SNARED fugitive Nicholas Rossi who faked his death and fled to Scotland is finally set to face trial for rape.
The American fantasist, 37, has been told he will be prosecuted over claims he attacked a woman in his home state of Utah in April.
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He was extradited back to the US earlier this year after being discovered in Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital while being treated for Covid.
Rossi claimed he was an Irishman named Arthur Knight but finally dropped the pretence just weeks ago after being hauled into the dock in Salt Lake City.
He appeared via videolink from jail during the hearing this week and denied the accusations.
Rossi faces first-degree felony rape charges after he was accused of carrying out a sex attack on a former girlfriend in 2008.
His lawyers hope to negotiate a plea deal — but a four-day trial has been set.
Rossi claims he posed as an academic after receiving death threats from politicians in Rhode Island and says assuming the fake identity was not because the FBI were hunting over fraud and rape allegations.
We told how he quit the States in 2017, sparking an international manhunt.
He was rumbled after experts identified his tattoos.
Rossi was finally returned to the US in January following a lengthy legal battle when he appeared at Scots courts in pin-striped suit and oxygen mask.
