An American man wanted for fraud in the United States has been freed by the Supreme Court in Tonga.
Lord Chief Justice Paulsen set aside a magistrate’s court ruling that Antone Thomas Pedras be held in custody until he was extradited to the US.
Pedras, also known as Chris Pedras and Christopher A.T. Pedras, was wanted on charges of defrauding investors of more than USS$5 million.
The United States has sought his extradition from Tonga under the Extradition Act so he could stand trial on 11 counts of wire fraud, which is an offence against Title 18, United States Code, section 1343.
On 19 April 2016 the Magistrates’ Court made an order that Pedras be committed to await his return to the United States of America to stand trial on April 19.
Pedras sought to have the decision overturned by application for habeus corpus under section 10 of the Act.
In essence, extradition is allowed if the crime of which the person is accused in one country can be shown to be also a crime in another. This is termed a relevant offence.
The Crown claimed that wire fraud was a relevant offence because it was “the same or similar to the offence of obtaining by false pretences under section 164 of the Criminal Offences Act.”
Section 164 says that “Every person who by any false pretence obtains for himself or for any other person any money, valuable security or other thing whatever shall be liable to the same punishment as if he had committed theft.”
Lord Chief justice Paulsen rejected this argument.
“The requirements in section 1343 that the accused devised or is intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud and makes a transmission by wire (which I shall use as shorthand for wire, radio or television communication) are absent from section 164,” the judge said.
“The requirement in section 164 that the accused obtains for himself or another any money, valuable security or other thing is not present in section 1343, where the offence is completed upon the making of the transmission by wire regardless of whether the fraudulent scheme or artifice profits the accused.
“The offence of obtaining by false pretences under section 164 requires that it be proved that the accused has by making the false pretence obtained some money, valuable security or other thing.”
This was not a requirement of the offence of wire fraud under section 1343.
The judge therefore set aside the order committing Mr. Pedras to custody for return to the United States of America to stand trial and he was immediately released.
The main points
- An American man wanted for fraud in the United States has been freed by the Supreme Court in Tonga.
- Lord Chief Justice Paulsen set aside a magistrate’s court ruling that Antone Thomas Pedras be held in custody until he was extradited to the US.
- Pedras, also known as Chris Pedras and Christopher A.T. Pedras, was wanted on charges of defrauding investors of more than USS$5 million.
- The United States has sought his extradition from Tonga under the Extradition Act so he could stand trial on 11 counts of wire fraud, which is an offence against Title 18, United States Code, section
