Michael R. Mastro (born June 1, 1925)[1] is an American real estate developer, who was in business for forty years managing apartments and mid-size office parks in Seattle.[2] He declared bankruptcy in 2009. Mastro and his wife, Linda, a former Bellevue grade school teacher,[3] fled to France in 2011 after a warrant was issued for their arrest due to their failure to comply with a judge’s order that they turn over two diamond rings valued at $1.4 million to their creditors.[1][4] They were arrested in 2012 in Lake Annecy, in the French Alps, and faced extradition hearings, after which it was revealed that the prior August, the U.S. Attorney’s Office had filed an initially sealed criminal complaint charging them with bankruptcy fraud.[1][5][6] The day after being arrested in France, the Mastros were indicted by an American federal grand jury on forty-three counts of bankruptcy fraud and money laundering.[7] After several months of house arrest, they were freed in June 2013 after a French court denied a request for their extradition back to the United States, finding that while they stole the life savings of elderly people, they themselves were too elderly to (potentially) be incarcerated.[8]
Mastro's bankruptcy has been described as the largest personal bankruptcy in the history of State of Washington.[9] Prior to the bankruptcy, the Mastros moved many of their assets, including a $15 million home in Medina, Washington, into an irrevocable trust based in Belize.[10]
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