Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has pledged to pursue a £3bn claim against the estate of Mike Lynch, the founder of British software company Autonomy, after his death aboard the luxury yacht Baysian off the coast of Sicily.
The tech mogul and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were among the seven victims when the ship sank two weeks ago.
Despite Lynch’s death, HPE has confirmed its intent to pursue a long-running fraud lawsuit against Lynch and his former CFO, Sushuvan Hussain. “HPE’s intent is to pursue the proceedings to their conclusion,” an HPE spokesperson said.
The US tech company is seeking up to $4bn (£3bn) in a UK lawsuit, which centres on the 2011 sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for £7bn. Initially hailed as the “Britain’s Bill Gates”, Lynch’s success was tarnished when the deal fell through less than a year later, prompting HPE to sue Lynch and Hussain in the High Court in 2015. In 2022, the pair were found guilty of fraud, with the judge describing their actions as “artificial” deals that lacked “commercial substance”, inflating Autonomy’s value before the sale.
Hussein was convicted of US criminal charges related to the deal in 2018 and sentenced to five years in prison. However, Lynch was acquitted in a separate trial in June this year, a result seen as a major vindication for the businessman. However, HPE’s civil case against him continues, with Judge Hildyard expected to issue a ruling on damages by the end of the year.
HPE has confirmed its commitment to continuing the case against the Lynch estate, including any potential appeals following the damages ruling. A spokesperson for the Lynch family declined to comment on ongoing proceedings.