Mike Lynch extradited to US to face fraud charges

Entrepreneur finally loses his battle to be tried in the UK

Mike Lynch, the UK businessman who founded software company Autonomy, has been deported to the US to face charges of related to that company's sale to HP.

Lynch faces charges of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud related to the sale of Autonomy to 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 billion, claiming that Lynch and former Autonomy chief financial officer Sushovan Hussain had inflated Autonomy revenues to make the company look more valuable than it actually was.

In 2019 Hussain was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $5 million by a US court after being convicted on 16 counts of wire fraud and securities fraud. Lynch has been fighting extradition ever since.

However, having has lost a last-ditch attempt to be tried in the UK in the UK High Court in April, Lynch landed in San Franscisco on Thursday to face trial in a California court.

A court filing said: "After lengthy extradition proceedings in the United Kingdom, Defendant Michael Richard Lynch has finally landed on our shores to stand trial, accompanied by the United States Marshals Service."

According to court documents, Lynch has been ordered to pay bail of $100 million, as the US authorities consider the billionaire a serious flight risk.

A spokesperson for the Home Office said in a statement: "On 21 April, the high court refused Dr Lynch's permission to appeal his extradition. As a result, the normal 28-day statutory deadline for surrender to the US applies. Dr Lynch was extradited to the US on 11 May."

Accusations of fraud against the tech entrepreneur, who was once compared favourably with Bill Gates, have also affected his other ventures, including cybersecurity firm Darktrace, whose management included many former Autonomy employees and in which Lynch had a major stake. This impacted the company's 2021 IPO, and later share price, with short sellers recently betting against the company.

Commenting on the matter, Thomas Garner, extradition partner at London law firm Fladgate, said: "Having focussed his defence on the narrow issue of ‘forum' the decision of the High Court to refuse his appeal meant the end of the line for Mike Lynch.

The bail set by the US court is by UK standards extraordinarily high and is a clear example of the differing approaches of the US and UK when it comes to prosecuting allegations of white collar crime."