A man wanted on securities fraud charges in Baldwin County has been returned to Alabama after being tracked down and arrested overseas, according to officials with the local district attorney’s office and the state securities regulator.
Vahak Dino Awadisian was taken into custody by United States Marshals at Chisinau International Airport in Moldova, a small Eastern European nation more than 5,600 miles from south Alabama, before being extradited back to the United States to answer to outstanding warrants tied to a securities fraud case built in Baldwin County. He was booked into the Baldwin County Jail on July 29 and is being held without bond as his case moves forward.
The arrest brings a years-long search to a close. Awadisian had originally been taken into custody in connection with the fraud allegations and was later released after posting a $150,000 bond through the Baldwin County Circuit Court. As a condition of that release, he was required to surrender his United States passport to law enforcement.
That arrangement fell apart in the summer of 2014. On Aug. 27 of that year, Awadisian failed to show up for a scheduled hearing before Circuit Judge Langford Floyd. The judge responded by ordering his $150,000 bond forfeited and issuing a new warrant for his arrest on a failure-to-appear charge, effectively branding him a fugitive from Baldwin County justice.
Investigators and federal marshals spent the years that followed working to locate Awadisian, who had apparently left the country despite having handed over his passport. His eventual arrest overseas and extradition underscore the lengths to which law enforcement agencies will go to bring securities fraud defendants back to face Alabama courts, even when a case stretches on for years and across international borders.
Securities fraud cases like this one are typically investigated with assistance from the Alabama Securities Commission, the state agency responsible for enforcing Alabama’s securities laws and protecting investors from fraudulent investment schemes. Such cases often involve allegations that a defendant misrepresented investment opportunities, mishandled investor funds, or otherwise deceived people who entrusted them with money.
Awadisian is expected to remain in the Baldwin County Jail without bond while his case proceeds through the Baldwin County Circuit Court. Additional court dates are expected to be scheduled in the coming weeks as prosecutors move forward with the securities fraud charges that first brought him into the local justice system.
Baldwin County officials have not indicated whether additional charges related to the years spent out of the country, or the manner in which Awadisian left the United States after surrendering his passport, will be pursued.