A California prosecutor says the United States government will seek to extradite a New Zealand man charged with child sex trafficking and sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, if he is found to be in the country. He is currently "a fugitive" and is believed to have left the US, where he had lived since 2007, after being indicted with criminal charges in October last year. A parallel civil case has seen Pratt and Wolfe ordered to pay $19 million in damages to 22 women. "The tentative ruling does not affect the criminal case. "The findings of fact in the civil case do not carry over to the criminal case where the government will have to prove the facts under a much more stringent standard," the defence lawyers said in a statement. "

Source: Otago Daily Times January 08, 2020 20:48 UTC