Nicholas Rossi: Fugitive who fled to Scotland found guilty of rape in US court

Nicholas Rossi, a fugitive who had to be extradited from Scotland, has been found guilty of rape in Utah.

Rossi was accused of raping a woman he was engaged to in November 2008 in the US state.

Following a three-day trial in a Utah County court, the jury found him guilty of first-degree felony rape after eight hours of deliberation.

The offence is punishable by five years to life in the Utah State Correctional Facility.

The convicted felon will be sentenced on October 20, 2025. Rossi also faces a separate allegation of rape in neighbouring Salt Lake County in 2008.

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill Said: “Every survivor of sexual assault gets to choose when they tell their story.

“If you are a survivor of sexual assault and have been suffering in silence, when you are ready, we ask that you come forward and report it. If it isn’t reported, it can’t be investigated.

“If it isn’t investigated, it can’t be prosecuted, and if it isn’t prosecuted, justice cannot be served.”

Rossi was extradited to the US from Scotland in January 2024 following a lengthy case in the Scottish courts.

During his time in Scotland, he claimed to be Arthur Knight.

But last October, during a bail hearing in Utah, Rossi admitted for the first time that he and the alias are the same person.

He denied fleeing to the UK in 2017 and faking his death to evade arrest,

He claimed he had hidden his identity to escape “credible threats against his life”.

Rossi refused to name those he claimed had threatened to kill him, telling the state prosecutor: “I don’t want to give a mouse cheese.”

The court was told that the prosecution and defence agree that Nicholas Alahverdian is the same person identified as Nicholas Rossi, that he was in Utah in 2008, and that he had a relationship with the complainant at this time.

The victim told the court she was living with her parents, recovering from a car accident which had left her with a traumatic brain injury, when she met Rossi online.

She described Rossi as “very charming” but claimed he became controlling and was “constantly borrowing money” from her.

“He started to become very controlling and dictated how I dressed,” she said.

The victim recalled trying to end the relationship and claimed Rossi flew into a rage that forced her to lock herself in her car.

“It was the first time I’d ever seen rage in his eyes. I don’t remember what he was yelling. He was hitting the car. I was just sitting there, hoping he would stop,” she said.

She told the court that it was the middle of winter, so she agreed to drive him home.

She recalled how he pretended he had called the police en route and kept her in the car for an hour waiting for officers to arrive before they went into his apartment.

The woman started to cry as she described how, once inside, he raped her.

She said: “I was numb and scared. I didn’t know what else he was capable of. “

The woman said she got dressed and left, and on the drive home, she decided never to see him again. The court was told in the days that followed that she changed her phone number, but he continued to email her.

When asked why she didn’t go to the police, she became upset.

“No, because I went to my parents and they didn’t help me. They didn’t listen,” she said.

The woman contacted the district attorney’s office 13 years after the alleged attack, after seeing an article online about a case in Utah County involving Rossi.

Who is Nicholas Rossi?

The court heard evidence that police located Nicholas Alahverdian in Bristol in 2020, where he was calling himself Arthur Knight.

In July 2022, charges were filed in Utah, and he denied being Nicholas Rossi and Nicholas Alahverdian. He spoke in a British accent and insisted he was a victim of mistaken identity.

Finally, in 2024, the jury heard that he agreed that he is Nicholas Rossi.

The prosecutor told the jury: “Listen carefully to the evidence throughout this trial. We will ask you to find the defendant guilty of rape.”

The defence compared the case to an “old puzzle found in a thrift shop”, as there are “missing pieces” and there will not be “a complete picture”.