LONDON, Jan 28 (Reuters) – The founder of collapsed Dubai-based private equity company Abraaj Group will be extradited to the United States, where he is wanted on fraud charges, a London court ruled on Thursday.

U.S. prosecutors allege Arif Naqvi, a Pakistani businessman, is the architect of a plot to defraud investors including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Naqvi’s lawyers have said he could face 291 years in jail if convicted in the U.S..

Dubai-based Abraaj was the largest buyout fund in the Middle East and North Africa until its collapse in 2018, after investors raised concerns about the management of its $1 billion healthcare fund.

(Reporting by Tom Arnold, editing by Kirstin Ridley)

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