Hewlett Packard Enterprises confirms it will continue its $4 billion suit against Mike Lynch’s estate after he died in a tragic yacht sinking
Mike Lynch, the former chief executive of Autonomy Corp., died in August when his yacht sank.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise said Monday that it wouldn’t drop its lawsuit against the late tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s estate.
The news came two weeks after Lynch died in a tragic yacht sinking off the coast of Sicily. Lynch, along with seven others, including his daughter and his top attorney, drowned when his superyacht, Bayesian, sank.
Before his death, Lynch had been embroiled in a nine-year legal battle with the company. Hewlett-Packard bought his software company, Autonomy, in 2011 and later accused Lynch of valuing it inaccurately. Hewlett-Packard broke into two companies — Hewlett Packard Enterprises and HP — in 2015.
An HPE spokesperson said Monday that the company would continue to pursue the lawsuit, which seeks $4 billion in damages.
Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, who survived the yacht tragedy, is expected to inherit her husband’s fight, Fortune reported.
“In 2022, an English High Court judge ruled that HPE had substantially succeeded in its civil fraud claims against Dr Lynch and Mr Hussain,” the spokesperson said Monday in a statement to The Associated Press.
“A damages hearing was held in February 2024 and the judge’s decision regarding damages due to HPE will arrive in due course,” they added. “It is HPE’s intention to follow the proceedings through to their conclusion.”
The Monday statement came after the group initially sent a statement to several media outlets declining to comment on legal matters in light of the tragedy.
“We do not think it appropriate to comment on legal matters in these tragic circumstances,” a spokesperson previously said, per Fortune. “We’re saddened by this tragic event and our thoughts are with the families and friends of all the victims.”
The yacht sank just weeks after Lynch and Stephen Chamberlain, his former vice president of finance, were acquitted by a San Francisco jury in June of all criminal charges related to Autonomy’s sale.
The indictment accused Lynch and Chamberlain of falsifying financial documents, lying to auditors and regulators, and suppressing people who criticized Autonomy’s financial practices.
