McNabb in the News

Senior Principle Douglas McNabb appeared live on Fox News--National to discuss the espionage case involving the former 21 year Marine who has been charged with accessing classified documents while working in the White House and as an FBI analyst. He is also charged with acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.

Extradition from Canada—Joseph Pannell

The extradition hearing for Joseph Pannell has begun in Canada.^[1] Mr. Pannell is accused of shooting a Chicago police officer, Terrence Knox, during a street shootout in 1969, which left Mr. Knox partially paralyzed.^[2] Mr. Pannell’s lawyers are arguing that he should not be extradited to the United States because there is an inconsistency in Mr. Knox’s testimony.^[3]

Mr. Knox told the court that while he was outside his cruiser, he was shot at seven times by Mr. Pannell, who was allegedly a member of the Black Panthers.^[4] However, in a victim impact statement, Mr. Knox stated that we was fired upon “about 13 times” while he was seated in his police vehicle.^[5]

Arguing on behalf of the United States, Crown attorney Milica Potrebic said that the discrepancy is irrelevant since the hearing is only to determine whether there is enough evidence to extradite Mr. Pannell to stand trial in Illinois.^[6]

Mr. Pannell had working in a Toronto library under an assumed name, and was arrested last July when the US Department of Justice asked Canadian authorities to search of matches of Mr. Pannell’s fingerprints.^[7]

Under the terms of the extradition treaty between the United States and Canada, extradition will be granted “only if the evidence be found sufficient, according to the laws of the place where the person sought shall be found,” to justify his committal for trial in that country.^[8]

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[1] Extradition Hearing Begins for Man Accused of Shooting Chicago Cop in 1969, Canadian Press, Oct. 6, 2005, available here.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Extradition Treaty, Jul. 9, 1974, U.S.-Can., art. 10, para. 1, 27 U.S.T. 983.

Extradition from Greece—Health Care Fraud

Sergei Zholobetsky, who is wanted in the United States for health care fraud, has been arrested by Greek police in a Greek monastery.^[1] Mr. Zholobetsky has been living in the monastery of St. Panteleimon for the past five or six years.^[2] The man, who is of Russian origin, is wanted in the US on a 1996 arrest warrant because he allegedly sold beds and wheelchairs to hospitals, which he never delivered.^[3] In all, it is alleged that he defrauded the hospitals out of US$11 million.^[4]

Mr. Zholobetsky is currently in custody at the Diavata jail while Greek officials determine whether to extradite the novice monk to the US, as requested by the US.^[5]

Defrauding hospitals out of money is a crime for which extradition is available under the terms of the extradition treaty. It states that “[p]ersons shall be delivered up…who shall have been charged with…[o]btaining money, valuable securities or other property by false pretenses…where the amount of money…exceeds two hundred dollars or Greek equivalent.”^[6]

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[1] Margaret Neighbour, Monk Arrested Over $11m Fraud, The Scotsman, Oct. 6, 2005, available here.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Monk Arrested on Mount Athos, Kathimerini, Oct. 6, 2005, available here.
[6] Extradition Treaty, May 6, 1931, U.S.-Greece, art. II, para. 19, 8 Bevans 353.

McNabb in the News

Senior Principal Douglas McNabb has had an article on export law published on law.com:

An executive knows better than to do business with companies in certain countries against which the U.S. government has imposed trade sanctions, such as Iran and North Korea. But could it be that in today's global economy, American companies could unknowingly be trading with the enemy? Yes.
…
You and the GC reluctantly agree that both you and the company need a federal criminal-defense firm. You also direct the general counsel to study the law of exports more thoroughly so that he may implement a comprehensive compliance program to prevent similar issues from arising in the future. You hope that you will be able to monitor the new compliance program in person and not just hear about it during visitation hours at a federal prison.^[1]

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[1] Douglas C. McNabb, Innocents Abroad: What Execs Don’t Know About Export Law Can Hurt Them, law.com, Oct. 3, 2005.

Extradition from Switzerland—Yevgeny Adamov Update

A Swiss judge has decided to extradite Yevgeny Adamov to the United States to stand trial in Pennsylvania for alleged financial misconduct.^[1] The decision has caused a certain amount of consternation in Russia. The Vice Chairman of the Duma Security Committee in Russia, Viktor Ilyukhin, stated that the “message is this: The U.S. needs Adamov as a source of information. … Parliament believes that the U.S. will be interested in having an ex-Russian minister at its disposal as a source of secret information of great interest for U.S. intelligence services.”^[2] Furthermore, Mr. Ilyukhin opined that the decision to extradite Mr. Adamov might also have been made because “Switzerland does not trust our judiciary system.”^[3]

However, Switzerland’s Office Fédéral de la Justice “concluded that all of the conditions for Adamov’s extradition to the USA had been fulfilled. It rejected only the alleged tax offences as grounds for extradition.”^[4] Under the rule of specialty encapsulated in the extradition treaty between the US and Switzerland, this means that Mr. Adamov cannot be tried on the tax offences^[5] unless he consents.^[6]

The key factor in the decision was that Mr. Adamov would not have been extradited to the United States from Russia if Switzerland had extradited him there first; “[t]his would have resulted in an unacceptable failing of the prosecution process.”^[7] By giving preference to the American request, “the USA would be both willing and able to deport Adamov to Russia once criminal proceedings in the USA had been completed and any custodial sentence served. Such an approach accommodates the right to prosecution of both the USA and Russia and prevents a failing of the prosecution process.”^[8] Furthermore, Switzerland authorized the United States to deport Mr. Adamov to Russia.^[9]

Mr. Adamov recently began a hunger strike, but whether it is related to the extradition procedure is unclear.^[10] Mr. Adamov will have 30 days to file an appeal.^[11]

We have previously discussed Mr. Adamov here.

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[1] Daniel Friedli, Swiss to Extradite Ex-Russia Nuke Minister, Associated Press, Oct. 3, 2005, available here.
[2] U.S. Needs Adamov as Information Source – Duma Depty, Interfax.com, Oct. 3, 2005, available here.
[3] Id.
[4] Office Fédéral de la Justice, Press Release: FoJ Orders Adamov Extradited to USA; US Extradition Request Takes Precedence, Oct. 3, 2005, available here [hereinafter FoJ].
[5] Extradition Treaty, Nov. 14, 1990, U.S.-Switz., art. 16, para. 1, S. Treaty Doc. No. 104-9 (1997).
[6] Id. art. 16, para. 4, sec. (a).
[7] FoJ, supra note 4.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Friedli, supra note 1.
[11] Id.