On October 21, 2025, Spain’s National Court announced that it had agreed to extradite a former United Nations official to the United States for his alleged role in a bribery and money laundering scheme that occurred approximately between September 2015 and August 2023. According to the National Court, the official, who was once the executive director of the UN Office of Project Services, is accused of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from an unnamed British businessman in exchange for helping to award more than $60 million in UN grants and unsecured loans for companies associated with the businessman. In furtherance of the scheme, the defendant also allegedly transferred portions of the bribe payments to and through U.S. bank accounts. The National Court referred to the defendant as “VV” and the British businessman as “DK.” Multiple news outlets have identified the defendant as Ukrainian national Vitaly Vanshelboim, who was ordered by a UN tribunal in 2023 to repay the UN over $58 million, the “amount of financial loss attributable to” his conduct. Similarly, multiple news reports have identified DK as David Kendrick.
The National Court reported that it had granted the extradition request for only two of the five charges sought by U.S. authorities, namely solicitation and receipt of a bribe by an agent of an organization receiving federal funds and honest services wire fraud. However, the court refused to extradite the defendant for the charges of conspiracy to commit bribery related to federal programs, conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, largely because the court held that the factual record submitted by U.S. authorities did not establish conspiracy under Spanish law. Under Spain’s principle of “double criminality,” extradition can occur when the offense is a crime in both the requesting and the requested country. The court did conclude, however, that the acts described by U.S. prosecutors did constitute fraud and/or embezzlement of public funds, bribery, and money laundering in Spain.
The National Court also stated that it rejected the defendant’s arguments that the prosecution by the U.S. was politically motivated because of the sensitive work the defendant performed for the UN and a book that he had written about these matters and their links to certain U.S. politicians. While the defendant argued that he would fear for his safety if he were extradited and would not receive a fair trial in the United States, the Court dismissed these arguments due to a lack of evidence, both direct and circumstantial, that established such bias or attempted retaliation by the U.S.
National Court of Spain Communication | United Nations Dispute Tribunal- Judgment