Not even in a movie with a leading man Baron Munchausen not so many lies have been told… An American wanted for rape in his own country has been extradited from Scotland to the United States, in a ruling that ended an eventful manhunt that included a… staged death, a fake identity and imaginary health problems.

Police Scotland confirmed local press reports that they were assisting “collaborating agencies” in the extradition of 36-year-old Nicolas Rossi.

US justice was looking for the 36-year-old as part of the investigation into the rape of a woman in Utah in 2008 and other attacks.

In 2019, Rossi announced to his family that he was suffering from cancer in an advanced stage. He then posted his… obituary online and disappeared, to appear alive in Britain. Interpol was informed of the case and in October 2021 Rossi was arrested, when he contracted Covid-19 and was admitted to a hospital in Glasgow.

However, his imagination continued to work: he claimed to the police that his name was Arthur Knight and was an “orphan from Ireland.” The authorities were not convinced, especially since his tattoos were the same as the description given by Interpol. A court in Edinburgh found his explanations “unbelievable”, calling them “fantasy” after Rossi insisted police had arrested the wrong man and that a stranger who wanted to trap him had tattooed him without his knowledge while he was unconscious in hospital. He also claimed that his fingerprints were taken at the hospital the… changed to those of the wanted suspect.

During his extradition proceedings he appeared in court in pyjamas, in a wheelchair and on an oxygen mask, to pretend he was ill. But a doctor testified that there was no medical reason and assured that his legs were “athletic and strong”. At one point he appeared in attire that referred to an ultra-Orthodox Jew and claimed to have converted to Judaism while a prisoner.

British police are investigating, among other things, an allegation of rape allegedly committed by Rossi in 2017 in Chelmsford, northeast London.