Lawyer says extradition of oligarch tied to Trump campaign chief imminent
Source: Chicago Tribune
Billionaire Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash is at "great risk" of being brought from Austria to face justice in a Chicago courtroom "within weeks," his lawyer told a federal judge Monday.
But prosecutors say they are concerned that Firtash — who is wanted on racketeering charges and has ties to President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort — will jump on a private jet to Russia if a Chicago judge rules against him before he is handed over to U.S. authorities.
They revealed in court for the first time that they wiretapped telephone conversations in which Firtash allegedly discussed a co-defendant's trip to Chicago to meet with Boeing executives.
Firtash, who has friends in Russian President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin, has been fighting extradition from Austria since his high profile 2014 arrest in Vienna. Accused of masterminding an international titanium-mining racket involving Boeing, he claims he was targeted by the Obama administration as punishment for Putin's annexation of Crimea.
Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chicagoinc/ct-dmitry-firtash-inc-20170911-story,amp.html
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