An American fugitive accused of faking his death to avoid a rape charge in Utah can be extradited to the U.S., a judge in Scotland ruled Wednesday. The 35-year-old man — identified in court as Nicholas Rossi but who insists on using the name Arthur Knight — has been in prison since his bail was revoked in December 2021 and has fought his return ever since. Rossi has been appearing in court — and in several television interviews — in a wheelchair. On Wednesday, he was asked to appear via video link to Edinburgh Sheriff Court but appeared agitated at the sheriff when Mungo Bovey K.C. called for him to be excused from the court. He shouted at the sheriff, and the court clerk cut the connection. The sheriff later suspended a correctional officer for allegedly verbally and physically abusing Rossi. Rossi’s attorney told the court his client had been subjected to religiously motivated abuse in prison.
Prosecutors in the U.S. state of Utah say, Rossi, who went by 16 aliases, including the legal name Nicholas Alahverdian, was given away by his tattoos when he was arrested in December 2021 at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, where he had been admitted under the alias Arthur Knight for COVID-19 treatment. Police said his DNA matched genetic evidence from a rape kit submitted to prosecutors in 2017, which linked it to another alleged sexual assault case in 2008, when he was charged with attacking a woman he met online.
Police have since found complaints alleging that Alahverdian abused women in other states, including Rhode Island, where he is wanted for failing to register as a sex offender. He has been a fugitive since fleeing the country in 2017 to avoid charges. He has stayed at various locations in the U.K., including a hotel near the Scottish hospital.
According to prosecutors, Alahverdian also has a home in Provo, Utah, where he is facing extradition to face a 2008 rape charge. The prosecutors have filed additional extradition requests over allegations that Alahverdian committed other crimes in Utah and elsewhere.
Alahverdian had claimed he died of late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2020, telling U.S. media that he was “peacefully resting” and his last words were a quote from the Bible: “Fear not, for I am with you.” The news of his demise was widely reported in U.S. media outlets, and even an obituary was published in the Providence, Rhode Island, newspaper with a headline quoting a city mayor. However, his claims were largely dismissed in court, with the Utah sheriff and Rhode Island authorities saying DNA evidence proved that he did not die of the disease. The next hearing in his case is set for March.
