伦敦——在英国内政部长普里蒂·帕特尔 (Priti Patel) 作出裁决后，英国科技企业家迈克·林奇 (Mike Lynch) 将被引渡到美国，以面临与将其公司 Autonomy 出售给惠普有关的刑事指控。
2011 年，林奇以 117 亿美元的价格将他的软件初创公司 Autonomy 卖给了惠普。
一年后，惠普宣布对该公司减记 88 亿美元，声称“会计违规行为”导致其为该公司支付了过多费用。
周五早些时候，一名英国法官在针对林奇的民事案件中裁定惠普胜诉，指控他在被惠普收购之前策划夸大 Autonomy 的价值。罗伯特·希尔德亚德法官说，惠普赢得了大部分指控，尽管损害赔偿将大大低于该公司寻求的 50 亿美元。
周五，英国内政部表示已决定批准美国引渡林奇的要求。帕特尔直到午夜才做出决定。否认这些指控的林奇可以对裁决提出上诉。他的律师说他打算这样做。
现年 56 岁的林奇曾被誉为英国最成功的科技企业家之一。他曾在英国媒体上被描述为“英国的比尔·盖茨”。
但声称林奇在被惠普收购之前人为地夸大了他公司的价值，这在很大程度上损害了这一形象。
美国当局希望他面临与 HP-Autonomy 交易有关的证券和电汇欺诈指控。去年，一名法官表示应该将林奇引渡到美国，并给了帕特尔两个月的时间来批准该命令。
这一消息可能会给林奇持有股份的英国网络安全公司 Darktrace 蒙上一层阴影。Darktrace 的几位高管此前曾为 Autonomy 工作。 Darktrace 表示，Lynch 不参与公司的日常运营。
Darktrace 去年在伦敦上市，此后该公司股价上涨了 60%。它的首次亮相被视为英国在退出欧盟后吸引更多高增长科技初创企业在该国上市的关键胜利。
Britain approves extradition of Mike Lynch to U.S. to face charges over HP fraud case
LONDON — British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch is set to be extradited to the United States to face criminal charges related to the sale of his company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, after a ruling made by U.K. interior minister Priti Patel.
Lynch sold his software start-up Autonomy to HP in 2011 for $11.7 billion.
One year later, HP announced an $8.8 billion writedown on the company, claiming that “accounting irregularities” led it to pay too much for the firm.
Earlier Friday, a British judge ruled in favor of HP in a civil case against Lynch over claims he plotted to inflate the value of Autonomy before it was bought by HP.HP won the majority of the charges, Justice Robert Hildyard said, though the damages would be significantly lower than the $5 billion sought by the company.
On Friday, the U.K. Home Office said it had decided to approve U S. demands to have Lynch extradited. Patel had until midnight to make the decision. Lynch, who denies the allegations, can appeal the ruling. His lawyers say he plans to do so.
Lynch, 56, had formerly gained a reputation as one of the U.K.'s most successful tech entrepreneurs. He was once described in the U.K. press as “Britain's Bill Gates.”
But claims that Lynch artificially inflated the value of his company before sealing its takeover by HP have largely tarnished that image.
U.S. authorities want him to face charges of securities and wire fraud in relation to the HP-Autonomy deal. Last year, a judge said Lynch should be extradited to the U.S. and gave Patel two months to approve the order.
The news is likely to cast a cloud over Darktrace, the U.K. cybersecurity firm that Lynch has a stake in. Several executives at Darktrace previously worked for Autonomy. For its part, Darktrace says Lynch is not involved in the day-to-day operations of the firm.
Darktrace listed in London last year and shares of the company have since climbed 60%. Its debut was seen as a key victory in the U.K.'s bid to attract more high-growth tech start-ups to list in the country after its withdrawal from the European Union.
