Former US Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan will be extradited from Australia to the United States on charges that he illegally trained Chinese airmen. Australian Attorney General Mark Dreyfus approved the extradition on Monday, ending a nearly two-year attempt by the Boston-born 55-year-old to avoid return to the US

Duggan, who served 12 years in the Marines before immigrating to Australia and renouncing his US citizenship, has been in a maximum-security prison since he was born arrested in 2022 at his family home in New South Wales. He is the father of six children.

Dreyfus confirmed on Monday that he had approved the extradition, but did not say when Duggan would be transferred to the US

“Duggan was given an opportunity to explain why he should not be extradited to the United States. In making my decision, I considered all the material before me,” Dreyfus said in a statement.

In May, a Sydney judge ruled that Duggan could be extradited to the US, leaving an appeal to the attorney general as Duggan’s last hope to stay in Australia. In a 2016 indictment in US District Court in Washington, DC, unsealed in late 2022, prosecutors said Duggan conspired with others to provide training to Chinese military pilots in 2010 and 2012, and possibly at other times, without submitting requests for the appropriate license.

Prosecutors say he received payments totaling about $61,000 and international travel from another co-conspirator for what is sometimes described as “personal development training.”

If convicted, Duggan faces up to 60 years in prison.

He denies the allegations. “We feel abandoned by the Australian government and are deeply disappointed that they have completely failed in their duty to protect the Australian family,” his wife Saffrine Duggan said in a statement on Monday. “We are now considering our options.”