Police in Delhi caught an Icelandic man at the Indira Gandhi International Airport last week who has been wanted by the American police for the past four years on charges of money laundering.
US investigative agencies issued a “red corner notice” against a man known as both Wathe Stefan and Gunnar Stefan Moller. The notice went out after the man evaded arrest and escaped the country.
A warrant for Mollers arrest was issued by the US district court in North Carolina on September 15th 2005.
The first charges brought against Moller were in April 2003, however. He was implicated in a trial in Kansas in which a William Pikard was convicted of manufacturing illegal drugs. The authorities there claimed that Moller assisted with the laundering of Pikard’s drug money. They estimate that Moller invested as much as $3 million in Russia on Pikard’s behalf.
The invested money reputedly came back into American through a research fund set up by Pikard at the University of California. Moller arranged for a Russian associate named Viatchelav Kolesnikov to donate Pikard’s funds back to him in this manner.
The American government considers money laundering a very serious crime and if convicted, Moller could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.