An executive of an American company has pled guilty in U.S. federal court to concealing adverse events, including deaths of patients treated with its device at Dr. Joey John’s clinic in Antigua.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that ExThera’s Chief Regulatory Officer, Sanja Ilic, agreed to plead guilty to concealing the information from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates medical devices and treatments.
In a deal with the prosecution, ExThera agreed that it had “acted with intent to defraud and mislead” the FDA concerning John’s clinic.
Word is that Gaston Browne’s recent decision to name Sir Joey as Governor General is to use King Charles III as a shield to defend the ABLP crony from possible U.S. prosecution.
The plea deal can be seen here.
The New York Times reported that ExThera chose Antigua as the site of the blood filtering experimental treatment because it was “out of reach of American regulators.”
U.S. jurisdiction can still reach him in certain circumstances, especially if U.S. patients, U.S. wires, or U.S. companies are involved, or if he travels to or has assets in the United States.
There is no public indication as of today that Dr. John himself has been charged by U.S. authorities, but his U.S. partners have.
How U.S. law could potentially reach Dr. John
The general principles go like this:
- If he participates in a U.S. fraud or conspiracy
- If U.S. prosecutors could show that Dr. John knowingly joined a scheme to defraud U.S. patients, U.S. investors, or the FDA (for example, by helping misrepresent outcomes or conceal deaths), they could charge him under U.S. federal statutes (wire fraud, conspiracy, health‑care fraud, etc.), even though he was physically in Antigua.
- U.S. courts have repeatedly asserted jurisdiction over foreign actors who participate in schemes with substantial effects in or connections to the U.S. (e.g., using U.S. banking system, U.S. wires, or targeting U.S. victims).
- If he travels to the U.S. or has assets there
- An indictment alone does not guarantee arrest, but if he were charged and then entered the U.S., he could be arrested and brought before a federal court.
- U.S. authorities can also sometimes reach foreign assets or banking relationships if they are within U.S. jurisdiction or through cooperation with other states.
- Extradition possibilities
- Antigua and Barbuda has extradition arrangements with the United States under broader Commonwealth and bilateral mechanisms. Whether a given case meets the dual‑criminality tests and political‑discretion thresholds is a separate question and would be politically sensitive.
- In practice, extraditing a locally important physician over a disputed experimental‑treatment program would be legally and diplomatically complex and would depend heavily on the exact charges (e.g., clear fraud vs. disputed medical judgment).
As of now, no public document from the U.S. DOJ or FDA names Dr. John as a defendant or target.
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