UK tech magnate Mike Lynch defends himself in US court

Lynch likens scrutiny to finding bacteria in a seemingly spotless kitchen.

British tech magnate Mike Lynch has appeared in a US court to defend himself against allegations of fraud related to the 2011 sale of his company, Autonomy, to Hewlett-Packard (HP).

According to the BBC, Lynch described his experience of the trial as "surreal", emphasising that he was not involved in the transactions being scrutinised.

Lynch co-founded Autonomy in 1996, which became one of the UK's leading technology firms. Despite once being compared to Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, Lynch now faces the possibility of up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

See also: Autonomy co-founder Mike Lynch's fraud trial opens in San Francisco

Prosecutors in San Francisco have spent weeks presenting their case to the jury, alleging that Lynch orchestrated a scheme involving back-dated contracts and other tactics to inflate Autonomy's value. The firm was sold for over $11 billion (£8.6 billion), marking the largest-ever takeover of a British tech company at the time.

HP wrote down Autonomy's value by $8.8 billion just a year after the acquisition, claiming they were misled into overpaying for the company, which specialised in software that extracted useful information from unstructured data sources like phone calls, emails, and videos.

Lynch's defence team argued that HP failed to conduct proper due diligence before the purchase. They also sought to separate Lynch from other Autonomy executives, including former Chief Financial Officer Stephen Chamberlain, who has already been prosecuted for fraud.

Testifying under questioning from his lawyer, Lynch stated that his focus at Autonomy was on technology and marketing, leaving financial matters to others. He likened the scrutiny to finding bacteria in a seemingly spotless kitchen.

Lynch, a former UK government adviser who has served on the boards of the BBC and the British Library, resisted extradition to the US. However, he was ultimately extradited following a UK judge's 2022 ruling in HP's favour in a similar civil fraud case, in which HP is seeking $4 billion in damages.

Alongside Lynch, Autonomy's former finance executive Stephen Chamberlain is also on trial.