Priti Patel orders extradition of tech billionaire Mike Lynch

Priti Patel has ordered the British tech billionaire Mike Lynch to be extradited to the US to confront legal fraud fees more than the $11bn (£8.2bn) sale of his software business Autonomy.

The Residence Secretary accredited a ruling that Mr Lynch really should surface in a US court to experience claims that he illegally inflated the former FTSE 100 company’s sale to Hewlett Packard in 2011.

A Household Business office spokesman stated: “On January 28, subsequent consideration by the courts, the extradition of Michael Lynch to the US was ordered.”

Chris Morvillo of Clifford Prospect, Mr Lynch’s law firm, mentioned that Mr Lynch “firmly denies the rates brought versus him in the US and will continue to fight to create his innocence”. 

“He is a British citizen who ran a British company in Britain issue to British laws and procedures and that is wherever the make any difference ought to be settled. This is not the finish of the battle — considerably from it,” he stated. 

Mr Morvillo included that Mr Lynch will now file an charm to the Substantial Court docket in London.

The Residence Office order arrived just several hours after Mr Lynch lost a $5bn Significant Courtroom fraud circumstance more than the sale, in a defeat that promotions a blow to his probabilities of successfully pleasing the extradition buy.

A choose reported HP experienced “substantially succeeded” in its fraud circumstance towards Mr Lynch and his previous chief money officer, Sushovan Hussain, declaring the pair had been “dishonest” and “obsessed” with propping up Autonomy’s share cost.

The US has charged Mr Lynch with 17 counts of fraud above Autonomy’s sale, declaring he illegally exaggerated revenues ahead of the deal. Mr Hussain has been located responsible of fraud in the US and is serving a five-year jail sentence. 

The two have denied the statements and Mr Lynch is battling extradition.

Very last year, a decide claimed that Mr Lynch really should be sent to the US and gave Ms Patel two months to approve the buy. But the Property Place of work experienced continuously delayed a final decision, indicating it desired to see the outcome of the civil circumstance.

Hewlett Packard, now known as HPE, sued Mr Lynch and Mr Hussain in London in 2015 in what grew to become Britain’s largest fraud demo.

Mr Justice Hildyard, providing a summary of his lengthy-awaited judgment yesterday, explained that Mr Lynch had engaged in “contrived” deals with “no industrial substance” to mislead buyers, auditors and the company’s very own directors over Autonomy’s general performance.