Extradition warning in fraud cases

Directors of publicly listed companies with just one shareholder in the US could face the threat of extradition in cases of alleged fraud or false accounting, a prominent barrister has warned. Alan Jones, QC, told a special extradition conference that under recently revised US-UK rules, any director or chief executive could be extradited to the US to be tried for fraud if his or her company's allegedly inaccurate financial reports were published in a US newspaper to a solitary US shareholder. The risk would apply even if UK authorities declined to prosecute.

"A UK national may now be extradited to the US where he is accused of ' conduct which took place mostly in the UK - even where the UK authorities have declined to prosecute him," said Ms Jones, who acted for the three former NatWest investment bankers who are fighting extradition over Enron-related fraud charges.