Tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch can be extradited to US, rules Priti Patel
Mike Lynch, the tech entrepreneur once hailed as Britain’s answer to Bill Gates, faces extradition to the US to answer criminal fraud charges, after a ruling by the home secretary, Priti Patel.
On Friday night, his lawyers said he would appeal.
Earlier in the day, Hewlett-Packard won its six-year civil fraud case against Lynch after a high court judge ruled that he duped the US firm into overpaying for his software firm Autonomy, sold to HP for $11bn (£8.2bn) in 2011.
Lynch was found to have defrauded HP by manipulating Autonomy’s accounts to inflate the value of the company. He has always denied the accusation and said on Friday that he would appeal.
But the outcome of the trial also coincided with a deadline for Patel to decide whether Lynch could be extradited to the US. Earlier this week, he lost a high court bid that would have given Patel more time to decide.
He could now be sent to the US to face criminal trial for 14 counts of conspiracy and fraud over claims that investors in HP lost billions due to his actions. Lynch’s lawyer, Chris Morvillo of Clifford Chance, said on Friday night: “Dr Lynch firmly denies the charges brought against him in the US and will continue to fight to establish his innocence. He is a British citizen who ran a British company in Britain subject to British laws and rules and that is where the matter should be resolved. This is not the end of the battle — far from it. Dr Lynch will now file an appeal to the high court in London.”
Earlier on Friday, after a 93-day high court trial, Mr Justice Hildyard found that Lynch had defrauded HP.
“Claimants have substantially succeeded in their claims in this proceeding,” said the judge.
He said the damages were likely to be significantly less than the $5bn
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