Business
The entrepreneur is said to have tricked Hewlett-Packard into overpaying the software company as part of a $11 billion deal
Mike Lynch, the billionaire tech entrepreneur once hailed as Britain’s Bill Gates, was extradited weeks after losing an appeals case to avoid facing fraud charges in the US.
Lynch is accused of tricking US company Hewlett-Packard into overpaying when it closed a $11 billion (£8.2 billion) deal for its software company Autonomy in 2011. He denies any wrongdoing.
Lynch, the founding investor in British cybersecurity firm Darktrace, had said he was considering a final appeal to the European Court of Human Rights following the Supreme Court ruling in London last month.
“On April 21, the Supreme Court denied Dr. Lynch permission to appeal his extradition,” a Home Office spokesman said. “Therefore, the normal legal deadline of 28 days for surrender to the US applies. dr Lynch was extradited to the US on May 11.”
Last year, Hewlett-Packard won a six-year civil fraud case against Lynch in the UK after a Supreme Court judge ruled that he had defrauded HP by manipulating Autonomy’s accounts to boost the company’s value.
Then Home Secretary Priti Patel agreed to extradite Lynch to face criminal charges in the US on 14 counts of conspiracy and fraud. This involved claims that HP investors had lost billions as a result of his actions.
Lynch, who faces a maximum sentence of 25 years if found guilty, has consistently denied the allegations and any wrongdoing.
Sushovan Hussain, Autonomy’s former chief financial officer, is already serving a sentence in the US after being found guilty of fraud related to the same deal.
Legal experts had said Lynch’s chances of avoiding extradition by resorting to European courts were slim.
Criminal defense law firm Corker Binning said last year only 8% of applications to the ECtHR were successful in such cases – seeking a Rule 39 injunction to stop the UK’s extradition until the case was examined.
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