Autonomy’s former CEO Mike Lynch issued a press release Thursday following his acquittal on legal expenses, ending a 13-year authorized battle with Hewlett-Packard that grew to become considered one of Silicon Valley’s largest fraud circumstances. Lynch was accused of falsely inflating revenues on the British startup earlier than Autonomy was offered to HP in 2011 for $11 billion.
Commenting on the not responsible verdict, Lynch (pictured above, left, showing at TechCrunch Disrupt) mentioned in a press release: “I’m overjoyed by at the moment’s verdict and thank the jury for his or her open eyes to the details over the previous 10 weeks. I wish to prolong my honest due to my authorized workforce who labored tirelessly on my behalf. I sit up for returning to the UK and getting again to what I like most – my household and innovating in my discipline.”
After a 12-week trial, the entrepreneur was acquitted of 15 expenses of fraud and conspiracy charged in reference to the 2011 takeover.
Lynch’s victory is notable given the truth that solely 0.4% of federal legal circumstances in the USA went to trial and resulted in an acquittal in fiscal yr 2022, and solely 12% of all wire fraud prosecutions resulted in an acquittal, in line with the Pew Analysis Heart.
Lynch’s authorized advisers, Christopher Morvillo and Brian Heberlig, added in a press release: “We’re thrilled with the jury’s verdict, which represents a agency rejection of the federal government’s overreach on this case. The proof offered at trial conclusively proved Mike Lynch harmless. This verdict brings to an finish 13 years of relentless efforts to pin HP’s well-documented incompetence on Dr Lynch. Fortunately, the reality is lastly out. We thank Dr Lynch for his confidence all through this ordeal and hope he can return to the UK to renew his life and proceed innovating.”
Lynch, 58, has already been extradited to the USA and is underneath home arrest and 24-hour surveillance forward of his trial. He has lengthy argued that HP made him a scapegoat for its failed acquisition of Autonomy and subsequent mismanagement of the corporate’s software program belongings.
Lynch made £500m from promoting Autonomy to HP, however only a yr later HP wrote down its funding by $8.8bn, saying $5bn of that was because of practices by Autonomy’s earlier administration that had overestimated Autonomy’s worth and misled potential consumers into believing the corporate was price rather more.
Prosecutors charged that Lynch and Autonomy’s former vice chairman of finance, Stephen Chamberlain, illegally inflated income earlier than the acquisition and hid high-margin software program income inside unprofitable {hardware} gross sales.
At trial, Lynch argued that he had not been concerned in accounting or contractual issues, however had as a substitute centered on technical and advertising and marketing points, and he gained the case.
Lynch unsuccessfully argued that he ought to be tried in Britain, resulting in his extradition, however a US jury acquitted him of all expenses, together with Chamberlain, who was additionally on trial.
The U.S. lawyer’s workplace in San Francisco mentioned in a press release: “We acknowledge and respect the decision and wish to thank the jury for listening to the proof offered by the federal government on this case.”
Autonomy’s sale to HP was seen as a vindication of the UK’s burgeoning expertise business, and the platform’s means to mine unstructured databases was seen on the time as a method for HP to show round its ailing {hardware} enterprise.
Lynch co-founded Autonomy in 1996 out of a specialist software program analysis group known as Cambridge Neurodynamics.
Lynch, who was made an OBE in 2006 for providers to enterprise, has served as an adviser to the UK Authorities, served on the board of administrators of the BBC and the British Library, and based Invoke Capital VC, which invested in cybersecurity start-up Darktrace.
