A COUPLE who were guests of the Reagans at the White House and are friends of Baroness Thatcher lost a High Court battle yesterday to prevent their extradition to America under new fast-track rules.

Stanley and Beatrice Tollman, who are in their seventies, face allegations in the US surrounding an $85 million (£45 million) fraud involving hotels, debts and taxes.

The Tollmans accuse the US of “unlawfully and improperly” exploiting the new extradition treaty, which had been promoted as an anti-terrorism measure, to get them into a New York courtroom.

The couple were South African citizens who also held US passports and had extensive interests in the hotel and travel industry, including business interests and property in America. After they came to Britain in the 1970s, Mr Tollman went in to business and in the 1980s set up a company with the US hotelier Monty Hundley.

In 1996 Mr Tollman, who says that he was a largely passive investor, learnt that his colleague had failed to file US tax returns for 20 years. That revelation led to a criminal investigation and it was later alleged that Mr Tollman had hidden millions of dollars from the US taxman.

Hundley was jailed for eight years for conspiracy, bank fraud and personal tax evasion.

Yesterday Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, the Lord Chief Justice, ruled that the Extradition Act 2003, which introduced the new fast-track process, did apply in their case.

The Tollmans’ lawyers are expected to attempt to take the case to the House of Lords before an extradition hearing in November.

Explore Law

• Columnists

• Law Panel

• Law Reports

• Student Law

Times Recommends

• Legal school 'earned £1m by exploiting bar course'
• Axe may fall on 5,000 more City lawyers
• Prince Charles named in £81m court battle