Former financial regulator in Antigua-Barbuda loses extradition appeal
By Caribbean News Now contributor
ST JOHN’S, Antigua — An appeal by Leroy King, the former administrator of the Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC) in Antigua and Barbuda, who is seeking to stop his extradition to the US to face 11 fraud related charges stemming from the US$7 billion Ponzi scheme operated by Allen Stanford, was rejected on Tuesday by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.
However, the matter of King’s extradition, which has been working its way through the courts since 2009 when US authorities first issued a warrant for his arrest, could still be further prolonged if King decides to try again to appeal again to the Privy Council in London, notwithstanding that an earlier application for leave was also rejected last year.
In April 2017, Justice Darshan Ramdhani said in the High Court that, having reviewed King’s arguments, he saw no reason why either his claim for constitutional relief or the application for leave to appeal should be allowed.
King has consistently lost all legal challenges to his extradition but each time has filed an appeal.
Thus far, King’s lawyers have not applied for a further stay of the extradition order to prevent the authorities in Antigua and Barbuda from once again turning him over to the US.
US authorities allege that King received “thousands of dollars in bribes” from Stanford to ensure the Antigua and Barbuda regulatory authority “looked the other way” and conducted sham audits of Stanford’s operations.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also said that King, acting as gamekeeper turned poacher, helped Stanford and his associates evade and obstruct US probes of the Stanford business empire for several years.
