Former US Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan was extradited from Australia to the United States over allegations that he illegally trained Chinese pilots. Australian Attorney General Mark Dreyfus approved the extension on Monday, ending a nearly two-year effort by the Boston-born 55-year-old to avoid returning to the United States.
Duggan, who served in the Marines for 12 years before immigrating to Australia and renouncing his American citizenship, has been in a maximum security prison since to be arrested in 2022 at his family home in the state of New South Wales. He is the father of six children.
Dreyfus confirmed in a statement Monday that he had approved the extradition but did not say when Duggan would be transferred to the U.S.
Warwick Ponder / Leaflet via REUTERS
“Duggan was given the opportunity to make representations as to why he should not be extradited to the United States. When I came to my decision, I took into account all the material before me,” Dreyfus said in the statement.
In May, a judge in Sydney ruled that Duggan could be extradited to the United States, leaving an appeal to the attorney general as Duggan's last hope to stay in Australia. prosecutors said Duggan conspired with others to train Chinese military pilots in 2010 and 2012, and possibly at other times, without applying for a proper license.
Prosecutors say he received payments equal to $61,000 and international travel from another co-conspirator for what was sometimes described as “personal development training.”
If convicted, Duggan faces up to 60 years in prison.
He denies the allegations. “We are now considering our options.”
