Scam artists come and go, but those that do their dirty deeds and leave the authorities holding the bag are few and far between. Some aren't so clever, and end up being caught quickly. But others live for years hiding in remote parts of the world, or living in plain view, protected by a lack of extradition agreements. They're cunning, clever and sometimes considered very, very dangerous.

Here, we take a look at some of the most notorious financial fugitives of the last 25 years. Some are living life on the lam, others are doing time in the can.

By Elizabeth Rocklin with Constance Parten
Posted: 29 April, 2011

American Greed profiles the story of Mark Weinberger, a multi-million dollar tale of deception, on Wednesday, May 4th at 10p | 1a ET.

Status: At large
Charges: Securities, wire and mail fraud among others

This fugitive tech mogul has been on the lam since 2006 after he was accused of illegally pocketing $138 million. The United States Department of Justice charged Alexander with stealing the funds by backdating stock options while serving as chairman and CEO of Comverse Technology. He also is believed to have stashed up to $250 million in accounts around the world, including $57 million wired to Israel and another $38 million invested in Namibia, where he lives with his family in a multi-million-dollar compound. The country does not have an extradition treaty with the United States.

Alexander did pay nearly $54 million in November to settle civil fraud charges in the United States. He and his wife, Hana, forfeited two investment accounts they abandoned when they fled the United States with their three children.

Status: At large/Wanted by the FBI
Charges: Mail fraud, money laundering

Eberhart is wanted for his alleged involvement in a telemarketing scheme that defrauded investors out of more than $11 million.

Between February and October of 1999, Eberhart and several associates owned and operated YES Entertainment Network, a telemarketing company, in California. They are accused of using investor money for personal gain, and transferring a substantial amount of the investment money into offshore accounts in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Eberhart is believed to have fled in late 1999, possibly spending a lot of his time on his luxury yacht, the "Infinity." He is believed to have gone to the Philippines, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and most recently to Malaysia. He is believed to currently reside in Singapore.

Status: At large
Charges: Securities-related accounting fraud

In 2004, this former chief executive of a Long Island technology company was declared a fugitive after his lawyer told federal prosecutors that he would not return to the United States to face arraignment.

Razmilovic was thought to have returned to his native Croatia from Britain, where he had been living since leaving the company two years prior, prosecutors said.

According to the International Rewards Centre Website, Razmilovic is accused of carrying out a securities-related accounting fraud scheme in which investors lost more than $200 million. He is now believed to be in Sweden.

Status: At Large/FBI Most Wanted Fugitive
Charges: Wire fraud, RICO conspiracy, mail fraud, money laundering and numerous other charges

Mogilevich is a powerful Russian crime boss who is believed to have ordered assasinations, conducted money laundering, passport fraud and more than 40 other financial crimes through at least a dozen countries over the course of his career. It was his scheme to bilk U.S. and Canadian investors out of an estimated $150 million that put him on the FBI's list of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, though.

Mogilevich was the head of YBM Magnex International, a magnet company incorporated in Canada, but headquartered in Newtown, Penn., between 1993 and 1998. The scheme to defraud collapsed in 1998 when the FBI raided YBM. By then, thousands of investors had lost their money. Mogilevich, who is thought to have funded and authorized the scheme, was indicted in April of 2003, but he'd already fled the country.

The FBI knows where Mogilevich is hiding, but they can't get to him. The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russia.

Status: Arrested
Charges: Health care fraud

In 2004, with hundreds of malpractice lawsuits piling up and federal investigators probing his northwest Indiana medical practice, Weinberger disappeared from his 80-foot yacht docked off the Greek island of Mykonos.

He was finally arrested on a mountain in Italy in December 2009, more than five years after he disappeared.

The plastic surgeon from Merrillville, Indiana, pleaded guilty in October, 2010 to 22 counts of health care fraud. But earlier this month, a federal judge rejected a plea agreement calling for Weinberger to spend four years in prison, saying he wasn't confident the deal took into account the magnitude of the man's crimes.

