges to those faced by Frankel.

With fewer counts against them, they face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Police nab fugitive financier in Germany
September 4, 1999

See related sites about Europe

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.