British Indian former couple fight extradition to US over alleged cancer drug fraud
A British Indian businessman and his former wife are fighting extradition from the UK to the US over allegations that they defrauded American healthcare programmes of millions of dollars by supplying cancer drugs that were not approved by US regulators.
Sukhi Ghuman and Kiranjit Ghuman, both 48 and now based in the UK, appeared before Westminster Magistrates' Court in London last week for an extradition hearing.
The couple, who have since divorced, deny the allegations. They are also wanted in the US in connection with separate drug smuggling charges.
According to court reports, the District Court for the Southern District of California in San Diego issued a warrant for their arrest in October 2023.
Representing the US government, barrister Peter Caldwell KC told the court that an investigation between September 2019 and April 2023 found that the pair had allegedly fraudulently obtained millions of dollars from Medicare and other US health insurance programmes.
Prosecutors allege that the Ghumans acquired inexpensive chemotherapy and other medicines from overseas that had not been approved for use in the US and administered them to cancer patients at oncology clinics they controlled in California and Arizona.
Some of the medicines were also allegedly out of date, the prosecution claimed.
The US extradition request further alleges that one of their oncology clinics bought FDA-approved medicines from US medical wholesalers and subsequently resold them without the required licence.
The alleged offences were committed while the couple were living in the US, the court heard.
The separate drug smuggling charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted.
The defence teams have challenged the extradition on human rights grounds. The court is expected to deliver its ruling at a later date.
