In early September, just weeks before his sentencing in a decade-long Navy bribery and corruption scandal, Leonard Glenn Francis, known as “Fat Leonard,” escaped from house arrest in his San Diego home and fled the country. The Malaysian businessman is the center of the largest bribery scandal in US Navy history.

Now, USNI News reports that authorities in Venezuela arrested “Fat Leonard” Francis as he attempted to board a plane to Russia, officials said late Wednesday.

Francis was detained by Venezuelan authorities at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetía on Tuesday morning, Interpol Venezuela Director General Carlos Garate Rondon said in a post on Instagram.

Francis “had entered the country from Mexico with a stopover in Cuba to then proceed… [to the] Federal Republic of Russia,” Rondon said in a translation of the post from the original Spanish.
“The detainee will be handed over to our judicial authorities in order to initiate extradition procedures.”

The U.S. Marshall Service confirmed the dentition by Venezuelan authorities to reporters on Wednesday night, according to NBC. The U.S. issued a $40,000 reward for Francis’ capture. It’s unclear the timeline for returning Francis to the U.S.

U.S. prosecutors have accused him of an effort to swindle the military branch out of nearly $35 million through his firm, Glenn Defense Marine Asia.

Navy personnel consumed or pocketed about $1 million in bribes: including gourmet meals, Cuban cigars, airline tickets and a party described as a “rotating carousel of prostitutes,” a Washington Post investigation found.