ANOTHER MYTH-BUSTER: Accused California Fraudster Arrested/Deported By Panama And Returned To United States On New Year’s Eve; Joseph Randall Medcalf Faces Federal Trial In Alleged $3.2 Million Investment Scheme

“You can run, but you can’t hide. International cooperation in the pursuit of fugitives is essential as we combat complex financial crimes. Mr. Medcalf is the latest in a long list of fugitives who have been brought back to the United States to face justice. My office is grateful to the authorities in Panama for their assistance in this matter.” — Benjamin B. Wagner, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California, Jan. 3, 2012

Joseph Randall Medcalf has become the latest person to rip to shreds a myth commonly advanced on Ponzi scheme and criminals’ forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup that “offshore equals safe.”

Medcalf, 55, resided in Clovis, Calif., before fleeing the United States in 2008 after his $3.2 million investment scheme collapsed and he declared bankruptcy, federal prosecutors said. Medcalf was indicted in March 2011, by a federal grand jury in Fresno.

Prosecutors now say he was “arrested late last week in Panama,” which deported him.

Medcalf was transported to Atlanta on New Year’s Eve and is expected to be returned to California to face the charges.

The FBI is handing the criminal probe, and the “Office of International Affairs in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division assisted in the coordination of Medcalf’s deportation to the United States,” prosecutors said.

Medcalf  presided over companies known as All Valley Holdings LLC and CenCal Value Investments, prosecutors said.

He “did not invest the clients’ money as promised but used it for his own personal expenses and enjoyment,” prosecutors said.