HP to Continue $4 Billion Damages Case Against Mike Lynch

Hewlett Packard said it would continue legal proceedings to seek up to $4 billion in damages from British billionaire Mike Lynch’s estate in the UK.

The U.S. company had been seeking compensation over its acquisition of British tech firm Autonomy amid claims of fraud masterminded by its co-founder Mike Lynch to inflate the company’s value.

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Lynch, who died in August when his yacht sank off the coast of Sicily, had denied any wrongdoings.

“It is HPE’s intention to follow the proceedings through to their conclusion,” the company said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

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HP had bought Autonomy for $11.1 billion in 2011 in one of the UK’s biggest tech deals. But in late 2012 the company said it had discovered a massive accounting scandal at the British tech firm.

In 2022, HP won a civil case against Lynch but a High Court judge said that any damages would be less than the $5 billion HP had claimed.

A spokesperson for Lynch’s family said they did not have any comment to share at this stage.

The company had filed the lawsuit against both Lynch and Autonomy’s former chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain.

(Reporting by Bose in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Catarina Demony; Editing by Mark Porter)