Court witness describes how Autonomy founder Lynch would wash his rear-end in US prison showers and dorms
- Reference: 1613132871
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/02/12/lynch_extradition_sickler_testimony/
- Source link:
"If they knew what he has to do in that shower, day in and day out... that's not going to be well received," said criminologist Joel Sickler, introduced to the court as a witness on behalf of Lynch.
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Westminster Magistrates' Court is hearing reasons for and against Lynch's extradition to the US, where prosecutors want him to stand trial on [2]17 criminal charges over the $11bn sale of Autonomy to Hewlett Packard in 2011, and the subsequent $8.8bn [3]writedown , as previously reported.
A foreign country wanting to extradite someone from Britain has to satisfy a piece of UK law known as the "forum bar". Lynch's defence team want to prove that the tech veteran's allegedly criminal conduct is not linked strongly enough with the US to justify sending him there for trial.
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Butner federal prison complex Photo: Federal Bureau of Prisons
They also argue that his health means it would be unjust to commit him into the US prison system. Lynch suffers from "complex gastroenterological problems" which need an enhanced personal hygiene regime.
One of the first questions Sickler was asked by barrister Alex Bailin QC was whether Lynch could use a portable bidet in his prison accommodation as an alternative to regular showering. Sickler took to that task with gusto.
"Everybody's housed on top of each other there!" exclaimed the criminologist, explaining that Federal Correctional Institute Butner houses its prisoners in a "cubicle with one or two other inmates". Having given the court this tit-bit, the prisoner advocate then described Lynch's potential "sit bath" usage in far too much detail:
He's going to sit in it for an extended period of time. Then he's going to have to dispose of it, and somehow clean it, and he's going to have to bring it back to his dormitory, put it in his cubicle under his bed. He's not going to be a popular inmate doing that day in, day out.
When one-time HP director Manish Sarin [6]remarked that Autonomy was a shit show, something echoed by [7]then-JP Morgan CIO Guy Chiarello , this wasn't quite what either man had in mind.
Lynch himself was not visible on the court's video link and his reaction to all this could not be seen. He is, however, attending court in person every day.
Do you have proof of that?
Mark Summers QC, the US government's barrister, then cross-examined Sickler about US prison conditions. To control his other health problems (described as laryngospasm and sleep apnoea) Lynch has an epipen. Sickler emphatically stated that Lynch would not have personal access to this, describing how medications are kept under lock and key by prison guards.
Continuing the medical theme, the prisoner advocate [8]mentioned a Dr Bernard Greenspan. He was held at Federal Correctional Institute Butner, the prison Lynch is most likely to be kept in if convicted in America.
"That's to do with the medical centre at Butner FCI, is that right?" asked Summers.
Sickler replied: "Yeah. He started off at the FCI. Only when it became unable to handle his activities of daily living, he got dramatically sick, they transferred him over."
Summers replied: "And you take the view that his medical care was inadequate. You're not a doctor and there's no judicial finding on that."
"The court never got a chance to rule!" said Sickler. Greenspan died in 2019 at the age of 82.
'Very cynical of the question'
In his witness statement Sickler cited a list of US court cases brought by prisoners complaining about prison conditions. Summers said: "So in none of those cases did the court just roll over and uncritically accept what it was being told by the prison. The court has exercised genuine oversight and required each of those disputes to be dealt with at a proper trial."
"Yes, a sad state of affairs," replied Sickler, unwittingly hammering a stake into the idea that US courts brushed off genuine cases from prisoners.
Scenting victory, Summers later continued: "Are you suggesting Dr Lynch won't have access to that kind of remedy if he thinks his conditions of imprisonment are inappropriate?"
In reply Sickler launched into one of his (by then familiar) raised-voice speeches.
"At the end of the day we are... our courts are reluctant to release inmates. Prison litigation in the US has become almost frivolous. Courts look at these suits as frivolous and they don't necessarily hold – few and far between, do they hold corrections agencies, departments and the BOP [Bureau of Prisons] accountable. The burden of proof is so, so high!"
Levelly, the US government's barrister asked: "You genuinely take the view, do you, that the American courts are not prepared to listen to prisoners' complaints?"
Sickler, Justice Advocacy Group LLC's chief, who had freely admitted he was neither a lawyer nor a doctor, beamed. "Yes, I'm very sceptical of that, very cynical of the question."
"That's very fair of you to say," rejoined Summers, by this point galloping down the home straight while half a mile clear of the next horse. "I'm going to take it a little further than cynicism and ask you to accept that, on occasion, you are capable of exaggerating on the issue of prison conditions. Would you agree with that?"
"Nooo!" said Sickler.
District Judge Snow spent much of Sickler's cross-examination resting his head on one hand, making it impossible to see his expression down the video link. After Summers and Bailin finished with the witness, the judge said: "I want to ask about your experience of Butner Low itself. As I understand it from your answers to Mr Summers, you've never been beyond the visiting area except one occasion where you went to reception, is that right?"
"Correct," replied Sickler.
