Sukhi Ghuman and his ex-wife Kiranjit Ghuman face a five-day extradition hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court as the United States government seeks their trial over an alleged multimillion-dollar cancer drug fraud and separate drug smuggling charges. Peter Caldwell KC, representing the US government, told the court that an investigation spanning from September 2019 to April 2023 uncovered a scheme where the pair allegedly obtained cheap, unapproved chemotherapy and other foreign medications to treat patients at oncology clinics they controlled in California and Arizona.
Extradition Proceedings at Westminster Magistrates’ Court
The legal proceedings in London follow an October 2023 arrest warrant issued by the District Court of the Southern District of California in San Diego. Prosecutors allege the defendants acquired unapproved and sometimes out-of-date medicines from overseas, then billed US federal health insurance program Medicare and other providers as though patients were receiving costly, FDA-approved drugs. US investigators stated that clinics submitted more than $9.6m in fraudulent billing, which resulted in payouts exceeding $2.9m.
The extradition request also details a separate scheme in which one of the pair’s clinics allegedly purchased FDA-approved drugs from domestic medical wholesalers and resold them without the proper license. During searches of the clinics, US investigators reported finding traces of non-approved drugs discarded in trash and unused items stored in refrigerators. If convicted in the US, the drug smuggling charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in custody.
Defense Position and Counter-Allegations
Sukhi Ghuman, 48, of Syerston Hall near Newark, has consistently denied any wrongdoing. In previous statements to the BBC, he asserted that he was attempting to help patients who could not afford standard cancer treatments and disputed the prosecution’s claim that he profited from the operation. His ex-wife, Kiranjit Ghuman, also 48, is named alongside him in the extradition request. The ongoing hearings at Westminster Magistrates’ Court will determine whether both individuals are surrendered to face trial in California.
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