British tech tycoon Mike Lynch has been cleared of fraud charges in the US over the $11bn sale of his software firm to Hewlett-Packard in 2011. A jury in San Francisco found him not guilty on all counts, marking a stunning victory for Mr. Lynch.
Facing more than 20 years in prison if convicted, Mr. Lynch denied the charges and took the stand to defend himself. He maintained his focus on technology rather than accounting, distancing himself from other executives involved in the case.
“I am elated with today’s verdict and grateful to the jury for their attention to the facts over the last 10 weeks,” Mr. Lynch said in a statement. “I am looking forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field.”
Mr. Lynch, a University of Cambridge graduate, co-founded Autonomy in 1996, leading it to become one of the UK’s biggest companies. The company was known for its software that could extract useful information from “unstructured” sources like phone calls and emails.
The sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011 was the largest-ever takeover of a British technology business at the time. Mr. Lynch made £500m from the sale, but just a year later, HP wrote down the value of Autonomy by $8.8bn, leading to years of legal battles.
The company’s former chief financial officer was found guilty of fraud in 2018, and US prosecutors brought charges against Mr. Lynch in 2018, accusing him of inflating the firm’s value using backdated agreements and other deceptive practices.
After being extradited to the US, Mr. Lynch faced house arrest while preparing for the trial, which began in March. Despite prosecutors calling dozens of witnesses, including the former head of HP, the arguments fell flat, and Mr. Lynch was ultimately found not guilty on all counts.
Lawyers for Mr. Lynch expressed their thrill at the outcome, calling it a “rejection of the government’s profound overreach in this case.” They stated, “Thankfully, the truth has finally prevailed,” closing the chapter on a 13-year effort to pin HP’s mistakes on Mr. Lynch.
