The fugitive known in Scotland as Nicholas Rossi has resisted extradition since he was arrested in December 2021 at a Glasgow hospital, where he was being treated for COVID-19. He has appeared in court and on television interviews in a wheelchair and oxygen mask, insisting that he is an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who has never set foot on American soil.
But Edinburgh court judge Norman McFadyen has said fingerprints and tattoos prove the man is Rossi.
Scottish government ministers will review McFadyen’s ruling to decide on a possible extradition order.
US authorities say Rossi is one of several aliases the 35-year-old has used and that his legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, accused of a 2008 rape in Utah.
Alahverdian is accused of assaulting a former girlfriend in Orem, Utah, according to Utah County District Attorney David Leavitt. His office said he has uncovered allegations that Alahverdian abused and threatened other women in other states.
Authorities in Rhode Island say Alahverdian is wanted there for refusing to register as a sex offender. The FBI says Alahverdian is also charged with fraud in Ohio, where he was convicted of sex crimes in 2008.
Alahverdian, who grew up in Rhode Island, was a vocal critic of the state’s youth care department. He testified in front of state legislators that while in state care, he was sexually abused and tortured.
Three years ago, he told the local Rhode Island press that he had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and had weeks to live. An obituary posted online stated that he passed away on February 29, 2020.
About a year later, Rhode Island State Police, along with Alahverdian’s former attorney and his former family caretaker, expressed doubt that he was indeed deceased.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
