LEXINGTON: Mikhy Farrera Brochez on Tuesday (Mar 19) pleaded not guilty in a US federal court in Kentucky to charges related to stolen identification documents from Singapore's HIV registry, according to his lawyer Jay Oakley.



The American, who is accused of sharing the personal data of thousands of people from the registry, had earlier been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges including trying to extort the Singapore Government.



He remains jailed at the Fayette County detention centre, and his three-day trial on federal charges has been set for May 7, said Oakley.

The lawyer said that at this point, he intends to take the case to trial. However, he still has not seen the details of the Government ‘s evidence, which he now will have access to in the form of discovery (a pre-trial procedure providing for the exchange of information between parties).

The 34-year-old, who previously worked in Singapore as a lecturer, is accused of sharing the HIV-positive status and personal information of 14,200 people from Singapore's HIV registry.

He was deported from Singapore in April last year, after serving a jail term for lying about his HIV status to gain an employment pass.



Earlier this month, Farrera Brochez was ordered by a US court to "immediately" surrender to Singapore authorities the data obtained from the HIV registry and all other confidential information.

He was given a Mar 29 deadline to "permanently delete" from any computer, device, storage media or website the information obtained from the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Singapore Prisons Service, according to court documents.

