Man who denies he's Alahverdian says others were arrested as the RI fugitive con man
Imagine a world with four Nicholas Alahverdians, all under arrest for being the international fugitive from Rhode Island who faked his death.
That would be enough for a version of the old game show "To Tell the Truth," where a panel of guests competed to identify which of three contestants was really the person they all claimed to be.
According to the only man now publicly charged with being Alahverdian — and facing rape and fraud charges back in the United States — something similar is actually happening.
In an 80-minute phone interview with The Providence Journal over the weekend, the man who calls himself Arthur Knight, an online public relations professional from Glasgow, Scotland, says he has learned that law enforcement authorities actually have three other men in custody around the world, all arrested on suspicion of being the con man Alahverdian.
'A dangerous mind': News of Nick Alahverdian's fake death shocks those who took him in
Their arrests, he appeared to argue, somehow supported his claim that he was not Alahverdian, providing one more odd twist to an already head-scratching tale.
“We’re advised that three other individuals are currently under arrest and for some reason this is the only arrest that has been leaked,” he said, speaking with some kind of accent and with labored breaths as he recovers apparently from COVID-19.
Interview with the man known as Arthur Knight
On the phone with him was his wife of two years, Miranda, who had to interpret several times what her husband was trying to convey.
“The only reason my case went public was because I was in intensive care … and hadn’t been seen in Glasgow for a month,” he said.
The man did not explain how his hospitalization led to news of his arrest on Dec. 13.
Miranda added that the three other men charged with being the fugitive Alahverdian, had been arrested in France, Russia and the United States.
And then the couple was off on other supposedly-related topics, though the connections weren’t always clear, such as their point that the real Alahverdian had once been a victim of identity theft from an upset fellow Mormon.
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At the start of the interview Saturday the man wanted assurances that “that chap in the video” wasn’t listening in to the phone conversation.
He was referring to Brian Coogan, a former friend of Alahverdian’s, who was in The Providence Journal newsroom earlier this month when a British television network called him, via Facetime, for assistance identifying whether Arthur Knight was actually Nick Alahverdian.
Coogan, who says he almost adopted Alahverdian 20 years ago when the boy was a ward of the state, was emphatic: that was indeed Alahverdian sitting there in Glasgow on his apartment couch.
Coogan pointed out the familiar scar next to the man’s right eye and challenged him to expose his two biceps where Alahverdian was known to have tattoos. That’s when the Facetime call abruptly ended.
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What about the tattoos?
Speaking to The Journal Saturday, the man said he found Coogan’s assertions “rather offensive” particularly when Coogan challenged his Irish heritage and said he was coming to Scotland to prove the man a liar.
But what about the tattoos? A Scottish prosecutor said Interpol authorities used them to identify Arthur Knight as Alahverdian.
“The question regarding tattoos is rather interesting because there are no tattoos on my body,” he said, then directed the conversation back to how he had caught COVID.
The man showed great familiarity with Alahverdian’s past, including his 2008 conviction for groping a college co-ed in Ohio and the allegation Alahverdian now faces that he raped a former girlfriend in Orem, Utah, just months later.
He questioned why authorities didn’t arrest Alahverdian then for rape since he apparently told authorities he had had relations with her.
He said he had educated himself about these incidents in case he has to show at his extradition hearing in April the shoddy work of prosecutors, particularly that of Utah County Attorney David Leavitt, who sought Alahverdian’s arrest on the rape charge months after he faked his death in Rhode Island in February 2020.
The man also sent The Journal 18 links of various news stories, many raising questions of Leavitt’s prosecutorial conduct.
What we found in Glasgow: We flew to Scotland to find the American who faked his own death
'I am not and have never been known by those names,' Alahverdian or Rossi
The man who calls himself Arthur Knight said “we’re not only attacking [Leavitt], we are attacking everything, and by everything, I include the claim that I have an identity or have even had an identity of Mr. Rossi (the surname formerly used by Alahverdian) or Mr. Alahverdian. I am not and have never been known by those names.”
Further, he said, “I have never been to the United States in my life.”
That might surprise Kenny Low, the owner of The Arlington pub around the corner from where Arthur Knight lives.
Low told The Journal the man was a regular last year and after a couple of beers would sometimes drop in to speaking with an American accent. Low said the reason the man gave was that he had once worked in the United States.
On Saturday the man said he had only been to The Arlington twice in his life.
Email Tom Mooney at: tmooney@providencejournal.com or call, 401-277-7359
More in this case:
Previously: He was reported dead, but the state police kept looking for Nick Alahverdian
Utah court: Documents detail rape charge against Nicholas AlahverdianMore: Nicholas Alahverdian re-arrested in Scotland after bail-review hearing
What motivates Nicholas Alahverdian? A mental-health expert evaluates the case
Extradition from Scotland: In Nicholas Alahverdian's case, how will it work?
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Man arrested in Scotland denies he's Nick Alahverdian, RI fugitive con man
