Cryptocurrency chief facing extradition from UK to US on fraud charges

LONDON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - The British-based chief executive of a cryptocurrency company who is wanted in the United States on charges of wire fraud and market manipulation faces being sent to the U.S. to stand trial after he lost his fight against extradition last week.

Manpreet Kohli, a 45-year-old Indian national, was the leader of Saitama, a company that promoted a token on the ethereum blockchain, which at one point had a market value of $7.5 billion.

He was arrested in London in 2024 after U.S. prosecutors accused him and more than a dozen others of engaging in widespread fraud, following an investigation in which the FBI for the first time set up a digital token to ferret out crime.

Prosecutors alleged Kohli and his co-conspirators claimed to be holding and purchasing Saitama tokens, while privately selling them for millions of dollars in profit. Kohli is said to have made around $20 million.

Kohli fought against extradition, including on the grounds that in the U.S. there would be inadequate measures to prevent him taking his own life in custody.

But Judge Samuel Goozee rejected Kohli's challenge on August 19 and sent his case to British ministers to decide whether to order his extradition, a step which is usually a formality.

"I find there are clearly appropriate arrangements in place both during transit and within the prison system in the U.S. to be able to cope with (Kohli's) mental health and reduce the risk of suicide to an acceptable level," Goozee said in his ruling.

Kohli remains free on £200,000 ($272,420) bail and can appeal against the ruling. He could not be contacted for comment.

Earlier this month, a federal judge in Boston rejected his bid to have the indictment against him dismissed on the grounds that the Saitama token cannot legally be considered a security subject to regulation under U.S. securities law.

Kohli's U.S. lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

($1 = 0.7342 pounds)

(Reporting by Sam Tobin in London and Nate Raymond in Boston;Editing by Tomasz Janowski)