Tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has today lost a bid to block his extradition to the US to face criminal charges over Hewlett Packard's $11 billion acquisition of his software company Autonomy after London's High Court rejected his appeal.
Lynch - the co-founder of Autonomy - faces 17 US charges over the 2011 takeover, which was one of Britain's biggest tech deals. Lynch denies any wrongdoing.
He had appealed to the High Court to overturn a decision by Britain's Home Secretary to order the extradition in January.
His lawyers had argued he should be prosecuted in Britain, where the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has reserved the right to prosecute him if he is not extradited.
But lawyers representing the US government had argued there was no reason to block the extradition, saying the SFO had ceded jurisdiction to US prosecutors.
"We are unpersuaded there is anything in this ground of appeal," the two High Court judges said in their ruling, saying "none of the grounds of appeal are arguable".
"It follows that this application for permission toappeal is refused," they added.
