British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has lost a bid to block his extradition to the US to face criminal charges linked to the $11bn sale of his company Autonomy.

London’s High Court ruled on Friday that Mr Lynch had no grounds to appeal and should be sent to face charges in the US.

It’s the latest chapter in a legal saga that began shortly after the 2011 sale of Mr Lynch’s software company to Hewlett Packard. A year after the sale, HP wrote down the value of the deal by $8.8bn.

Mr Lynch, who was once hailed as Britain's answer to Bill Gates, faces 17 US charges over the deal, which was one of Britain's biggest ever tech transactions. He denies any wrongdoing.

Lawyers for Mr Lynch had appealed to the High Court to overturn a decision by Britain's Home Secretary to order the extradition in January.

His lawyers had argued he should be prosecuted in Britain, where the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has reserved the right to prosecute him if he is not extradited.

However, lawyers representing the US government had argued there was no reason to block the extradition, saying the SFO had ceded jurisdiction to U.S. prosecutors.

None of the grounds of appeal were arguable, Lord Justice Clive Lewis and Justice Julian Knowles wrote in a ruling Friday.

They wrote: "We are unpersuaded there is anything in this ground of appeal.

"It follows that this application for permission to appeal is refused."