United States seeks extradition of Filipino church leader over child trafficking and fraud charges

The United States has asked the Philippine government to extradite Apollo Quiboloy, the leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ church, to stand trial on a range of charges that include child sex trafficking and fraud. The request, transmitted through the Philippine Foreign Affairs Department in July, must be cleared by two Philippine courts that are already hearing his human-trafficking and child-abuse cases. Under the 1994 extradition treaty, a suspect can be temporarily surrendered to a foreign court even before domestic proceedings conclude.

Quiboloy, a former spiritual adviser to ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, was taken into custody after a large-scale raid on his Davao complex in September 2024. He has remained jailed since that operation. U.S. federal prosecutors originally indicted him in 2021 on a slate of counts such as conspiracy, child sex trafficking, fraud, money laundering and visa fraud, placing him on the FBI’s ten most-wanted fugitives list.