Can a wealthy criminal live with impunity on the high seas?

Factual Questions
1

I don’t mean a terrorist like OBL who would be targeted by the military, but just a regular white collar criminal. What if for instance Bernie Madoff had bought a big old yacht and just lived on it out in international waters with a safe full of cash or gold? He could make it known that people who had supplies to sell (food, fuel, etc.) could come meet him out there and do business.

It’s usually portrayed in pop culture that criminals with a lot of money either give themselves up, get caught, or go on the run and hide out somewhere in disguise. But couldn’t someone do this in plain sight, as long as they were okay with not ever again stepping on dry land? I know I’d sure prefer spending the rest of my life on a super-yacht than in a prison cell.

2

So your hypothetical criminal just advertised these three facts:

1.He is extremely wealthy.

2.He is in international waters not under the protection or jurisdiction of any government.

3.He likely has shitloads of liquid assets on board the boat like gold and cash(because anything in accounts he owned would have been seized.)

Do you see a flaw in this plan?

3

Not if he has a nice mercenary army (or rather navy flotilla) to protect him! Good call, though, seriously: I hadn’t thought of that but I do think this is a reasonable solution.

4

Somehow double posted, sorry.

5

What reason does that mercenary army have to not just turn their guns on him and take his liquid assets? I’m pretty sure the FBI pays rewards for people to bring in fugitives like this too, so there is also that.

And the fact is at the end of the day supplies come from somewhere, somewhere is a port controlled by a government and they can officially and unofficially make their displeasure known(aiding and abetting a fugitive is usually a crime in itself).
The question is how badly do they want the guy?

6

If you can make it to one of the countries listed here, you can live in plain site if you’re wanted by the US:
http://www.panamalaw.org/USA_and_extradition_treaties.html

Extradition through proper and correct legal means would not be possible in these countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Comoros, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Indonesia, Iran, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Maldives, Mauritania, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, Samoa, Sao Tome e Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, USSR, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Yemen, Yemen South, Zaire & Zimbabwe

7

The United States sent its military to Panama to arrest its president for violating US drug laws. Surely, if they can invade a sovereign country to make an arrest, they can do it on the high seas.

8

That’s always the rub, isn’t it? Thing is, that is the same issue in any criminal gang or Third World dictatorship as well, and it’s something I’ve pondered. I figure it comes down to three things: (1) whether the gang leader or dictator treats the men well, so they feel loyalty to him; (2) whether they are professional mercenary types who would want to be known as doing a solid professional job and not being just a bunch of thugs, so they can get future jobs after this guy is gone; and (3) fear that others will remain loyal to the leader and shoot anyone who tries a coup.

I suppose it could also help if the money is hidden away somewhere in a super-secure safe behind a series of handprint-encoded blast doors or something (which seems like it could be arranged by a billionaire). That would make it too much of a hassle to try to steal it instead of simply accepting the good pay rate.

But apparently, according to coremelt, the question is moot. I had always thought conversations in heist movies about countries with no extradition were bogus. Fascinating!

9

Fascinating and terrifying. Thank you.

10

Where? This is a financial criminal so the courts will try to seize his assets, where could they be kept? In a non-extradition country?

So how does he pay the army and the merchants coming to him with supplies? With money behind a super secure vault in Burkina Faso?

Also there is a difference between extradition(for say a dual citizen) and straight up deportation. You’re in Botswana at the whim of the government if on a tourist visa, you have no claim to stay.

11

I figured the super-secure vault was going to be on the boat, loaded up with cash and/or gold.

So from what you’re saying about tourist visas and so on, maybe the answer is a hybrid solution: you have your super-yacht, but dock from time to time in non-extradition countries to stock up on supplies and go for a little land excursion.

12

If you have a minimum of $100,000 cash you can get a long term visa to stay in most of the countries listed. Most developing countries will give you an investor visa if you start a business and put around $50,000 capital into it, some a bit more, some a lot less. That gets you a residence permit, thats good as long as you keep running a business and employing a few locals. The local government won’t extradite anyone with a residence permit. You’d be pretty safe if you were a below the radar white collar criminal.

Of course if you’re wanted by the FBI or CIA, they can get you anywhere, but for most white collar criminals they wouldn’t bother.

13

It’s relatively easy in some places to get a bank account on only a tourist visa (I’ve done it). So choose the most stable non-extradition coastal country, make one journey with the stash in the vault to that country, open an account and deposit the ill-gotten gains. Then cruise the high seas, docking occasionally at another non-extradition country and if necessary making a wire transfer or to use an ATM. Not such a great need for hired goons.

I’d choose the UAE, Brunei, Bahrain (if the unrest dies down), Morocco, Vietnam or even Bangladesh. Though he’d also need a time machine if he wanted to do this in the USSR. Suspect the list may be a little out of date.

14

Its not that unusual for governments to forcibly abduct people from other countries. Israel kidnapped Adolf Eichmann out of Argentina and brought him to Israel for trial & execution. I’m pretty sure Mossad grabbed & or assassinated other Nazi War Criminals too.

I think there’s been at least one known attempt by the Soviets to smuggle someone out of the US and back to Russia. IIRC the person was being held in the Soviet Embasyand there was a big stink about it. I can’t think of the name off hand, it was back in the cold war days.

I wouldn’t count on International Waters to protect myself from the U.S. authority.

15

As mentioned you could live openly in Cambodia, own a small bar to employ a few locals in order to get your visa, and have a yacht there to cruise South East Asia. Why bother living permanently on the sea? Boats are expensive to run, you need food and supplies every week or so. It’s a pain for no real gain.

16

AND the list gets more out of date with every passing year, and even then if you are high profile enough the country may not want to incur the wrath of the USA so will find a way to violate your residence permit/visa.

17

Well yeah but the question in the OP was specifically about living on the high seas, not the best way to have a good life as a fugitive.

18

Real-life warlords use a combination of 1) Personality
2) Clan leadership/ relation
3) Carrot-and-stick: not only treat your men nice, but punish those who go against you.

You can also study how gangs in the US do it- the top bosses have a lot of money, too, but the underlings know only by remaining loyal they can rise up through the ranks to higher paygrade.

19

Sometimes(as my wife’s half brother found out) the underlings instead wait until you are sleeping and then bust in and shoot you, your common law wife, and your child. Power grabs in criminal gangs are rarely all that sensible.

20

And no matter what country you pick, you are going to be dealing with the whims of the governmental entity that allows you to stay there. If they know you’re a fugitive, they may not feel a strong incentive to protect your rights, financial or otherwise.