Phony doctor denies fraud charges in US

A conman who was jailed in the UAE for impersonating a celebrated US plastic surgeon and botching cosmetic procedures denied fraud charges when he appeared in a US court on Thursday.

A conman who was jailed in the UAE for impersonating a celebrated US plastic surgeon and botching cosmetic procedures carried out on his kitchen table denied fraud charges when he appeared in a US court on Thursday.

Steven Moos, 41, pleaded not guilty to charges of medical fraud during the hearing at the District Courthouse in Portland, Oregon, and was denied bail. "He was detained as a flight risk," said Michelle Kerin, one of the two federal prosecutors in the case. "Mr Moos will present more evidence on Tuesday to try to get the judge to reconsider the ruling."

He was arrested by the FBI on Wednesday after arriving at Dulles International Airport near Washington, DC. Moos was arrested in Dubai in February and later convicted of posing as the Hollywood plastic surgeon Dr Steven Hopping and working without a licence. He was convicted of forgery and illegal practice in April and jailed for two months before he was found guilty of the more serious charges of endangering life and causing accidental injury in August and sentenced to a further five months.

It was not clear how he had come to leave the UAE while he was apparently still due to complete his sentence in the Emirates. "We knew that he had a plane ticket and that he was on that flight from Dubai to Dulles," said Beth Anne Steele, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Portland office. Ms Steele would not clarify whether Moos was escorted to the US or whether he flew alone. Moos is currently detained in connection with charges which date back to 2003 when he was arrested in his home state of Oregon for illegally importing and selling human growth hormone from China and selling a gel that he alleged was a form of Viagra for women.

He vanished after he was indicted in July 2004, and the US authorities were unable to locate him until he resurfaced in Dubai. He was stripped of his medical licence in 2004, but had begun practicing in the UAE. Before his UAE arrest, he had been arrested in Sharjah but was released on bail. In Oregon, Moos dealt Viagra and other prescription drugs from his home in the town of Tigard, including something he called "liquid Viagra," which local police said induced effects "consistent with the symptoms of someone who has ... overdosed on [the date rape drug] GHB."

According to Ms Kerin, the crimes Moos is accused of in the US have a maximum sentence of two and five years, respectively. Sentencing in US federal courts is governed by federal guidelines. Moos leaves behind angry victims left disfigured by the disgraced doctor who had lawsuits pending in Dubai. Ms Kerin was unclear of the exact details of Moos's arrival in the US. "Our office's understanding is that the UAE had contacted the US embassy that after he was finished in the UAE, he was to be sent back to the US. The UAE would not release him until he obtained a ticket to return to the US, then they escorted him to the airport."