A Swiss arbitration ruled that Rudolf Suter owed $2 million to a Florida investor from a failed business deal. Suter ignored it. When the investor discovered he was living large in Texas, the investor sought and received a judgment from a Dallas federal court. Suter filed for bankruptcy. He ignored that until he was threatened with jail. And when a Dallas federal judge decided to hold a contempt hearing, Suter caught a British Airways jet for London.
Last month, Suter was arrested when he tried to return to the U.S. He was returned to Dallas, cuffed hand and foot, for a hearing last Friday and was presented with a whole new legal problem: federal charges for lying during his bankruptcy proceedings.
“He has been avoiding the U.S. legal system for over five years,” said one of the lawyers involved. “Although it took a while, it looks like the system has caught up with him.”