American embassy submits extradition request for ex-Autonomy boss Mike Lynch to face trial in the US

Mr Lynch faces 17 charges, including conspiracy, securities fraud, and wire fraud

The United States has asked the UK to allow extradition of ex-Autonomy boss Mike Lynch, to face trials in the American court.

The American embassy in London submitted a formal extradition request on 21^st November for the British tech billionaire to face trial in the US, a court filing dated 1^st December revealed, according to Reuters.

Mr Lynch faces 17 charges in the federal court in San Francisco, including conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud over the sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett Packard (HP) in a $11.1 billion deal in 2011.

A few months after the deal was closed, HP wrote down Autonomy's value by $8.8 billon, alleging that the company's management had manipulated financial reports to make it look more valuable than it actually was.

HP filed a lawsuit seeking damages of $5 billion from Lynch and Sushovan Hussain, the former chief financial officer of Autonomy.

In May, a US jury sentenced Hussain to five years in jail and a $4 million fine after finding him guilty of conspiracy and fraud. He was also ordered to forfeit $6.1 million.

Lynch, however, denied all accusations, arguing that HP mismanaged the acquisition and was trying to "shift the blame". He said that the Deloitte, the auditor for Autonomy before HP's acquisition, had found no issues in company's financial statements.

Lynch also filed a countersuit for loss and damages.

"There was no conspiracy at Autonomy and no fraud against HP for the DoJ to take up," Lynch's lawyers said last year.

"HP has a long history of failed acquisitions. Autonomy was merely the latest successful company it destroyed. HP has sought to blame Autonomy for its own crippling errors, and has falsely accused Mike Lynch to cover its own tracks."

In her first testimony in the $5 billion civil fraud case in London's High Court, former HP CEO Meg Whitman stated that Lynch's conduct during the acquisition was "completely unacceptable".

Whitman was a member of HP's board that approved the $11 billion deal.

"During his entire time at HP, Dr Lynch remained adamant that Autonomy should be kept at arms-length from the rest of HP," said Whitman.

"In retrospect, I believe this was his way of keeping HP from closely examining his company and discovering his and Mr Hussain's fraud."

Reacting to Whitman's statements, Lynch told the court that Whitman "could not cope with all the fires" at the company.

He also accused HP of trying to make him a "scapegoat" after Whitman failed to integrate Autonomy.