Mike Lynch, once hailed as Britain's technology tycoon, has been acquitted of fraud and conspiracy charges that led to an $11 billion deal that was a major blow to Silicon Valley pioneer Hewlett-Packard.
The not guilty verdict handed down by a jury in federal court in San Francisco on Thursday was the result of an 11-week criminal trial that delved into HP's 2011 acquisition of Autonomy, the business software company that Lynch founded and later oversaw as CEO in the United Kingdom. HP initially celebrated the acquisition as a major coup that put the Palo Alto, California, company on a promising new path, but soon came to regret it under then-CEO Meg Whitman's stewardship.
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The jury acquitted Lynch of all 15 felony charges. Late in the trial, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer dismissed securities fraud charges that had been included in the U.S. Department of Justice indictment against Lynch dating back to 2018. It took years for Lynch to be extradited from the UK, and subsequent legal battles followed, before her trial finally began in mid-March.
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