Man accused of faking his death and fleeing to Scotland stands trial in the US
Nicholas Alahverdian, who is better known as Nicholas Rossi, has pleaded not guilty to charges of sexually assaulting two women in Utah in 2008.
The 38-year-old will stand trial for two cases separately, with the first now underway in Salt Lake City.
Rossi was arrested in Scotland in 2021 - a year after he was reported dead.
An obituary published online in February 2020 claimed he died of late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma but state police, along with Rossi's former lawyer and a former foster family, doubted his death.
Then staff at a Glasgow hospital recognised his tattoos from an Interpol notice while he was receiving treatment for covid-19 and alerted authorities.
Rossi lost his attempt to appeal his extradition, where he claimed he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who had never set foot on American soil and was being framed.
He was extradited to Utah in January 2024.
Prosecutors said they had identified at least a dozen aliases Rossi had used over the years to evade capture.
Rossi's first trial by jury began at Salt Lake City on Monday.
The court heard Rossi had a relationship with the woman who accused him of rape.
Deputy Salt Lake County District Attorney Brandon Simmons told the court Rossi was an intelligent man who used his charm to take advantage of a vulnerable young woman but when she pushed back against his attempts to control her, he raped her.
Rossi appeared in court in a wheelchair, wearing a suit and tie and using an oxygen tank.
The alleged victim identified him from the witness stand, saying he was 'a little bit heavier, a little bit older' but mostly looked the same.
The court heard the couple's relationship began in November 2008 when the woman - who cannot be identified - was recovering from a traumatic brain injury.
The pair met through a personal advert Rossi posted on Craigslist and were engaged within about two weeks.
The woman described being asked to pay for their dates, cover Rossi's rent so he would not be evicted from his apartment and take on debt to buy their engagement rings.
'I was a little bit more of a timid person back then, and so it was harder for me to stand up for myself,' she told the jury."
She also told the court the relationship spiraled quickly after their engagement, with Rossi 'becoming controlling and saying mean things to me'.
She decided to end the relationship and agreed to go to Rossi's house to talk, which is when the alleged rape occurred.
Rossi's lawyers said the alleged victim had built up years of resentment after Rossi made her foot the bill for everything in their monthlong relationship, and accused him of rape to get back at him a decade later when she saw him in the news.
'This case is like an old puzzle from the thrift store," said MacKenzie Potter, one of Rossi's attorneys.
"It's 13 years old, not all the pieces are there, some pieces are from a different puzzle."
"And when you start going through everything, you're not going to get a complete picture.'
The trial continues.
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BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
US fugitive Nicholas Rossi claimed girlfriend 'raped him'
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