Alfred Rubega 'makes it personal' as he confirms that he will go to any length to extradite American citizen
Alfred Rubega, Assistant US Attorney, with the US Attorney's Office in the District of New Hampshire, working from Concord, NH has taken the unusual step of making idle threats in a matter that some have called 'political' and others believe to be 'an abuse of process' by the US Government.
In late 2012 Rubega's office tried to extradite an American citizen, Bill White, who had been living in the United Kingdom since 1989, on charges that related to his use of an illegally obtained US passport. The requested person had used the US passport and actually renewed it a number of times, since 1997.
Unable to bring the 1997 charge due to the passage of time, Rubega's office attempted to convince the London Court that renewing the 1997 passport was a 'different' offence.
But in June 2013 Judge Howard Riddle, Senior District Judge (Chief Magistrate) at Westminster Magistrates' Court in the City of London disagreed with the US Government's argument and he discharged a US extradition request on the grounds of double-jeopardy, immediately releasing the requested person from custody.
Malcolm Hawkes, a Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, argued against the US request for extradition. Hawkes was instructed by Ms Jenny Winters, a solicitor with Birds Solicitors in London. Hawkes explained to the Court that the requested person, an American citizen, who has lived in the UK since 1989, had already been prosecuted in the United Kingdom in April 2010 for his possession and use of a fraudulent US passport, which formed the basis of the US charges.
Judge Riddle gave the US Government until 1 July 2013 to decide whether or not it would appeal his decision. The US Government chose not to appeal, making the order final.
After the hearing, Rubega sent an email to the requested person threatening to fabricate additional charges and to revive the extradition request at a later date. He also informed the requested person that his office would inform all US Embassies throughout the world that they should not issue any passport to the requested person, effectively making him Stateless.
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