Partner Richard Cannon comments on his successful Supreme Court extradition challenge in El-Khouri v Government of the United States of America

The Supreme Court this week handed down landmark judgment in the case of El-Khouri (Appellant) v Government of the United States of America (Respondent), quashing the order to extradite Mr El-Khouri to the United States and overturning a 20-year-old House of Lords precedent.

Mr El-Khouri, who holds dual Lebanese-British citizenship and lives in London, was accused by the US of making nearly $2 million from Insider Dealing.

Richard Cannon, solicitor for Mr El-Khouri, commented:

“Today in a landmark judgment the Supreme Court quashed the order to extradite Mr El-Khouri to the United States and discharged him.

“For our client and his children, this ruling brings to an end a 5 and a half year nightmare, which began with his arrest in 2019.

“Today’s judgment represents a push back from the UK’s highest court on attempts by foreign states to seek extradition from the UK where the alleged unlawful conduct physically occurred outside of that country.

“From the outset, it has been clear that London was at the centre of the alleged misconduct in this case and the links to the US were tenuous. However, the US authorities relied upon the intended consequences of the alleged unlawful conduct to try to establish in law that it occurred inside their territory, relying upon a 20-year-old House of Lords precedent.

“The Supreme Court effectively overturned this precedent and found that in similar cases in the future the Court would not be concerned with where the consequences of conduct were felt, but with where the conduct physically took place. If the conduct took place abroad, the UK Court will only order extradition if it is satisfied that in corresponding circumstances equivalent conduct could justify extradition to or prosecution in the UK. In other words, UK law on extra territoriality will govern – rather than the law of the requesting state.

“This represents an important check on overreach by the US authorities in the way the US/UK extradition treaty operates.”

The case was covered widely in the press, including in the Financial Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, The Times and The Daily Mail.

A link to the High Court’s judgment can be found here.