US tech firm says it’s going to proceed case in opposition to Lynch’s property following his loss of life in a yacht wreck off Sicily.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has confirmed that it’s going to pursue $4bn in damages in opposition to the property of tech mogul Mike Lynch following his loss of life in a yacht wreck off the coast of Sicily.
HPE had sued Lynch and his former chief monetary officer Sushovan Hussain for allegedly inflating the worth of Autonomy earlier than its acquisition for $11bn in 2011.
The Texas-based tech agency received a civil declare in opposition to Lynch at the UK’s Excessive Court docket in 2022, though the choose mentioned that any damages could be considerably lower than the $5bn it had claimed.
“It’s HPE’s intention to observe the proceedings by way of to their conclusion,” the corporate mentioned in an announcement on Monday.
Lynch, the founding father of the software program firm Autonomy, died when his superyacht, the Bayesian, sank in a storm off the Italian island on August 19.
Six different individuals died within the sinking, together with Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter.
Fifteen individuals survived, together with Lynch’s spouse Angela Bacares, who might now be answerable for damages.
Just a little greater than two months earlier than his loss of life, Lynch was acquitted of all 15 counts of fraud associated to the sale of Autonomy at a felony trial in San Francisco.
Lynch, who constantly denied any wrongdoing, mentioned he was “elated” and “grateful” after the decision in June.
“I’m wanting ahead to returning to the UK and getting again to what I like most: my household and innovating in my discipline,” he mentioned.
Lynch launched Autonomy in 1996 as a device firms might use to pinpoint helpful knowledge from sources akin to cellphone calls and emails.
Autonomy’s buy in 2011 on the time ranked as the most costly takeover of a British tech firm on file.
HPE initially hailed its buy of the corporate, however introduced a $8.8bn writedown lower than a yr later after reporting that it had found “accounting misrepresentations”.