The case will end today with oral closing arguments for the US and for Lynch. As he closed yesterday's proceedings, Judge Snow remarked: "I haven't come to a final decision." ®
Bootnote
As the lawyers were packing up and leaving, the clerk of the court quipped: "I am going to have a jar on my desk, Mr Bailin. Every time someone mentions Assange they can put £5 in it!"
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Not only was Summers the barrister for Julian Assange in the WikiLeaker's [10]bid to escape a US extradition attempt , Sickler was also called as a witness by Summers' legal team in that case.
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[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/11/lynch_extradition_criminal_charges_never_dropped/
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[7] https://www.theregister.com/2019/06/21/autonomy_jp_morgan_cio_customer_evidence/
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Re: "complex gastroenterological problems"
Or Spew
No sympathy for the guy, but
Nobody should be extradited to the USA prison system unless they are Americans who committed crimes on US soil.
The current system is identical, or worse, than how Hong Kong is treated by China.
Re: No sympathy for the guy, but
Indeed, but then the whole case is an abuse of the extradition arrangements. The fraud case should be tried in absentia in the US and, in the unlikely* case of a guilty verdict, extradition procedures could be started.
* Very few cases like this go beyond some kind of deal where guilt is never admitted, especially if HP's board and the auditors were to get dragged in as co-defendants as seems only reasonable. You only seem to do time in the US for large scale fraud if you act as a whistleblower!
Buyers remorse
https://www.dowjones.com/scoops/hewlett-packard-files-autonomy-financial-statements-2011-2010-u-k/
"Ante Spencer broke the news that Hewlett-Packard discovered some major accounting errors during an audit of Autonomy’s 2010 financials, backing up the company’s claims that its Autonomy unit had inflated its revenue and profit ahead of HP’s $11 billion acquisition of the software company. HP refiled the 2010 statements, lowering revenue for Autonomy Systems’ [A UK subsidiary] 2010 revenue by 54%, or about 95 million British pounds."
So, it had revenue of around $1 billion in 2010, and after restatement it would have had revenue of ~ $850 million.
Autonomy WAS NEVER WORTH $11.7 BILLION. NEVER. HP CEO paid a ridiculous premium, paying 12.7x the REVENUE, or 13.8x the RESTATED REVENUE. Either way the price paid had nothing to do with the revenue.
Regardless of anything Lynch did here, he did not cause the $8.7 billion impairment charge, because he did not cause the $11.7 billion valuation, hubris inside HP did that, wishful delusional thinking did that. A failure of management did that:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272304773_HP's_Purchase_of_Autonomy_'Hubris_at_the_Top'_and_Failure_of_Internal_Controls
This is a UK fraud, in a UK division, while it was a UK company. SFO has said its unlikely to win prosecution against Lynch (2015 when the evidence was fresher). If there is not enough evidence to convict in the UK, where the crime was supposedly committed, how is there enough evidence to justify extradition? There isn't.
The whole justification for the extradition, is the crime, and should be about the evidence, not the jingoism, not the forum shopping.
HP's redress would come down to a civil lawsuit to claw back some or all of the money it paid, but then they'd have to justify the original valuation.
Re: Buyers remorse
Whilst not disagreeing with your main argument, your numbers are somewhat off.
2010 revenue was around £565m. £95m off that is a pretty significant sum. And to be clear, that's only one of the alleged irregularities.
Ignoring those other irregularities and not having a $-£ rate to hand for the time of the deal, HP paid around 14x revenue at the £565m figure which is not out of the ballpark for software companies (e.g. Oracle paid around 12x for NetSuite in 2016).
14x revenue at the restated figure would have led to a purchase price of of around £1.5billion less (approx £6.,5b down from £8b).
Where is it?
I didn't read the article for a discussion of the arguments. I wanted the description.
Where are the excruciating details???
I feel ElReg has failed me.
"sit bath"
I'm sure he meant to say sitz bath , one of these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=sitz+bath&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
It means he has rectal leaking, possibly from a fistula, an infection, the remnants of an operation, or damage / disease / flaw in the construction of the area. It's a bear to deal with, and the discharge can be...odorous. Frequent cleaning and showering, after every uncontrolled discharge, is necessary unless you want to break out in a fierce case of adult diaper rash, not to mention the possible leak of the odors.
WTF
This is utter insanity. What possible relevance can this have to an extradition request over a criminal prosecution.
Re: WTF
I think the idea is to show that sending Lynch to America would result in his health deteriorating to the point where it would impede justice because he'd be too ill to stand trial or testify. But that's just an educated guess.
Lynch's legal team asked for, and were granted, legal orders excluding the bulk of the medical evidence from the public eye. Unfortunately that also covers the precise reasons for Sickler's testimony and cross-examination. I sympathise with Lynch, in all honesty - nobody would want this kind of thing out in public - but it forms part of his pleaded case before a public court and clearly his legal team hoped something substantial would turn on it.
"complex gastroenterological problems"
That sounds like reasonable grounds for a single occupancy cell, wouldn't want to inflict that on cellmates they may sue.