Irish celebrity chef Mr Conrad Gallagher, currently in a Brooklyn jail, has asked US authorities to speed his extradition to Ireland because of his need for medical treatment, assistant US attorney Ms Lara Gatz said in New York yesterday.
Mr Gallagher was detained by US marshals in New York on April 10th, and was brought before Brooklyn Federal Court on foot of an extradition warrant in relation to three paintings which he allegedly sold in December 2000.
The paintings were claimed to be the property of the Fitzwilliam Hotel on St Stephen's Green, Dublin, the location of Mr Gallagher's Peacock Alley Restaurant.
Mr Gallagher has been held since his arrest at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn.
At a brief hearing in the federal court on Thursday, he waived the right to challenge the extradition back to Ireland.
The celebrity chef did not return from New York to face trial in Ireland set for October 15th. A warrant was issued for his arrest in November.
Acting on information provided by Irish investigators, US marshals arrested Mr Gallagher outside a Manhattan bar he owns called Traffic, a Marshals Service spokesman, Mr John Sheehan, said.
Mr Gallagher had said he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996, and was undergoing his third course of chemotherapy, making him unfit to travel.
He married Ms Jennifer Harrison from California in September, and in the same month opened Traffic on Manhattan's First Avenue and 50th Street.
At one time he was running six restaurants, including Peacock Alley, Ocean and Mango Toast in Dublin.