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Mike Lynch, former CEO of Autonomy.
Hollie Adams | Bloomberg by way of Getty Photos
LONDON — British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch is about to be extradited to the USA to face prison prices associated to the sale of his firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, after a ruling made by U.Ok. inside minister Priti Patel.
Lynch bought his software program start-up Autonomy to HP in 2011 for $11.7 billion.
One 12 months later, HP introduced an $8.8 billion writedown on the corporate, claiming that “accounting irregularities” led it to pay an excessive amount of for the agency.
Earlier Friday, a British choose dominated in favor of HP in a civil case in opposition to Lynch over claims he plotted to inflate the worth of Autonomy earlier than it was purchased by HP.HP received the vast majority of the costs, Justice Robert Hildyard stated, although the damages can be considerably decrease than the $5 billion sought by the corporate.
On Friday, the U.Ok. House Workplace stated it had determined to approve U S. calls for to have Lynch extradited. Patel had till midnight to make the choice. Lynch, who denies the allegations, can attraction the ruling. His legal professionals say he plans to take action.
Lynch, 56, had previously gained a status as one of many U.Ok.’s most profitable tech entrepreneurs. He was as soon as described within the U.Ok. press as “Britain’s Invoice Gates.”
However claims that Lynch artificially inflated the worth of his firm earlier than sealing its takeover by HP have largely tarnished that picture.
U.S. authorities need him to face prices of securities and wire fraud in relation to the HP-Autonomy deal. Final 12 months, a choose stated Lynch needs to be extradited to the U.S. and gave Patel two months to approve the order.
The information is more likely to forged a cloud over Darktrace, the U.Ok. cybersecurity agency that Lynch has a stake in. A number of executives at Darktrace beforehand labored for Autonomy. For its half, Darktrace says Lynch will not be concerned within the day-to-day operations of the agency.
Darktrace listed in London final 12 months and shares of the corporate have since climbed 60%. Its debut was seen as a key victory within the U.Ok.’s bid to draw extra high-growth tech start-ups to checklist within the nation after its withdrawal from the European Union.
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