He was one of America's most wanted criminals when he faked his own death to avoid jail.
Nicholas Rossi was being treated for COVID-19 in a Glasgow hospital in December 2021 when he was arrested on suspicion of being a man wanted by authorities in Utah, US, for the alleged rape of a woman in 2008. The fugitive awoke from a coma in Scotland to discover police at the end of his bed.
Tonight, a Channel 4 documentary titled Imposter: The Man Who Came Back from the Dead, follows the long-running extradition battle of Rossi, who maintained it was a case of mistaken identity and insisted he was an Irish orphan named Arthur King who had never stepped foot on American soil.
Rossi repeatedly appeared in court and in several television interviews in a wheelchair, using an oxygen mask and speaking in a British accent as part of his ruse.
But Judge Norman McFadyen of Edinburgh Sheriff Court dismissed his claims of mistaken identity as "implausible" and "fanciful" after the man said he had been framed by authorities who tattooed him and secretly took his fingerprints while he was in a coma so they could connect him to Rossi.
"I conclude that he is as dishonest and deceitful as he is evasive and manipulative," McFadyen said. "These unfortunate facets of his character have undoubtedly complicated and extended what is ultimately a straightforward case."
US authorities said Rossie is one of several aliases the 36-year-old used and that his legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, who faces a 2008 rape charge in Utah. Alahverdian is charged with sexually assaulting a former girlfriend in Orem, Utah, according to the Utah County prosecutor's office.
The office said it found complaints alleging Alahverdian abused and threatened women in other states. Authorities in Rhode Island said Alahverdian is wanted there for failing to register as a sex offender, though his former lawyer, Jeffrey Pine, said the charge was dropped when he left the state.
Alahverdian, who grew up in Rhode Island, was an outspoken critic of the state's Department of Children, Youth and Families. He testified before state lawmakers that he was sexually abused and tortured in temporary shelters by employees and clients and eventually shipped out of state to facilities for troubled youths.
Three years ago, he told media in Rhode Island that he had late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma and had weeks to live. An obituary published online claimed he died on February 29, 2020. But in August, a Scottish court ruled that Rossi could be extradited to the US, and in January, he arrived in Utah to face charges.
It was claimed that he wrestled with staff on the tarmac to avoid getting on the flight to America. A source at the airport told the Daily Record: "The marshalls had to struggle with him and he obviously didn't want to get on that plane. He struggled so much his trousers ended up at his ankles."
The convicted sex offender has been accused of raping a woman in Utah in 2008 and another woman in Salt Lake County later that same year. District Attorney for Salt Lake County, Sim Gill, told BBC Scotland News in January that Rossi will face separate trials for each allegation.
- Imposter: The Man Who Came Back from the Dead airs on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight.