Current:Home > StocksSydney judge says US ex-fighter pilot accused of training Chinese aviators can be extradited to US -NextFrontier Finance
Sydney judge says US ex-fighter pilot accused of training Chinese aviators can be extradited to US
View
Date:2025-04-13 21:00:05
SYDNEY (AP) — A Sydney judge on Friday ruled that former U.S. Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan can be extradited to the United States on allegations that he illegally trained Chinese aviators, leaving the attorney-general as Duggan’s last hope of remaining in Australia.
Magistrate Daniel Reiss ordered the Boston-born 55-year-old to remain in custody awaiting extradition.
While his lawyers said they had no legal grounds to challenge the magistrate’s ruling that Duggan was eligible for extradition, they will make submissions to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on why the pilot should not be surrendered.
“The attorney will give us sufficient time, I’m quite sure, to ventilate all of the issues that under the Extradition Act are not capable of being run in an Australian court,” Duggan’s lawyer, Bernard Collaery, told reporters outside court.
Dreyfus’ office said in a statement the government does not comment on extradition matters.
Duggan’s wife and mother of his six children, Saffrine Duggan, said the extradition court hearing was “simply about ticking boxes.”
“Now, we respectfully ask the attorney-general to take another look at this case and to bring my husband home,” she told a gathering of reporters and supporters outside court.
The pilot has spent 19 months in maximum-security prison since he was arrested in 2022 at his family home in the state of New South Wales.
In a 2016 indictment from the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., unsealed late 2022, prosecutors say Duggan conspired with others to provide training to Chinese military pilots in 2010 and 2012, and possibly at other times, without applying for an appropriate license.
Prosecutors say Duggan received about nine payments totaling around 88,000 Australian dollars ($61,000) and international travel from another conspirator for what was sometimes described as “personal development training.”
Duggan served in the U.S. Marines for 12 years before immigrating to Australia in 2002. In January 2012, he gained Australian citizenship, choosing to give up his U.S. citizenship in the process.
The indictment says Duggan traveled to the U.S., China and South Africa, and provided training to Chinese pilots in South Africa.
Duggan has denied the allegations, saying they were political posturing by the United States, which unfairly singled him out.
veryGood! (7653)
Related
- Breaking debut in Olympics raises question: Are breakers artists or athletes?
- Jared Goff stats: Lions QB throws career-high 5 INTs in SNF win over Texans
- Firefighters make progress, but Southern California wildfire rages on
- Here's Your First Look at The White Lotus Season 3 With Blackpink’s Lisa and More Stars
- Louisiana high court temporarily removes Judge Eboni Johnson Rose from Baton Rouge bench amid probe
- Younghoo Koo takes blame for Falcons loss to Saints: 'This game is fully on me'
- 'Yellowstone's powerful opening: What happened to Kevin Costner's John Dutton?
- Hill House Home’s Once-A-Year Sale Is Here: Get 30% off Everything & up to 75% off Luxury Dresses
- USA women's basketball live updates at Olympics: Start time vs Nigeria, how to watch
- Younghoo Koo takes blame for Falcons loss to Saints: 'This game is fully on me'
Ranking
- Angelina Jolie nearly fainted making Maria Callas movie: 'My body wasn’t strong enough'
- Pistons' Ausar Thompson cleared to play after missing 8 months with blood clot
- Will Trump curb transgender rights? After election, community prepares for worst
- Sister Wives’ Madison Brush Details Why She Went “No Contact” With Dad Kody Brown
- Report: Lauri Markkanen signs 5-year, $238 million extension with Utah Jazz
- Week 10 fantasy football rankings: PPR, half-PPR and standard leagues
- Brush fire erupts in Brooklyn's iconic Prospect Park amid prolonged drought
- Ben Affleck and His Son Samuel, 12, Enjoy a Rare Night Out Together
Recommendation
Rolling Loud 2024: Lineup, how to stream the world's largest hip hop music festival
A Pipeline Runs Through It
Suspect arrested after deadly Tuskegee University homecoming shooting
'Climate change is real': New York parks employee killed as historic drought fuels blazes
Head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, allowing Trump to pick his successor
Fire crews gain greater control over destructive Southern California wildfire
Suspected shooter and four others are found dead in three Kansas homes, police say
The Cowboys, claiming to be 'all in' prior to Dak Prescott's injury, are in a rare spot: Irrelevance