Mike Lynch, former chief exec of Autonomy, has reportedly lost in London's Westminster Magistrates' Court an early stage of his fight against extradition from the UK to the US.

District Judge Michael Snow is said to have announced his decision at a virtual hearing earlier this afternoon, also handing down a written judgment.

One of Lynch's public relations advisers confirmed the news to The Register , which is also being [1]reported on subscription-only legal newswire Law360.

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The loss is at a very early stage in the case. It will now go to the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, for her to approve (or reject) the request. Lynch's route of appeal then goes to the High Court.

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The surprising ruling came despite statements in court earlier this year that the outcome of the extradition case would be put on ice until the High Court delivers its ruling in HPE's long-running civil fraud case against Lynch. The IT exec's barrister, Alex Bailin QC, had told Westminster Magistrates' Court: "This court has agreed to wait for the outcome of the civil trial before making its decision," to which the judge agreed.

Lynch's solicitor Chris Morvillo of Clifford Chance said in a statement today: "Dr Lynch is disappointed that the court has ruled against him without waiting for the High Court's judgment in the civil case that examined all these issues. Dr Lynch denies the charges against him. At the request of the US Department of Justice, the court has ruled that a British citizen who ran a British company listed on the London Stock Exchange should be extradited to America over allegations about his conduct in the UK."

[5]Everything you need to know about the HPE v Mike Lynch High Court case

[6]Deloitte settled HPE's Autonomy lawsuit for $45m back in 2016 and agreed to cooperate with US DoJ

[7]HPE urges judge to pick through Deloitte-bashing report it claims demolishes Autonomy founder's defence

[8]Criminal charges against Autonomy's Lynch will never be dropped, even if extradition bid fails, says lawyer

"We say this case belongs in the UK," the statement continued. "If the Home Secretary nonetheless decides to order extradition, Dr Lynch intends to appeal."

Lynch [9]previously argued that extraditing him to the US would breach the UK's so-called [10]forum bar because the conduct that led to Autonomy's sale to HP took place mainly in the UK.

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In the case's February hearing, barrister Mark Summers QC described Lynch as [12]part of a gang of "English thieves" who cooked up a "corporate conspiracy to fraudulently inflate the reported revenue, earnings and value of Autonomy."

As [13]regular readers know , Autonomy was a British homegrown software company sold to Hewlett Packard (as was) in 2011 for $11bn. About a year later HP wrote down Autonomy's value by $8.8bn and accused Lynch and his CFO of fraud. The US authorities want to extradite Lynch to their country and put him on trial for breaches of American securities laws.

Although Conservative former cabinet minister David Davis [14]staged a public show of support for Lynch last year , it seems unlikely Patel will block the extradition. ®

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This is a breaking story and will be updated as more information from the court becomes available

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[1] https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1405570/breaking-ex-autonomy-chief-loses-bid-to-block-us-extradition-over-hp-deal

[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YPmWHlEcobBzCD0DP8t6lgAAAJg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/25/hpe_v_lynch_high_court_roundup/

[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/29/deloitte_settled_hpe_lynch_lawsuit_45m/

[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/26/hpe_lynch_frc_report_extra_evidence_application/

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/11/lynch_extradition_criminal_charges_never_dropped/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/09/mike_lynch_extradition_autonomy_hpe/

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2018/02/05/lauri_love_extradition_judgment/

[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPmWHlEcobBzCD0DP8t6lgAAAJg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/10/mike_lynch_extradition_us_opening_arguments/

[13] https://www.theregister.com/Tag/autonomy

[14] https://www.theregister.com/2020/01/23/david_davis_says_stop_mike_lynch_us_extradition/

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[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/