The United States government has had a major setback in their case against the mastermind of an internet steroid distribution empire that allegedly generated close to €40 million. Mihael Karner has successfully avoided extradition to the United States. Karner paid Austria €1 million to allow safe passage back to his home country of Slovenia.
Slovenia does not generally extradite its citizens. Extradition is reportedly forbidden in their Constitution. If Karner was extradited to the United States, he would have faced up to 40 years in prison on charges of steroid distribution into the United States.
Federal prosecutors indicted Karner and his wife in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts in March 2010 claiming the couple was responsible for selling hundreds of thousands of units of steroids between 2000 and 2008. While the sales amount of steroids have been reported to be around €40 million, Karner has disputed the figure as widely inaccurate.
U.S. prosecutors had been investigating Karner’s activities since 2005 but had not been able to pursue Karner since he was a foreign citizen who lived outside their reach in Austria. However, after continual pressure on European authorities and changes in Austrian doping laws, the U.S. convinced Austrian authorities to arrest Karner and his wife with their assistance.
The U.S. has had limited success convincing other countries to extradite steroid dealers. It was successful in the cases of “Musclebear” and “British Dragon” in which Cyprus and Thailand respectively extradited the owners to U.S. territory. However, it was not meant to be when it came to Karner – at least not yet.
The Department of Justice fully expected Austria to extradite Karner shortly thereafter. On a few occasions, the Austrian court had set a date for extradition. But Karner’s attorneys successfully blocked each and every ruling.
UPDATE: Karner apparently paid Austria €1 million as bail. He then illegally fled Slovenia. The Slovenia news site Siol.net apparently neglected to mention this detail.
Source:
Planet Siol.net (June 18, 2012). Karner: Na slovenski trg želim spraviti generično različico viagre. Retrieved from http://www.siol.net/novice/slovenija/2012/06/karner.aspx
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