Symbol supply, Getty ImagesArticle informationAuthor, Natalie ShermanRole, Trade reporter, BBC News6 June 2024, 20:52 BSTUpdated 32 mins agoBritish tech wealthy person Mike Lynch has been cleared of fraud fees he confronted in the USA over the $11bn (£8.6bn) sale of his instrument company to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.A jury in San Francisco discovered him no longer to blame on all counts, a surprising victory for Mr Lynch, who have been accused of inflating the price of his company, Autonomy, forward of its sale.Mr Lynch, who confronted greater than two decades in jail if convicted, had denied the costs, taking the stand to shield himself.In his testimony, he maintained he had keen on era, no longer accounting, distancing himself from different executives, together with the corporate’s former leader monetary officer, who used to be already effectively prosecuted for fraud.”I’m elated with these days’s verdict and thankful to the jury for his or her consideration to the information during the last 10 weeks,” he stated in a commentary. “I’m having a look ahead to returning to the United Kingdom and getting again to what I really like maximum: my circle of relatives and innovating in my box.”Dr Lynch co-founded Autonomy in 1996 and led it because it grew to be some of the UK’s largest firms, successful him comparisons to Invoice Gates and Steve Jobs. The corporate, identified for instrument that might extract helpful knowledge from “unstructured” resources akin to telephone calls, emails or video, used to be in the end bought to Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011 in a deal that ranked, on the time, because the largest-ever takeover of a British era trade. Mr Lynch made £500m from the sale.Only a 12 months later, HP wrote down the price of Autonomy by way of $8.8bn.Years of felony battles adopted. The corporate’s leader monetary officer, Sushovan Hussain, used to be discovered to blame of fraud in 2018 and later sentenced to 5 years in jail. US prosecutors introduced fees towards Mr Lynch in 2018, accusing him of inflating the price of the company the usage of backdated agreements to deceive in regards to the corporate’s gross sales; concealing the company’s loss-making trade reselling {hardware}; and intimidating or paying off individuals who raised considerations.He used to be in the end extradited after a UK pass judgement on dominated in favour of HP in a identical civil fraud case in 2022. HP is looking for a reported $4bn if so.Mr Lynch, a former UK executive adviser who sat at the forums of the BBC and the British Library, had confronted area arrest in the USA, whilst making ready for the trial, which started in San Francisco in March. Prosecutors had known as dozens of witnesses to the stand, together with the previous head of HP Leo Apotheker, who used to be fired in a while after the acquisition used to be introduced.However the arguments fell flat. Mr Lynch’s crew driven the argument that HP had failed to correctly vet the deal and mismanaged the takeover, whilst he testified he used to be uninvolved with the transactions being described.Pass judgement on Charles Breyer had already brushed aside one rely of securities fraud throughout the trial for loss of proof. Abraham Simmons, a spokesman for the USA Legal professionals Place of job, stated: “We recognize and admire the decision. “We wish to thank the jury for its attentiveness to the proof the federal government offered on this case.”In addition to Mr Lynch, any other former finance government at Autonomy, Stephen Chamberlain, used to be additionally on trial. He used to be additionally discovered no longer to blame.Attorneys for Mr Lynch, Christopher Morvillo and Brian Heberlig, stated in a commentary that they had been delighted by way of the end result, announcing it mirrored a “rejection of the federal government’s profound overreach on this case”. “This verdict closes the e-book on a constant 13-year effort to pin HP’s well-documented ineptitude on Dr Lynch,” they stated. “Fortunately, the reality has in spite of everything prevailed.”
