Mike Lynch: Home Secretary agrees to extradite British tech tycoon to the US but his lawyers vow to fight the system | Business News

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Home Secretary Priti Patel has agreed to extradite a British businessman to the United States to answer charges of criminal fraud.

But Mike Lynch’s lawyers say they will appeal to the Supreme Court because they are contradicting an order Patel signed earlier after the midnight deadline.

It comes on the day the tech mogul lost a multi-billion pound fraud lawsuit that led to the sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011.

In what is believed to be the UK’s largest civil trial, a High Court judge found HP “significantly” successful in its lawsuit, but noted that the US company would get far less than the $5 billion (£3.7 billion) it sought to obtain. compensation. .

Photo: Dr. Lynch has always denied any wrongdoing

HP said it was cheated on the deal

Lynch, who founded Autonomy, is accused of intentionally exaggerating the value of his company before HP acquired it more than a decade ago.

The US tech giant reduced the company’s value by nearly $9 billion after buying it for $11.1 billion (£8.3 billion) and there have been years of bitter controversy.

HP claimed that it was deceived about Autonomy’s true financial performance and financial prospects when auditing its accounts prior to the acquisition.

In the lawsuit, the company accused Dr Lynch and Autonomy’s former chief financial officer, Suchovan Hussain, of artificially inflating the company’s revenue and committing “willful fraud over an extended period of time.”

Lynch denies wrongdoing

Dr. Lynch, the founder of Autonomy, who made an estimated $800 million from the deal, denied any wrongdoing and said he had become a “scapegoat” for mismanagement by HP.

But Mr. Justice Hildyard, a judge in the civil trial, which was heard over a nine-month period in 2019, found that Autonomy hid sales of hardware products and engaged in complex reselling schemes to hide shortages in its key software products.

Photo: Home Secretary Priti Patel signs the extradition order

On Wednesday this week, Patel was given until midnight Friday to decide his extradition after a Supreme Court judge ruled against Dr. Lynch’s legal challenge over the previously set deadline.

Ms. Patel wanted to consider Mr. Hildyard’s ruling on the High Court’s civil action before making a decision on extradition.

The Home Secretary has now approved a request for extradition to the United States as the Briton faces criminal charges, including electronic fraud and securities fraud, in connection with the deal.

But his lawyer will contest this order.

“This is not the end of the battle.”

“Dr. Lynch vigorously denies the charges against him in the United States and will continue to fight for his innocence,” said Chris Morphilo of Clifford Chance.

“This is not the end of the battle – far from it. Dr Lynch will now appeal to the High Court in London.”

US authorities allege that Dr. Lynch intentionally overestimated the value of his company, which specialized in software to sort large data sets.

Lynch, of Suffolk, opposed extradition on the grounds that the alleged criminal offenses should fall under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom, not the United States.

His fellow self-governing party, Sushovan Hussein, was convicted in the United States in 2019 and imprisoned for five years. He subsequently lost his appeal against this conviction.

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