A man who went on the run after he was convicted in an $11 million Ponzi scheme was taken into custody by the FBI in Parkland Tuesday, officials said.
Volodimyr Pigida was arrested after an hours-long standoff, officials said.
Pigida, 49, was convicted in December 2022 on 26 felony counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, and bankruptcy fraud.
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When he failed to appear for an Aug. 4 sentencing hearing in Seattle, he was put on the FBI's wanted list.
Pigida defrauded thousands of victims through the $11 million Ponzi scheme, officials said.
Prosecutors said Pigida and his wife operated a "work-at-home" email scheme named Trend Sound Promoter that ultimately crashed, but not before the two raided the company’s accounts to purchase homes, expensive cars, and a yacht.
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His wife, Marina Bondarenko, pleaded guilty to bankruptcy fraud and was sentenced to 38 months in prison in 2019.
Pigida was expected to appear in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, where prosecutors will ask that he be detained and transferred to the Western District of Washington by the U.S. Marshals Service.
