Rome: A court in Turin has approved a US
extradition request for a fugitive American doctor accused of
fraud and malpractice who was found in a tent near Mont Blanc,
a prosecutor said on Thursday.
Deputy chief prosecutor Gianfranco Burino said Mark
Weinberger, arrested December 15 near Italy`s northern border
with France, didn`t fight extradition at Tuesday`s hearing.
It`s now up to the Justice Ministry to decide how to
proceed. A ministry spokesman said Justice Minister Angelino
Alfano has 40 days, starting from when the court`s decision
arrives at the ministry, to decide whether to return
Weinberger to the United States.
Weinberger, of Merrillville, Indiana, was indicted by
a federal grand jury in Hammond, Indiana, in 2006 on 22 counts
of fraud for allegedly scheming to overbill insurance
companies for procedures that were either not needed or
sometimes never performed.
In addition, Weinberger is facing around 300 civil
claims filed by patients against him, his Merrillville
attorney James Hough has said.
He was discovered after a mountain guide tipped off
authorities that he was in Val Ferret, living in a tent with
high-tech mountain survival gear. Police say he stabbed
himself in the neck with a knife he had hidden as he was taken
into custody.
PTI
