Extradited

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The 10-year journey towards Leroy King’s ultimate extradition to the United States is now complete.

Attorney General, Steadroy Benjamin, has confirmed to OBSERVER media that King, the former head of the Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC), boarded an American Airlines flight bound for New York City late Friday afternoon.

“He complied fully,” said the Attorney General, “as we worked closely with the agents from the USA.”

Describing King’s comportment, Benjamin said, “there was no behavior at all that showed that there was any revolting or any type of attitude which did not fit the occasion.”

“From what I am told, Mr. King had come to the realization of what was happening and he was quite prepared to accept his fate at this time.”

When he arrives in New York, he will be met by state state justice officials and will later be arraigned as will face 11 wire and mail fraud charges by the US State Department.

Friday’s extradition completed a request by the US and first signed by then-Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer in 2009.

Police and immigration officers swooped down on King’s residence at the Marina Bay complex last evening and escorted the declared ‘fugitive at large’ to police headquarters where he spent the better part of the day awaiting transfer to the official custody of the US Marshals.

In 2009, he had been charged by United States authorities with committing acts of facilitation in the US $7 billion Ponzi scheme involving the already-convicted R Allen Stanford.

In a last ditch effort to stave off today’s transfer, King’s attorney, Dr. David Dorsett, appealed to the Cabinet of Antigua and Barbuda this past Wednesday for a “time extension” in his client’s process for extradition. His request was denied, however, as it was deemed “inappropriate” by the Attorney General Steadroy Benjamin.

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