"Nikolai Korobkov was arrested at the request of the Russian General Prosecutor's Office based on its probe into property-related fraud," the press release said.
According to Interpol, Korobkov, 54, set up the Investment Industrial and Commercial Co. during the 1990s in Russia and signed around 150 housing investment contracts. He is alleged to have failed to declare the funds he attracted, instead spending them on acquiring property abroad.
"Investors lost an estimated $2 million," the press release said.
Korobkov fled Russia in 1997, heading first to Denmark and then on to Brazil, where he obtained a fake passport. He arrived in Costa Rica in 1998, where he has lived with his wife and daughter ever since, running a home-decorating business.
Extradition procedures are underway.
