CHICAGO (WLS) — Efforts are being made in the legal system to continue prosecuting a wealthy foreign businessman who has been on the run for almost ten years due to corruption charges.
Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash views a recent court ruling in Austria as the conclusion of his long-standing legal battle. For close to a decade, Firtash has been resisting extradition to Chicago by the U.S. Justice Department after being arrested by the FBI for his alleged involvement in a bribery scheme related to an aviation contract.
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“I am positive the truth is on our side and I’m sure we will be able to defend ourselves,” Firtash told the I-Team in a June 2022 interview.
It’s a defense a decade in the making, that oligarch Dmitry Firtash may never even have to use in a courtroom in Chicago.
Dan Webb, Firtash’s well-known attorney and former federal prosecutor in Chicago, stated that the case has officially come to an end with the recent decision in Vienna that denied Firtash’s extradition to face charges in Chicago.
“There’s always room for an appeal. Now, you typically lose appeals. You don’t win appeals on average, which certainly looks good for him, but there is one more avenue of relief for the government,” said former federal prosecutor and chief ABC7 legal analyst Gil Soffer.
He points to I-Team reporting for years in which U.S. officials claimed Firtash was part of an alleged scheme to bribe government officials in India; at least $18.5 million in corrupt payments linked to a titanium deal with then Chicago-based Boeing, the aviation giant. Boeing is not charged with wrongdoing, and Firtash has maintained he has never even been to Chicago.
READ MORE | Dmitry Firtash, Ukrainian oligarch wanted in Chicago, now wanted for embezzling $485M from homeland
An unusually pointed statement from prosecutors Friday says, “We disagree with the Austrian court’s conclusion that Mr. Firtash cannot be extradited to the U.S. solely on the basis that he is allegedly in possession of diplomatic credentials from Belarus, particularly since those credentials would have been provided to him after he was arrested in Austria in 2014. We anticipate that the court’s decision and its erroneous recognition of diplomatic immunity will be appealed.”
“They want white collar, future white collar defendants to know that DOJ will pursue them to the ends of justice and to the ends of the earth,” Soffer told the I-Team.
Firtash attorney Dan Webb believes the finale is final and there will be no extradition to Chicago.
The government disagrees and prepares to fight another day.
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