- HPE seeks $4 billion from Mike Lynch’s estate post-yacht crash
- Lynch had previously won a UK legal battle against HPE
- Lynch was acquitted of fraud two months before his death
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has revealed that it will seek $4 billion in damages from the estate of tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch following his death in a yacht crash off the coast of Sicily.
HPE had sued Lynch and his former CFO, Sushovan Hussain, for allegedly misrepresenting the worth of his software firm, Autonomy, before its $11 billion acquisition in 2011.
In 2022, the Texas-based IT corporation won a legal claim against Lynch in the United Kingdom’s High Court, but the judge ruled that any damages would be substantially less than the $5 billion requested.
“HPE intends to follow the proceedings through to their conclusion,” the company stated in a statement on Monday.
Lynch perished after his superyacht, the Bayesian, sank in a storm off the Italian island on August 19.
Six other individuals were killed in the sinking, including Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter. Fifteen people survived, including Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, who may potentially be held accountable for damages.
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A little more than two months before his death, Lynch was acquitted of all 15 counts of fraud relating to the sale of Autonomy in a San Francisco criminal trial.
Lynch consistently denied any wrongdoing and claimed he was “elated” and “grateful” following the June verdict.
I am looking forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field,” he told reporters.
Lynch founded Autonomy in 1996 to help businesses identify usable data from sources such as phone calls and emails.
Autonomy’s acquisition in 2011 was the most costly takeover of a British technology business.
HPE initially praised its acquisition of the company but declared a $8.8 billion writedown less than a year later after discovering “accounting misrepresentations”.
