HP and Mike Lynch

[NickZ24]

Someone is happy

Bloomberg said:

UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch was found not guilty of criminal charges that he pulled off Silicon Valley’s biggest-ever fraud 13 years ago by duping Hewlett Packard Co. into buying his software startup for $11 billion.

https://archive.is/BUN6B

[outnumbered]

I am absolutely amazed he got off, it's pretty hard to win against the feds, and there seemed to be plenty of questionable accounting going on at Autonomy. I guess he's just taken the Post Office defence and convinced the jury he didn't know about any of that.

[Simpo Two]

Or maybe HP should have looked a bit harder before buying. And now they have a fat legal bill too.

First Trump, then Lynch, get hauled over the coals for bending some figures to make their businesses look worth more than they really are. Well no st Sherlock, that's been going on ever since currency was invented.

[outnumbered]

Simpo Two said:

Or maybe HP should have looked a bit harder before buying. And now they have a fat legal bill too.

First Trump, then Lynch, get hauled over the coals for bending some figures to make their businesses look worth more than they really are. Well no st Sherlock, that's been going on ever since currency was invented.

Yes, I agree that HP didn't look hard enough, and also Lynch was another person on the wrong end of Blair's ludicrously one sided extradition arrangement with the US. But the stats are mind boggling, I read in the paper that only 0.4% of people are acquitted in federal cases that go to trial. Most accept a plea bargain due to the risk of an enormous sentence if they lose.

[ChocolateFrog]

He must still be tens of millions and several years in the hole.

He had to pay all his legal fees (obviously) but also had to cover the cost of his own house arrest.

Make no mistake he was only in a position to get off because he's a billionaire.

[Simpo Two]

ChocolateFrog said:

He had to pay all his legal fees (obviously)

Doesn't the loser pay?

[eyebeebe]

Simpo Two said:

Doesn't the loser pay?

In a criminal case?

[hepy]

ChocolateFrog said:

He must still be tens of millions and several years in the hole.

He had to pay all his legal fees (obviously) but also had to cover the cost of his own house arrest.

Make no mistake he was only in a position to get off because he's a billionaire.

And white...and male...

[Avenicus]

https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/mike_lynch_...

[NickZ24]

Simpo Two said:

Well no st Sherlock, that's been going on ever since currency was invented.

Yo mean since the 1st business was sold.

[Simpo Two]

eyebeebe said:

Simpo Two said:

Doesn't the loser pay?

In a criminal case?

No idea - never been in one! Seems like HP sued Lynch, and lost.

hepy said:

And white...and male...

Ah yes of course! The the jury is obviously racist and sexist

[brickwall]

The general narrative is that there’s no way this case would have been brought if Autonomy had been a US business. And that a lot of it was HP looking for a scapegoat after having not done their DD and paying too much in a mega acquisition, massively messing up the integration, and thus destroying a lot of shareholder value.

This was at most a civil case, not a criminal one.

Equally, the CFO was found guilty a few years ago (and did time).

[skyebear]

Simpo Two said:

No idea - never been in one! Seems like HP sued Lynch, and lost.

HP sued Lynch in the UK and won. A decision on damages and costs was put on hold pending the outcome of the US criminal case.

The US case was brought by the government with HP the "victim".

I'm sure Lynch's lawyers are now looking at ways to sue the government and HP to try and barter down or delay things.

[Jockman]

I think the crux of the issue was that it was accepted HP would still have bought Autonomy even if the figures weren’t sexed up.

He also defended himself from what I’ve read.