JUDGES in Spain have ruled that an alleged "criminal mastermind" from York should be extradited to the United States to stand trial for a multi-million dollar fraud.

Graham Gill, 73, from Bishopthorpe, is charged with earning $28 million from a massive investment guarantee scheme fraud in Colorado. He could face spending the rest of his life in jail if he is convicted.

He was arrested in January this year by Interpol and US agents, who engineered an elaborate "sting" operation in Madrid airport, involving the fake delivery of $370,000.

Since then Gill, who has dual British-American citizenship, has been behind bars in Madrid, waiting for a panel of judges in Spain's highest criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional, to decide his fate.

According to his lawyers, Gill has always maintained his innocence, and pledged to fight extradition. Gill's legal team argued that the pensioner had been held in Spain too long without charge, and should be released. But earlier this week, the Spanish authorities gave U.S. agents at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the go-ahead to extradite Gill, provided the time he has already served in jail in Madrid is taken into account if he is convicted.

A CBI spokesman told the Evening Press: "The only condition on his extradition is that he gets credit for the time he has already been incarcerated, and of course we have agreed to that.

"Because there is a federal, rather than a local warrant for his extradition, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is now trying to arrange transportation and pick-up from Spain, but we hope to send CBI agents to collect him."

CBI agent-in-charge Robert Brown, who led the manhunt for Gill and described him as "a financial crime mastermind", said he was delighted at the news.

He said: "Gill's battle against extradition is now pretty much over, and I would love to fly to Madrid in person to pick him up myself."

The extradition process could begin within weeks.

Updated: 10:58 Friday, August 19, 2005