A lawyer for Richard Chichakli said the long-time Viktor Bout confidante will apply for bail while fighting U.S. extradition efforts from his Australian detention cell. Appearing at a second hearing after his arrest last week, the lawyer also claimed Chichakli suffered from “Gulf War syndrome” as a result of a early 1990s stint in the U.S. Army.
Chichakli, who has U.S.-Syrian citizenship, has been a fugitive since 2005, when federal agents raised his Dallas suburban offices as part of expanding financial sanctiions against the Bout arms network. After agents seized documents, diamonds and other materials in the raids, Chichakli fled the U.S. using frequent flyer air miles and finally turned up in Moscow, where he had continued to aid Bout and taunt U.S. officials.
Australian news media report that Chichakli showed in that country two years ago, when he set up a cleaning business under the alias Jehad Almustafa. A second business, a carpet-cleaning operation, was also registered under that alias.
In a court hearing in Melbourne Thursday, Chichakli did not speak. His lawyer told an Australian magistrate that they would press for bail in dealing with a U.S. extradition effort expected in the next 60 days since his arrest. U.S. prosecutors in New York are seeking to put Chichakli on trial there on charges of attempting to purchase aircraft to use in arms trafficking deals _ charges that were leveled at Bout before his 2011 conviction on conspiracy charges. Bout is serving a 25-year prison sentence at a federal prison in Marion, Ill.
Chichakli previously claimed service in the U.S. Army during the Gulf War and posted records documenting the stint on his website, which also carries photographs of fruit plates he created as a culinary hobby. In was not immedately clear what Gulf War syndrome symptoms Chichakli claims. The disorder covers a wide range of ailments, including fatigue, muscle pain and cognitive problems.
—The Age, “An alleged associate of an international arms dealer will apply for bail ahead of a hearing over his extradition to the US, a Melbourne court has heard.”
—The Australian, “International fugitive Richard Chichakli, arrested in Melbourne this week, had been living in Australia for the past two years, using an alias to work as a cleaner in an outer suburb.”
—The New Yorker, “It’s tough to know what Chichakli, who was arrested in Melbourne last week, after his real name popped up on a watch list during that background check, could have been thinking.”