London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Mike Lynch: British entrepreneur loses bid against US extradition after sale of Autonomy to HP

Mike Lynch: British entrepreneur loses bid against US extradition after sale of Autonomy to HP

Mike Lynch - who has a PhD in signal processing - challenged his extradition to the US where prosecutors accuse him of fraud over the $11bn (£8.3bn) deal.
UK entrepreneur Mike Lynch has lost a bid to block his extradition to the US where he faces criminal fraud charges.

A High Court in London heard the challenge after then-home secretary, Priti Patel, approved Dr Lynch's extradition in January last year, to answer to 17 fraud charges over the sale of his software company, Autonomy, to Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011.

HP acquired the company for $11.1bn billion (£8.3bn) more than a decade ago. Dr Lynch was then accused of deliberately overstating the value of his business before it was acquired by the American technology giant.

He has always denied any wrongdoing - having made $800m (£644m) from the deal - and argued after the extradition ruling that he was being made a "scapegoat" for mismanagement by HP.

On Friday, Lord Justice Lewis and Mr Justice Julian Knowles ruled that none of Dr Lynch's grounds of appeal against the extradition ruling were "arguable".

"The applicant's extradition has been sought… so that he can stand trial in California for fraud," the two judges said in a written ruling.

"The American prosecutors have described the case as 'one of the largest frauds ever prosecuted by the United States Department of Justice'.

"The value of the alleged fraud runs into the billions of dollars."

They said that the charges remain as allegations, and would need to be proved in the event of a trial.

A spokesman for Dr Lynch said: "Dr Lynch is very disappointed, but is reviewing the judgment and will continue to explore his options to appeal, including to the European Court of Human Rights."

Dr Lynch lost a multibillion-dollar fraud action after HP sued him and Autonomy's former chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain, for about $5bn (£3.7 billion).

A High Court judge in January found that HP had "substantially" succeeded in its bitter civil case but indicated that the US firm would get considerably less than the amount it had sought in damages - the amount is yet to be decided.

In February, a group of entrepreneurs including Brent Hoberman, the co-founder of Lastminute.com, and FTSE-100 boardroom veterans such as Lord Stevenson of Coddenham, signed a letter to Rishi Sunak complaining about US authorities' "unreasonable" use of an extradition treaty.

They described the action as "deeply worrying to anyone running a business in the UK".
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×