US prosecutors alleged that Lynch had launched into an elaborate, multiyear scheme by which he backdated and fabricated gross sales and lied in regards to the situation of Autonomy’s funds in public filings. The impact, they claimed, was to deceive HP into buying Autonomy for a puffed-up value. Prosecutors argued that Lynch himself walked away from the cope with a minimum of $640 million in money.
After a protracted authorized combat over extradition, Lynch ultimately confronted felony trial within the US in early 2024. He at all times denied the fees in opposition to him, however the odds of an acquittal didn’t look good; in 2018, Autonomy CFO Sushovan Hussain was convicted on comparable prices, and in 2022, Lynch misplaced a civil trial within the UK Excessive Courtroom that culminated in a ruling that Autonomy executives had fraudulently boosted the agency’s reported income, earnings, and worth.
However after a meandering, 12-week trial in federal court docket in San Francisco, Lynch was cleared of all prices by a jury, escaping the prospect of greater than 20 years in jail. In a press release issued after the trial, Lynch described himself as “elated” and mentioned he was “wanting ahead to returning to the UK and getting again what I like most: my household and innovating in my area.”
In a separate incident, Lynch’s co-defendant, Stephen Chamberlain, Autonomy’s former vice chairman of finance, has additionally died, after being hit by a automobile in Cambridgeshire, UK, over the weekend.
In an interview with The Instances—his first after the decision was introduced—Lynch spoke in regards to the strangeness of getting been granted “a second life”: “The query is, what do you wish to do with it?”
In a press release, former Autonomy COO Andrew Kanter tells WIRED that Lynch “was essentially the most good thoughts and caring particular person I’ve ever recognized.” He provides, “There’s merely no different UK know-how entrepreneur of our era who has had such an affect on so many individuals. His ardour for all times, data, and all these round him was immediately inspiring to everybody he met, and he will probably be sorely missed.”
In a tribute to Lynch offered to WIRED, David Tabizel, cofounder of Autonomy, described his late associate as a “outstanding particular person” and “the rarest of entrepreneurs.”
“The person was a legend, a genius, a present to world enterprise and above all, a mensch,” says Tabizel. “Britain’s Invoice Gates? Not likely. Britain’s Steve Jobs.”
Up to date 8-22-2024 12:30 pm BST: This story was up to date with a tribute to Lynch from David Tabizel.
