UK Tech Mogul Acquitted in US Court
The Facts
British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, who founded the data analytics software company Autonomy, was acquitted Thursday in a US federal court on 15 fraud charges. He was accused of illegally inflating Autonomy's revenue before selling it to Hewlett-Packard (HP) for $11B in 2011.
The jury found Lynch not guilty on one charge of conspiracy and 14 counts of wire fraud. The trial was part of a years-long legal battle that began when HP downgraded Autonomy's value to $8.8B within a year of the sale.
The Spin
Narrative A
This acquittal shows why the UK-US extradition treaty needs reform. Since the treaty's signing in 2003, which was meant to target murderers, terrorists, and pedophiles, the vast majority of British citizens sent to America to stand trial have been non-violent, white-collar suspects. A mere accusation of non-violent offenses — without a warrant, for that matter — should not be the basis to send Britons across the ocean and into the hands of foreign prosecutors.
Narrative B
Opponents of the extradition treaty act as if it unfairly advantages the US, but that's neither true legally nor in practice. The "reasonable suspicion" requirement for the US and the "probable cause" requirement for the UK may sound unfair, but both countries have equal power to make and refuse requests. Depending on the year in question, the UK has also refused numerous US requests while Washington accepts nearly every one from its British counterparts.