Nicholas Rossi: Man accused of faking his death and posing as Irish orphan ‘Arthur Knight’ to avoid rape case faces US trial

Nicholas Rossi was extradited from Scotland to the United States in January following a lengthy trial in Scottish courts.

District Judge Barry Lawrence ruled during Rossi's preliminary hearing in Utah that prosecutors had presented enough evidence to warrant a jury trial, KTVX-TV reported.

Prosecutors allege that Rossi, 37, raped a 26-year-old ex-girlfriend after an argument in Salt Lake County in 2008.

In another case, he is accused of raping a 21-year-old woman in Orem, Utah, that same year. He was not identified as a suspect for about a decade because of a backlog of DNA testing at the Utah State Crime Lab.

Rossi, whose real name is Nicholas Alahverdian, has used several aliases and said he is an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who has never set foot on American soil and is being framed.

The American refugee grew up in foster homes in Rhode Island and returned to the state before allegedly faking his death and fleeing the country.

An obituary published online said Rossi died on February 29, 2020 from late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The authorities and his former foster family doubted his death.

Rossi was arrested in Scotland in 2021 after being diagnosed while receiving treatment for Covid-19 at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

In December he lost an extradition request in Scotland.

Utah County court records show Rossi also faces charges of sexual abuse, harassment and possible kidnapping in Rhode Island, Ohio and Massachusetts, KTVX-TV reported.