Accused art thief Luke Brugnara has escaped a federal building in San Francisco and is currently on the lam. He was awaiting trial for an $11 million art scam.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup issued an arrest for Brugnara, who was being held in Oakland, after his disappearance Thrusday. Brugnara was granted persmission to change into street clothes and meet with his attorney. He escaped sometime during the visit with attorney Erik Babcock.

"Attorney Babcock must physically escort defendant from the lock-up facility directly to the attorney's lounge when he accepts custody," Aslup wrote in an order. 

Brugnara, 51, was indicted in June 2014 on mail fraud for ordering and receiving more than $11 million worth of art, not paying, and after it went missing, claiming it was a gift.

Defrauded art dealer Rose Ramey Long sent Brgunara the art after he agreed to pay $7.32 million for 16 paintings by Willem de Kooning, $3 million for an Edgar Degas sculpture, $450,000 for a painting by American realist artist George Luks, $160,000 for a drawing by Joan Miro and $145,000 for etching by Pablo Picasso.

Previously convicted of tax evasion and trout poaching, Brugnara had no assets. Crates containing the artworks disappeared from his San Francisco home shortly after delivery. 

Four out of 5 crates have since been recovered. The Degas bronze, "La Petite Danseuse de Quartorze Ans," is still missing and is the subject of a legal action involving the insurer Lloyd's and two New York dealers who claim Long did not perform "due diligence" in vetting Brugnara as a buyer.

The recovered art has yet to be returned to the New York dealers, according to Courthouse News.

"My clients are apoplectic on account of this because their artwork is being held as evidence," attorney Allison Davis said. "They need this artwork to make a living, and the longer this goes on they are being prevented from earning a living. They are in dire straits. If Mr. Brugnara is never found we need to do something because it can't be held indefinitely."