LONDON: A case in a London court to extradite Arif Naqvi, the founder of collapsed private equity firm Abraaj, to the US on fraud charges was adjourned until April 26, a court official said on Thursday.
The official said that a former managing partner of Dubai-based Abraaj, Sev Vettivetpillai, had also been arrested and was facing a US extradition request linked to the same charges.
While at Abraaj, Vettivetpillai was head of impact investing in a role that oversaw the firm’s troubled health care fund. Abraaj’s executives are facing US charges that they defrauded investors, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that Naqvi and his firm raised money for the Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund, collecting more than $100 million over three years from US-based charities and other US investors.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Naqvi misappropriated money from the health fund and commingled the assets with corporate funds of Abraaj Investment Management and its parent company, and used it for purposes unrelated to the health fund.
Naqvi pleaded innocent last week in a statement released through a PR firm.
He was arrested in the UK earlier this month, while managing partner Mustafa Abdel-Wadood was arrested at a New York hotel, Assistant US Attorney Andrea Griswold told a Manhattan federal court on April 11.
Abraaj founder’s extradition hearing adjourned
Updated 18 April 2019
Abraaj founder’s extradition hearing adjourned
- The US alleges that Arif Naqvi and his firm raised money for the Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund, collecting more than $100 million over three years from US-based charities and investors
- According to the SEC’s complaint, Naqvi misappropriated money from the health fund and commingled the assets with corporate funds of Abraaj Investment Management
