Extradition is taking a ‘tremendous toll’
Tycoon Mike Lynch speaks out on ordeal of US fraud showdown
A UK tech tycoon controversially extradited to the US says it is taking a ‘tremendous toll’ – and warned his fate ‘could face any British businessperson’.
Mike Lynch, founder of software firm Autonomy, is awaiting trial on fraud charges related to the £9bn sale of his firm to US giant Hewlett Packard in 2011.
Lynch is the latest victim of what critics say is a ‘really terrible’ one- sided treaty with the US, agreed by Tony Blair’s Labour government in 2003.
He is in San Francisco for a trial which could result in a 20year jail term. In a letter to friends, seen by the Mail, Lynch described how he was handcuffed last week for his flight from the UK.
After arrival in the US, stringent bail conditions were imposed. He spent a night in custody and was moved to temporary accommodation, unable to leave except to see lawyers.
Lynch said: ‘This is the reality of extradition to the US, and one that could face any British businessperson.’ Critics of the treaty, signed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, say it has disproportionately affected British white collar criminals.
David Davis, the Tory former shadow home secretary who has taken up the case, has warned that it means an entrepreneur can be ‘seized from our shores’. He said three times as many had been sent to face trial in the US as had gone the other way.
Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares and two children have remained in Britain. The businessman wrote: ‘The pressure of taking on a fight of this magnitude takes a tremendous toll on me, and on my family.’ He added: ‘As I leave Angela and the girls behind, I ask you to put your metaphoric arms around them. Their ordeal is no easier than mine and it is for them that I keep fighting.’
Lynch’s treatment stands in contrast to that of Anne Sacoolas, the US diplomat who killed teenager Harry Dunn in a UK road accident. An attempt to extradite her was rebuffed and she was handed a suspended sentence via videolink while staying put in the US.
Lynch, 57, ran out of avenues of appeal against extradition last month. A UK judge ruled in 2022 that Lynch had defrauded Hewlett Packard by inflating the value of Autonomy. Lynch had said HP did not know what it was doing with Autonomy, and was out of its depth in understanding his technology.