Yoo Hyuk-kee, a central figure in the scandal surrounding the sinking of the Sewol ferry, was extradited from the U.S. to South Korea on Friday nine years after the tragedy.

A Korean Air plane carrying Yoo that departed from JFK Airport in New York on Thursday arrived at Incheon International Airport at around 7:20 a.m. Yoo was then transferred to the Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office to be grilled on the sinking.

Prosecutors are likely to seek a warrant to keep Yoo in custody as he is considered to be a flight risk given his past failure to return to South Korea from the U.S. for a long period of time.

Yoo is the second son of the late Yoo Byung-eun, whose family controlled the Chonghaejin Marine Company, the operator of the Sewol ferry.

Prosecutors believe the family contributed to the disaster by embezzling money that could have been used for safety measures on the ferry that sank on April 16, 2014, killing more than 300 people.

Prosecutors also believe that Yoo is essentially the heir to his father’s religious and business empire, and that he embezzled and misappropriated a total of 55-point-nine billion won, or around 43 million U.S. dollars.

Yoo was arrested in New York in July 2020 and unsuccessfully contested his extradition in court, with South Korea’s justice ministry requesting his expedient return by the U.S. Justice Department in May.