US asks Cyprus to extradite ‘fraudster’

The US Attorney’s Office asked Cypriot authorities to extradite a Greek-American man accused of using various methods, including Internet auction scams, to defraud victims of more than $1 million, court sources said yesterday. Evangelos Soukas, 26, was arrested at Larnaca airport last month after Cypriot police were tipped off by the FBI, which had been hunting him since 2001. Soukas, officially a resident of Monroe in the state of Washington, has been indicted in the US on 50 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, ID theft and false tax claims. Among the charges is that he advertised expensive electronic equipment, such as laptop computers, but purchasers never received the products despite paying for them. One customer was sent a box of rocks and styrofoam packing, said the US Attorney’s Office. Soukas is alleged to have fled the US for Greece in 2000 to avoid arrest.