A Prichard city councilman arrested last month on insurance fraud charges withdrew his request to visit Brazil during Carnival as prosecutors said they were concerned extraditing him may be “impossible.”
Derrick Griffin said his vacation to Rio de Janeiro from Wednesday through Monday was planned before his January arrest, according to filings Monday in Mobile County Circuit Court.
Griffin’s lawyer argued the councilman “is not a flight risk” and has complied with the terms of his bond and that prosecutors were not opposed to the vacation as long as Griffin posted details of the trip with the court.
But in his response to the request, Assistant Mobile County District Attorney Clay Rossi said prosecutors objecting to the trip, calling it “problematic.”
“The state has reviewed available materials outlining the current extradition treaty agreements between the United States and Brazil and had concerns that, if needed, extradition of the defendant would be needlessly difficult and perhaps impossible,” Rossi wrote the court.
Rossi cited a case of the Brazilian government refusing to extradite a Russian spy to the United States to convey the office’s concern about Griffin.
The Prichard councilman then withdrew his request for vacation.
Griffin was indicted by a Mobile County grand jury in December after prosecutors presented the panel with evidence that he “made fraudulent representations on two different occasions in connection with an insurance policy,” Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood said at the time.
The charges stem from Griffin allegedly misrepresenting on his insurance policies that he acquired a vehicle he did not own, the DA’s office said.