A federal court here has ordered the extradition of former financier, Mr Finbarr Ross, to Northern Ireland to face charges of fraud arising from the collapse of his company, International Investments Ltd (IIL) in 1984.
Mr Ross (52) was described as "devastated" by the news when he was told by a friend, Mrs Julie Tierney. Mrs Tierney and her husband, Matthew, are members of the Light of Christ Church in which Mr Ross is an ordained minister. They have also been raising funds for his legal bills.
Mr Ross's attorney, Mr Mark Green, told The Irish Times that he would file a habeas corpus motion as soon as possible to block the extradition. He would also seek bail for Mr Ross, who has been held in the county jail here since his arrest at the church headquarters on March 4th.
Mr Green said that it would be "improper for Mr Ross to be whisked away" in the next few days by federal agents to Northern Ireland but he was unsure of what the US government will do. This is the first extradition case dealt with in this part of Oklahoma.
The judgment - from Judge James Payne - says that the matter is now "certified to the Secretary of State", Ms Madeleine Albright, who has the final say in extradition cases. She has the power to over-rule the court order in such cases.
Cork-born Mr Ross raised political issues in the case by claiming that he would be unlikely to get a fair trial in Northern Ireland because he was from the Republic. But the judgment says: "The offences charged are not political offences."
The judgment says that the "fair trial" argument was not a matter for that court to decide. "The Secretary of State has primary responsibility for determining whether treaties with foreign countries are being properly respected and carried out, and has discretion to deny extradition on humanitarian grounds," the judgment said.
Judge Payne, in his 14-page ruling, rejected all the defence's arguments against extradition, including the main one that the five-year statute of limitations under US law should apply to Mr Ross, whose alleged offences were committed up to 1984.
The judge said that the statute should be "tolled", or suspended, in Mr Ross's case because "he became a fugitive from justice when he left the United Kingdom" permanently in October 1983.
"The government has proven by a preponderance of evidence that Ross knew he was likely to be charged with a crime when he moved to the United States in October (sic) 1993. Based upon Ross's actions and the record before the court, this court finds Ross was a fugitive fleeing from justice for the purposes of avoiding anticipated prosecution in October (sic) 1993."
The judgment goes on to say: "Any actions taken by Ross after he moved to the United States, such as obtaining his US citizenship and various securities licences, did not terminate his fugitive status."
The RUC is seeking Mr Ross's extradition to face 41 fraud-related charges, arising from the collapse of IIL with debts of £7 million.
The extradition order does not rule on the guilt or innocence of Mr Ross but the judge uses the sworn statements of RUC Inspector Noel Lecky, who investigated the investment fraud, to assert several times that Mr Ross made "false" statements to investors and to auditors.
The judge refers to a meeting between Mr Ross and some of the investors in IIL in the US in 1984, when "he continued to insist that the company's finances were sound. Based upon the record there is probable cause to believe these representations were false, that Ross knew they were false at the time he made the representations and that the company was in fact insolvent. The record further reveals that the company went into liquidation six months later."
Among the documents submitted to the court were sworn statements from "33 victims who were defrauded by Ross's deceptions and false pretences and five brokers who advised others to invest in Ross's company based on his deceptions and false pretences".
