British police arrest Washington ’security consultant’ wanted in US on fraud charges

UK police arrest man wanted in US on fraud charges

LONDON — British police have arrested a former Washington security consultant wanted in the United States for allegedly defrauding a client of more than $2 million, Scotland Yard said Wednesday.

Kevin Halligen, 48, was detained after staff at a British hotel recognized him from a newspaper article.

The Metropolitan Police said Halligen, an Irish national, was being held on a U.S. extradition warrant and would appear in a London court later Wednesday or Thursday.

Halligen was indicted in Washington on Nov. 12, accused of taking $2.1 million intended to help secure the release of two corporate executives detained in West Africa. Prosecutors say Halligen used the money for personal benefit, including the purchase of a Virginia mansion.

Staff at a hotel in Oxford, southern England, said Halligen was arrested Tuesday when the manager called police after seeing his photo in a newspaper story. He had been staying there under an assumed name.

The Sunday Times had run a report on the Dublin-born Halligen, saying he had gained defense and security contracts by claiming to be a former British secret agent.

“To us, he was just an ordinary, well-behaved guest until the newspapers disclosed more at the weekend,” said David Harris, finance director of the Old Bank Hotel.

The U.S. indictment says Halligen engaged in a scheme to defraud a London law firm between November 2006 and January 2007. He is charged with wire fraud and money laundering.

British media reported that the law firm was employed by Dutch commodities-trading company Trafigura Beheer BV.

Several thousand people sought medical treatment after waste from a tanker chartered by Trafigura was dumped around Abidjan in Ivory Coast in 2006.

The following year Trafigura paid €152 million to help clean up the waste and secure the release of executives detained for several months in the West African country. It has never admitted responsibility for the dumping.

Halligen also was involved for a time in the hunt for missing British toddler Madeleine McCann.

His Washington-based firm, Oakley International Group, was hired by the McCann family to help find Madeleine, who disappeared from a holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007 aged 3.

The McCann family said they ended their association with Oakley more than a year ago.