Greek police arrest monk wanted for fraud
A man wanted in the US for defrauding hospitals out of around £6m (€8.83m) has been arrested in a Greek monastery where he spent the past few years as a monk, police in Thessaloniki said today.
The suspect, identified as Sergei Zholobetsky, 53, has been detained in the northern port city’s Diavata jail until Greek officials rule on an extradition request by US authorities.
Thessaloniki court officials said Zholobetsky was wanted on the strength of a 1996 US arrest warrant for fraud.
The suspect allegedly sold beds and wheelchairs to US hospitals which he never delivered.
Zholobetsky, who is of Russian origin, was arrested on yesterday in the monastery of St Panteleimon on the all-male Mount Athos monastic community east of Thessaloniki, where police said he had spent the past 5 or 6 years as a monk.
St Panteleimon, which houses Russian monks, was the focus of a one-day private pilgrimage to Mount Athos last month by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
