UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch loses bid to block US extradition

UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch misplaced his bid to enchantment his extradition to the US to face legal fees over the Hewlett Packard sale.

The Autonomy Corp. founder had tried to dam his switch to the US after the British authorities authorised the transfer in January 2022. This adopted a separate court docket judgment that he was dishonest within the $11 billion sale of his firm.

Not one of the grounds of enchantment had been debatable, judges Clive Lewis and Julian Knowles wrote in a ruling Friday.
Lynch, who denies all the fees, had argued that the case belonged within the UK and will have been totally investigated by British authorities. Spokespeople for Lynch didn’t instantly reply to calls and emails requesting a remark.

It’s the most recent chapter in a authorized saga that started shortly after the 2011 sale of Lynch’s Autonomy to Hewlett Packard. A yr after the sale, the Silicon Valley {hardware} big wrote down the worth of the deal by $8.8 billion.

Lynch, had been in search of to enchantment on 5 grounds, along with his fundamental argument being that the legal case towards him needs to be within the UK the place the majority of the occasions allegedly occurred.

“These issues belong firmly within the UK,” Alex Bailin, Lynch’s lawyer, stated on the listening to. “Extradition will not be within the curiosity of justice and the allegations can pretty be tried right here.”

It’s the most recent chapter in a authorized saga that started shortly after the 2011 sale of Lynch’s Autonomy to Hewlett Packard. A yr after the sale, the Silicon Valley {hardware} big wrote down the worth of the deal by $8.8 billion.

Bailin stated that the UK’s Critical Fraud Workplace has “expressly reserved” its rights to prosecute Lynch within the UK if the extradition is refused. That is regardless of the SFO beforehand opening an investigation and shutting the case with none fees.

The US authorities opposed the applying to enchantment. Its attorneys stated that the “USA was integral to all points of the alleged fraud” and that the extradition ought to proceed because it was predominantly US-based shareholders who had been victims of the fraud, in accordance with court docket paperwork ready for the listening to.

Talking concerning the case, Thomas Garner, companion and extradition lawyer at legislation agency Fladgate: “Lynch seems to have reached the top of the street.  It’s tough to see the Strasbourg Courtroom intervening on this case and it needs to be remembered that any utility to Strasbourg can solely be based on slender human rights grounds – a lot of his argument within the UK was that the US was not the correct discussion board for any trial.

 If an utility is made to Strasbourg then he can even search an order successfully injuncting his removing to the US – such orders are very uncommon and are usually reserved for circumstances during which the Courtroom is anxious that there’s an imminent a risk to life or ill-treatment amounting to torture or inhuman or degrading therapy.”

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