British tech tycoon Mike Lynch feared he would die in jail
British entrepreneur Mike Lynch has said he feared he would die in jail before being cleared of fraud relating to the multi-billion dollar sale of his software firm.
Once dubbed ‘Britain’s Bill Gates’, Dr Lynch was acquitted last month of charges related to the £9billion sale of his software company to a US technology giant.
The 59-year-old had been extradited to the United States to face trial and had been facing up to 25 years in prison.
In his first interview since being acquitted of all charges, the father of two told The Times medical issues meant he felt it would have been ‘difficult to survive’ prison.
‘I’d had to say goodbye to everything and everyone, because I didn’t know if I’d ever be coming back,’ he added.
‘If this had gone the wrong way, it would have been the end of my life as I have known it in any sense,’ he said.
British tech tycoon Mike Lynch has said he feared he would die in jail before being acquitted of fraud claims relating to the sale of his software firm
Dr Lynch, 59, had been extradited to the United States to face trial and had been facing up to 25 years in prison
He said he spent 13 months under house arrest in San Francisco awaiting trial.
Although police agreed to meet him around the corner from his Chelsea home, once he was at Heathrow airport he was restrained by US marshals for his extradition flight.
He was accused of deliberately overstating the value of Autonomy, which he founded in Cambridge in 1996, before it was acquired by Hewlett Packard.
A jury in San Francisco acquitted him on all 15 charges – one count of conspiracy, and 14 counts of wire fraud, each connected to specific transactions or communications.
His team had always denied any wrongdoing, arguing that HP had not completed its due diligence sufficiently and failed to understand what it was purchasing.
Dr Lynch lambasted the extradition treaty between the UK and US which has been dubbed as one-sided. Under the rules, it is far easier for the US to extradite British citizens than it is for Britain to extradite Americans.
Dr Lynch said he spent almost 13 months under house arrest in San Francisco while awaiting trial
‘It has to be wrong that a US prosecutor has more power over a British citizen living in England that the UK police do,’ he said.
‘The system can sweep individuals away.’ Critics of the extradition treaty, signed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks with the apparent intention of snaring terrorists and other serious criminals, say it has instead disproportionately affected British white collar suspects.
Tory former shadow home secretary David Davis has backed calls for an overhaul.
The dad also tearfully opened up about his ‘very strange’ adjustment to being back in the UK after the ordeal.
He told the newspaper: ‘I stood on Piccadilly Circus the other day, which has the most enormous permanent traffic jam, and I’m just thinking, “This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”’
Dr Lynch previously served on a science group that advised the prime minister and was awarded an OBE for services to enterprise in 2006.
