A 39-year-old man wanted by US authorities over an alleged multi-million-dollar health fraud has been arrested at Faro Airport.
The suspect was detained on Tuesday, March 4, by officers from the southern directorate of the Polícia Judiciária criminal police (PJ). He is now facing extradition to the United States.
According to the PJ, the arrest was carried out as part of international police cooperation, following the sharing of information that allowed officers to locate the man and act on an international arrest warrant issued by US judicial authorities.
American officials suspect the man is guilty of fraudulently obtaining more than 30 million US dollars (nearly €26 million) in Medicare benefits – the US federal health insurance programme. The alleged scheme involved around 370,000 false reimbursement claims for Covid-19 diagnostic tests in 2023 that were never delivered or even requested.
Investigators believe the suspect had been moving between Portugal and the Netherlands and was reportedly about to board a flight to the Netherlands when he was stopped at Faro Airport.
The man will now appear before a judge at Évora’s Court of Appeal, which will decide on the request for his extradition to the United States.
