British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has been acquitted of fraud charges related to the $11 billion (£8.6 billion) sale of his software company, Autonomy, to Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011. A jury in San Francisco found him not guilty on all counts, marking a significant victory for Lynch, who had been accused of inflating Autonomy’s value before the sale.
Facing over 20 years in prison if convicted, Lynch denied all charges and took the stand in his defense. During his testimony, he emphasized his focus on technology rather than accounting, distancing himself from other executives, including the company’s former CFO, who had already been convicted of fraud.
“I am elated with today’s verdict and grateful to the jury for their attention to the facts over the last 10 weeks,” Lynch stated. “I look forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field.”
Lynch co-founded Autonomy in 1996, emerging from a specialized software research group at the University of Cambridge. Under his leadership, Autonomy became one of the UK’s largest companies, known for its innovative software that extracted useful information from unstructured data sources like emails and phone calls. The company was sold to HP in 2011 in what was then the largest-ever takeover of a British tech firm, resulting in Lynch earning £500 million. However, HP later wrote down Autonomy’s value by $8.8 billion, leading to years of legal disputes.
In 2018, US prosecutors charged Lynch with inflating the firm’s value, using backdated agreements, and misleading about sales figures. He was eventually extradited to the US following a UK court ruling in favor of HP in a civil fraud case.
Throughout the trial, Lynch’s defense argued that HP had mismanaged the acquisition and failed to conduct proper due diligence. Judge Charles Breyer dismissed one count of securities fraud due to insufficient evidence.
Following the verdict, Abraham Simmons, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office, acknowledged the jury’s decision and thanked them for their careful consideration of the evidence.
Alongside Lynch, former finance executive Stephen Chamberlain was also acquitted. Lynch’s lawyers hailed the verdict as a significant rejection of the government’s overreach, stating, “This verdict closes the book on a relentless 13-year effort to pin HP’s well-documented ineptitude on Dr. Lynch. Thankfully, the truth has finally prevailed.”
British Tech Tycoon Mike Lynch Cleared of Fraud Charges in US
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