ATLANTA — The man who stalled traffic for hours along an Atlanta interstate Thursday is a money laundering fugitive authorities have been trying to find for months, prosecutors say.
Drivers traveling southbound on Interstate 75 were caught in the middle of law enforcement trying to make an arrest. Police were communicating with the man on the Northside Drive overpass and it seemed he was preparing to jump from it, video shows.
The situation shut down both southbound lanes of I-75 in the area with delays stretching near Peachtree Battle Avenue.
Officials later clarified that they were working to take the man into custody.
According to the United States Attorney's Office of the Northern District of Georgia, the 30-year-old was convicted in January by a federal jury on 12 counts of money laundering charges. Prosecutors said he was part of a massive money laundering operation and he ran away after testifying in his trial. Authorities had been searching for him since.
He's accused of working with others to create fake companies. They were registered with the Georgia Secretary of State and were used to open bank accounts and funnel funds. Prosecutors say he also facilitated the theft of retirement plan assets and "fraudulently obtained funds from an individual's ERISA-covered retirement account into his business bank account," according to a news release.
Attorneys say he was the only suspect in the 41-person operation, who refused to take a plea and decided to go to trial. Together, the group laundered more than $30 million in fraud schemes.
After he was taken into custody along I-75, the overpass reopened and traffic began to flow ahead of the evening commute.
Officials say the man could face a judge Friday. He is scheduled to be sentenced on his money laundering conviction in May.