Judge says No: Mike Lynch loses High Court battle to delay extradition to US
British technology tycoon Mike Lynch, who is facing extradition to the US after being accused of fraud, has lost the latest stage of a legal battle.
Lynch wants Home Secretary Priti Patel to be given more time to make an extradition decision.
He mounted a High Court challenge after a judge who oversaw an extradition hearing set a deadline.
A High Court judge just ruled against Lynch.
Case so far
Lynch mounted a High Court challenge to a decision made by a judge during extradition proceedings.
Justice Swift heard how a judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court had rejected “various challenges” Lynch had made to extradition and ruled that Home Secretary Priti Patel could decide whether to extradite.
Patel subsequently asked District Judge Michael Snow if she could have until March 2022 to make the decision.
Judge Snow refused her application and said she should make a decision before Christmas. Lynch challenged that ruling by Judge Snow and wants Justice Swift to overturn it.
A High Court judge has now examined the legal challenge by Lynch and ruled against his request to delay.
Thomas Garner, Extradition Partner at law firm Fladgate, commented on the decision to not permit the Secretary of State more time to consider her decision in his extradition case: “Mr Lynch’s lawyers wanted more time to persuade the Secretary of State to consider the doubtless mammoth judgment in the long-running Autonomy trial, which is expected to be handed down in the coming weeks.”
“However, the High Court has decided that DJ Snow was correct in declining to postpone the case any further. In reality, the matters that the Secretary of State is entitled to consider in extradition cases have been tightly restricted ever since Theresa May blocked Gary McKinnon’s extradition. It is not clear whether considering the ruling would assist the Secretary of State to make her decision.”