Fugitive Execs: Good at Scams, Bad at Being on Lam

In the midst of a recession, so-called “executive fugitives” are driven to increasingly desperate efforts to flee as schemes implode and they face ruin—or prison time. NPR examines the tactics of these con artists—and how more often than not, say the law-enforcement authorities who chase them, their flight is just as doomed as their fraud.

Executive fugitives often attempt to fake their own deaths—sometimes cleverly—but often meet their own undoing when they miss the comforts of affluence and resurface long enough to be nabbed. “It’s either familiarity, lack of human contact or you miss going to the barista to get a coffee,” explains one US Marshal.