Nicaragua Extradites US Man in $137M Fraud Case

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) – Nicaraguan authorities say they have deported a U.S. man wanted for fraud and money laundering in his home country.

Interior Minister Ana Morales says Lawrence Hartman was deported to Florida on Wednesday.

She says the 47-year-old lawyer was detained April 25 when he tried to get a Nicaraguan passport using a fraudulent birth certificate.

U.S. prosecutors say Hartman is one of seven people charged in Tampa, Florida, with operating an investment fraud scheme that bilked investors out of at least $137 million.

Federal court papers allege the group hijacked names of more than 50 companies and sold bogus stock in them to investors in Britain and elsewhere.