High Court Halts Extradition of RaidForums Admin to U.S.
The High Court in London has overturned the decision to extradite Portuguese national Diogo Santos Coelho to the United States. The young man, known by the alias Omnipotent, was the administrator of RaidForums, one of the largest hacking forums, according to DataBreaches.
The story began in January 2022, when Coelho traveled to the United Kingdom to visit his mother. He was arrested there, and for more than three years his fate has remained uncertain, as both the United States and Portugal have sought his extradition.
The U.S. has demanded his surrender on charges related to operating RaidForums, while Portugal issued its own warrant, citing harm to its organizations and citizens. Coelho himself has expressed a preference for extradition to Portugal and formally consented to it.
British authorities found themselves in a legal quandary. The law provides a specific procedure for cases where multiple nations request the extradition of the same individual, but those rules were not properly followed in his case.
The Home Secretary initially ruled that Coelho should be sent to the United States, but the decision was made hastily. The court determined that it was based on inaccurate documents and reached without considering the defense’s position.
The central issue was that Coelho had not been given the opportunity to present arguments in favor of extradition to Portugal. His case was never properly heard.
Judge Linden identified several violations. According to the ruling, the minister had been told that the charges brought by the U.S. and Portugal were “identical,” though the Portuguese warrant also included additional offenses — money laundering and tax fraud.
Furthermore, the decision relied on the assumption that all victims were located in the United States. In reality, evidence showed victims worldwide, including within Portugal itself.
The court also stressed that the Home Secretary had failed to take into account the more serious nature of Portugal’s charges, as well as Coelho’s personal ties to the country. He has been diagnosed with autism, faces an elevated risk of suicide, and has family in Portugal who could support him alongside therapeutic care.
Now the Home Office must reassess the competing requests. Coelho has won the right to present his arguments before a new decision is made.
As Coelho himself noted, this does not guarantee extradition to Portugal, but it gives his lawyers a chance to be heard. Among the defense’s arguments are the claims that some alleged crimes were committed when he was still a minor, and his status as a victim of human trafficking.
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