British businessman Mike Lynch has been extradited to the United States to stand trial over an alleged multi-billion-dollar fraud linked to the 2011 sale of software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, the UK said Friday.
Britain’s interior ministry said in a statement that Lynch was extradited on Thursday after the High Court refused his appeal.
“On 21 April, the High Court refused Dr Lynch’s permission to appeal his extradition. Dr Lynch was extradited to the US on 11 May,” the ministry said in a statement.
US officials confirmed that Lynch had arrived in the country.
“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,” read a US court filing dated Thursday.
Lynch is accused of being involved in a massive fraud in the United States over the sale of his software company, Autonomy, to HP for $11 billion (£8.5 billion) in 2011.
The deal resulted in colossal financial losses for the US firm.
Hewlett-Packard accuses Autonomy of rigging its accounts, deliberately inflating its value and causing huge losses for the US company when the true situation emerged after the sale.
