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A man extradited from Scotland continues to claim he's not the person charged in 2 Utah rape cases
A man accused of faking his own death and fleeing the U.S. to avoid rape charges continued to deny he is the man identified in the case during an online court appearance from jail Tuesday.
Nicholas Rossi, 36, made the appearance after missing two January court dates with no explanation. After Utah 4th District Judge Derek Pullan in Provo cleared jail officials to use reasonable force to get him to show, Rossi made his initial appearance seated behind a green gas tank and wearing an oxygen mask.
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Pullan asked Rossi if he had received the charging document accusing him of raping a 21-year-old woman in Orem, Utah, in 2008.
“I’m not Nicholas Rossi, for the record,” he responded in a rasping voice with a British accent. “But I have received the document.”
Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, has used several aliases and said he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who never set foot on American soil. He did not elaborate on his identity Tuesday, and Pullan didn’t ask before setting his next court appearance for March 5.
Rossi lost an appeal against his extradition from Scotland. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
Rossi made similar claims in a court hearing in January. He was extradited to the U.S. from Scotland earlier that month.
Rossi was not identified as a suspect in the Orem rape for about a decade due to a backlog of DNA test kits at the Utah State Crime Lab. He also faces a felony charge in Salt Lake County, where prosecutors allege he raped a 26-year-old former girlfriend after an argument, also in 2008.
He faces multiple other complaints against him in Rhode Island and Ohio for alleged domestic violence, sexual abuse and fraud.
The American fugitive grew up in foster homes in Rhode Island and had returned to the state before allegedly faking his death and fleeing the country. An obituary published online claimed Rossi died Feb. 29, 2020, of late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Authorities and his former foster family doubted his death.
Rossi was arrested in Scotland in 2021 after being recognized at a Glasgow hospital during treatment for COVID-19. He lost an extradition appeal in the country in December.
President Donald Trump on Friday threatened a 100% tariff on imports from any country that imposes a tax on digital services provided by United States companies.
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In a social media post, Trump took aim at European countries, he said, that are discussing the “imminent” implementation of taxes on American companies.
The US president has repeatedly sought to use tariffs to deter such taxes, but many countries are seeking revenue as their economies increasingly operate in digital realms dominated by American companies.
“Please let this statement serve to represent that any Country that imposes such a Tax will immediately be met with a 100% tariff on any and all Goods sent to the United States of America,” Trump wrote.
He added that the new tax would supersede any previously negotiated trade deals. Trump said the penalty would apply to any country that moves forward with such a tax, but he singled out European nations in his post.
Trump has consistently opposed international attempts to tax or regulate American tech giants. Last year, he threatened fresh tariffs on any nation attempting to do so, writing in a post last August that digital taxes and regulations “are all designed to harm, or discriminate against, American Technology.”
The warning arrives just ahead of Trump’s 4 July deadline for the European Union and the US to begin implementing a trade agreement that caps most tariffs on EU exports at 15%.
The EU finalised that trade deal with the United States in May. It followed months of internal EU debate after European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen initially reached a tentative agreement last year during a visit to Trump’s golf course in Scotland.
The issue of digital tax remained unresolved
Digital taxes were excluded from that pact and remain a primary source of friction between the US and the European bloc.
While the US government has previously launched Section 301 investigations into digital services taxes, it remains unclear how Trump intends to enforce his latest threat, or whether the tariffs would be applied globally or targeted at specific countries first.
Britain, having left the EU, has levied its own 2% digital services tax since 2020 on revenue generated by search engines, social media platforms and online marketplaces that “derive value” from UK users.
In a policy document released at the time, the British government argued that existing corporate tax rules for digital firms had “led to a misalignment between the place where profits are taxed and the place where value is created.”
The UK tax features specific thresholds, ensuring it is primarily paid by major multinational corporations. The policy was implemented to “ensure the large multinational businesses in-scope make a fair contribution to supporting vital public services,” the document noted.
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Video captured a large emergency response after a small plane crashed into Beijing’s tallest skyscraper on Friday, prompting an immediate information blackout from Chinese authorities, The Associated Press reported.
Video and photos shared on social media appear to show the aircraft plummeting to the ground after smashing a large hole in the 108-story CITIC Tower, located in the Chinese capital’s business district.
Police, fire and EMS workers were spotted at the scene preventing witnesses from taking photos and attempting to clear the area.
People gather near the CITIC Tower in Beijing on June 26, 2026, after an eyewitness reported plane debris at the base of Beijing’s tallest building. Video footage taken from a nearby building by the witness showed fire trucks blasting water at smoke billowing from the 528-metre (1,732-foot) CITIC Tower, while the wreck of a plane lay on the ground beside the building. (Adek Berry/AFP via Getty Images)
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A person working inside the high-rise said the plane crash triggered the building’s fire alarms.
Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 indicated the aircraft was a Sunward SA 60L Aurora, which took off about 30 miles east of the city and crashed shortly before 6 p.m. local time.
ADS-B data for the flight only includes a partial flight path and stops prior to the crash, according to air traffic data.
A hole is seen (R) on the side of the CITIC Tower in Beijing on June 26, 2026, after a reported plane crash. (Peter Catterall/AFP via Getty Images)
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The AP reported that photos and videos of the incident escaped the country’s “great firewall” and were circulated on social media platform X, though Chinese censors have removed content about the crash from the country’s restricted internet.
No information has been released by government officials or state-run media, as of Friday afternoon.
Police personnel block the road near the CITIC Tower in Beijing on June 26, 2026. (Adek Berry/AFP via Getty Images)
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The cause of the crash, identity of the pilot, and the number of casualties remain unclear.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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