Autonomy founder Lynch scores extradition decision delay as Home Sec ponders sending him to US
- Reference: 1633010350
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/09/30/autonomy_lynch_extradition_2_month_delay/
- Source link:
Lynch's waiting period to see if Patel will order his extradition to stand trial on criminal charges in the US will now end on 29 November, the Daily Telegraph [1]reported .
I just got here - what's it all about?
In 2011, HP forked out $11bn for Autonomy, a maker of software to keep track of unstructured data, founded by Mike Lynch in the UK.
After the buyout, the US IT titan wrote down the value of Autonomy by $8.8bn, claiming the British firm had [2]"misrepresented" its value. Lynch, Autonomy CEO at the time of the biz gobble, denies this.
HPE - as the company is now called following a corporate restructure - is suing Lynch and Autonomy's former financial chief Sushovan Hussain at the High Court in London, seeking $5bn in damages. Over [3]in the States , prosecutors are pursuing a separate criminal fraud case against Lynch and Autonomy bean-counter Stephen Chamberlain. All three men deny any wrongdoing.
Lynch's extradition was [4]previously confirmed by Westminster Magistrates' Court in July , with District Judge Michael Snow ordering the exec to be sent to America. Once extradition is approved by a magistrate the decision goes to the Home Secretary, whose ruling is normally a formality.
A spokesman for Lynch denied all knowledge of the delay, claiming the entrepreneur had first learnt about it when it was published by the newspaper.
A Home Office spokesperson told The Register : "Extensions for making a decision on any given case can be made under the Extradition Act 2003. The Home Secretary is giving full consideration to the issues raised in this case."
[5]
[6]Section 99(4) of the Extradition Act 2003 allows the Home Secretary to ask for a judge's permission to extend the usual two month time limit for deciding whether or not to extradite an alleged criminal. It also says "this subsection may apply more than once", with the newspaper pointing out that a 7 day delay was previously granted.
[7]
[8]
The legal route for a US extradition is explained in some detail [9]on GOV.UK . Although Lynch has lodged an appeal at the High Court against District Judge Snow's decision, senior judges can't hear the appeal until Patel makes a formal decision. Doubtless the Autonomy founder is hoping the Home Secretary is in no rush to make up her mind.
Good luck – you'll need it
Lynch's chances of avoiding extradition on purely legal grounds are small. District Judge Snow rejected virtually all of his legal arguments, dismissing his witnesses as either so biased they weren't worth listening to or [10]irrelevant – embarrassing given one of those witnesses was his lead UK solicitor. The choice of live witnesses at the magistrates' court was thought to be unusual, leading some informed sources to remark to The Register that Lynch's legal strategy was curious to them.
One witness, Joel Sickler, was well known to prosecuting barrister Mark Summers QC, having appeared [11]on Summers' side during Julian Assange's extradition trial. It seemed odd to call a witness whose idiosyncrasies would be well known to the barrister cross-examining him. Calling Lynch's own solicitor (Kelwin Nicholls) to testify in his defence rather than other experts also caused some scratching of heads among the people with whom The Register discussed the case - and clearly DJ Snow, 15 years a veteran of the criminal bench, had no patience with the dense textual analysis that Nicholls presented him.
If Patel rejects the Lynch extradition it will almost certainly cause a minor diplomatic row, with the US government having spent millions of dollars over the last few years pursuing ex-Autonomy execs. Former CFO Sushovan Hussain was jailed for five years in 2019 and [12]lost his appeal the following year . Others, including former finance vice president Stephen Chamberlain, are awaiting trial in the US.
[13]
Chris Morvillo, Lynch's US solicitor, previously predicted that if extradited his client would probably stand trial in 2023. For now, however, the extradition proceedings continue.
There is no sign of judgment from the long-running civil High Court case brought against Lynch by HPE. Trial judge Mr Justice Hildyard [14]last heard arguments in the case during February this year , having already had a year to deliberate over his ruling by that point. The judge was aided by three judicial assistants (junior lawyers seconded to the judge's bench) at various stages during the trial.
