For those with short memories, Lynch was the founding investor of the British cybersecurity firm Darktrace and sold his software firm Autonomy to HP in 2011. At the time things were not going well with HP which was trying to re-invent itself as an American SAP.

However, it all went badly and HP claimed it was all Lynch's fault and they called in the police.  Lynch faces changes that he duped the US firm Hewlett-Packard into overpaying when it struck an $11 billion deal for Autonomy. Two high court judges considered Mike Lynch's challenge at a recent hearing in London and on Friday issued a ruling rejecting his appeal against extradition to face the charges.

Lynch, who could face a maximum prison sentence of 25 years if found guilty, has always denied the allegations and any wrongdoing. Sushovan Hussain, Autonomy's former finance director, is already serving time in jail in the US after being found guilty of fraud relating to the same deal.

A spokesperson for Lynch said he was considering appealing to the European court of human rights. "Dr Lynch is very disappointed, but is reviewing the judgment and will continue to explore his options to appeal, including to the European court of human rights (ECHR)," he said.

"The United States' legal overreach into the UK is a threat to the rights of all British citizens and the sovereignty of the UK."

However, criminal defense law firm Corker Binning said that only eight per cent of applications to the ECHR in such cases -- seeking a Rule 39 order to stop the UK extradition until it has considered the case -- were successful last year.