Status: At large/Wanted by the FBI
Charges: Conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud

Sometime before February, 2004, McCool allegedly conspired with two other individuals, who have since been arrested, to operate The Brixon Group, which fraudulently solicited millions of dollars of investments in Brixon.

McCool promised investors their money would be put in European programs and used as reserves for high-yield insurance company portfolio investments. Investors also were told that Brixon would generate returns of 10 percent per month.

Instead, he allegedly converted a substantial portion of the invested money for personal use and used new funds received by Brixon to make payments to earlier investors. When Brixon failed to pay investors, McCool told them the money was tied up in Europe due to the United States Patriot Act and various international banking problems.

In May, 2006, McCool was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, but by the time an arrest warrant was issued, he was gone. He is believed to be living in the Phillipines.

Status: Convicted of destroying an aircraft and causing the Coast Guard to respond when no help is needed; charged with nine counts securities fraud and two counts of working as an investment banker without being registered

Facing financial trouble and half a dozen lawsuits, Indiana money manager Marcus Schrenker decided to make a run for it. Leaving Indiana in his small plane on Jan. 11, 2009, Schrenker radioed controllers somewhere over Alabama saying his windshield had imploded and he was bleeding profusely. The radio went silent.

Schrenker later admitted he had pointed the plane toward the Gulf of Mexico, engaged the autopilot and parachuted out, hoping the plane would crash at sea and it would appear he had gone down with it. His plane never made it to sea, but ran out of fuel and crashed near the Florida Panhandle town of Milton. Marshals found him two days later at a remote campground.

In June, 2009, Schrenker pleaded guilty to charges of intentionally crashing a plane. He was sentenced to four years in prison for charges related to the crash, and still faces nine counts of securities fraud. Nearly $30 million in civil claims have been filed against him so far.

Status: Living in New Zealand
Charges: Forgery and impersonation

Allen Kirk Wolford was a funeral home director in Colorado Springs, Colo., who grew tired of his financial burden and decided to forge a death certificate to avoid paying $42,000 in back child support and $7,000 in student loans.

According to Wolford's arrest affidavit, he told police he wanted to buy a house but didn't qualify for a loan because of the debt. He was jailed in April, 2006, and after being convicted on charges of forgery and impersonation, Wolford became a fugitive, skipping his court date and leaving the country. In 2007, Interpol confirmed that Wolford was in New Zealand, where he had apparently applied for a job as a funeral director using his real name.

Though authorities know where Wolford is, he has not been extradited and remains very much alive in New Zealand.

Status: Convicted, fraud

Hedge fund scammer Sam Israel III lasted a month on the lam in an RV complete with motor scooter before surrendering to authorities. Sentenced to 20 years in prison for defrauding investors of $450 million, Israel was supposedly driving himself to jail when he disappeared in June, 2008.

On the dusty hood of his SUV, which he parked on an upstate New York bridge 150 feet above the Hudson River, Israel finger-painted "suicide is painless," making it appear he had jumped. But he didn't. Instead, he got into a recreational vehicle driven by his girlfriend, who later admitted she trailed Israel on his aborted trip to prison and picked him up. He dropped her off at their home in Armonk, N.Y.

Then Israel grew a beard, and apparently rambled around a Massachusetts campground while police — who didn't buy his vehicular postscript and arrested Ryan on charges of aiding and abetting — searched for him. His mother begged him to surrender.

On July 2, 2008, he puttered up to a Massachusetts police station on his scooter and gave himself up. Returned to New York, he stood before a furious judge, complaining of his bad back. The judge ordered his $500,000 bail forfeited. He faces up to 10 additional years in prison for running.

Dr. Mark Weinberger appears to be a top-notch physician. His Weinberger Sinus Clinic is popular with his northwest Indiana patients. But many become anxious when relief is nowhere in sight. American Greed reveals the inside story of a doctor’s devastating deception!

Premieres Wednesday, May 4th  10p | 1a ET

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