Not only has this case contained one of the longest cross-examinations in modern English legal history, it might set the record for the longest wait for judgment too. Although an appeal seemed like a legal certainty, the extradition proceedings have overtaken the civil trial and could yet render it irrelevant; an English civil judgment in Lynch's favour won't help him if he's been remanded into a US prison cell. ®
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[1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/09/28/priti-patel-delays-decision-us-extradition-mike-lynch/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2012/11/20/hp_alleges_autonomy_fraud/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2019/03/23/mike_lynch_new_charges/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/29/autonomy_founder_lynch_extradition_ruling/
[5] 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=2YVXfTzXq9pcSJ7eQmh1OkgAAAQQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/41/section/99
[7] 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=44YVXfTzXq9pcSJ7eQmh1OkgAAAQQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YVXfTzXq9pcSJ7eQmh1OkgAAAQQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.gov.uk/guidance/extradition-processes-and-review#extradition-from-the-uk-category-2-territories
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/12/lynch_extradition_sickler_testimony/
[11] https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/julian-assange-faces-torturous-months-in-parking-space-sized-cell-if-extradited-to-us-court-hears/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/27/sushovan_hussain_autonomy_appeal_loss/
[13] 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=44YVXfTzXq9pcSJ7eQmh1OkgAAAQQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/26/hpe_lynch_frc_report_extra_evidence_application/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
One thing that not many people are aware of is that while the UK ratified the extradition treaty with the US, the US Congress flatly refused to ratify it back. So we are stuck with an treaty that one party insists you stick to while at the same time saying that they have no obligations to do so themselves.
Ratification
@UCAP
According to the treaty on the gov.uk site
"[Instruments of Ratification were exchanged on 26 April 2007 and the Treaty entered into force on 26 April 2007]"
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/243246/7146.pdf
... and for the "special" relationship...
By "special" you mean getting fucked shafted?
... to not be "special".
You mean so willingly?
O.
Quid Pro Quo
Ms Patel should lt it be known the US can have him if it drops all charges against a certain Antipodean journo. She should also start pronouncing the 'G' on the end of gerunds, present participles and verbs in participial clauses. She only does it to look as though she has the common touch.
Re: Quid Pro Quo
Better still, they can have Assange and leave Lynch alone.
Has Assange still got a visa to allow him to stay in the UK?
If he goes to the USA
he will almost certainly be found guilty, no matter what the facts are.
Re: If he goes to the USA
... certainly be found guilty, no matter what the facts are.
Indeed.
I have been for a long time convinced that the ... longest cross-examinations in modern English legal history ... are not because this is a complex case.
Far from it.
To me it is clear cut: HP screwed up and now needs a fall guy to make up for the US$ 6.6 billion of shareholder money they proactively insisted to flush down the loo.
It has been carried out in this manner ie: ... record for the longest wait for judgment... so that Lynch gets effectively extradited before judgement is handed down.
Once he is in one of those comfortable prisons the US is notorious for, he can then be found to be innocent (which I am quite sure he is) but as ... the extradition proceedings have overtaken the civil trial ... it will be rendered irrelevant.
All this is absolutely outrageous and sets a very bad example internationally.
If this happens in the UK, what can you expect elsewhere?
O.
Re: If he goes to the USA
Been saying this all along, it's protectionism. HP fucked up royally but can't admit that, so look for Johnny Foreigner to blame.
Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?
Don't you recognise an old fashioned witch-hunt for a scapegoat whenever you see it ..... and similarly purple in the shades of Assange.
England expects ...... UKGBNI HM Gov to grow a pair and advise Uncle Sam .... Thanks but No Thanks ..... for the consequences of abject capitulations are guaranteed to be dire and quickly self-defeating in this postmodern internetworking age which suffers not the slings and arrows of misfortunes nor the deeds of the worthily dispossessed and vainly possessed.
Perhaps the Home Secretary would like to remind the US that extradition works both ways, and that if they really would like Mr Lynch to be sent to America, a certain Mrs Sacoolas should be extradited for the much more serious crime of killing a person, No?
Of course not, that would require a spine and for the "special" relationship to not be "special" in the abusive sense of the word...