Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has confirmed it will file a $4 billion lawsuit against the estate of tech mogul Mike Lynch. Death in a yacht wreck off the coast of Sicily.
HPE sued Lynch and its former chief financial officer Sushovan Hussain for allegedly inflating the value of Autonomy ahead of its $11bn acquisition in 2011.
The Texas-based tech firm won a civil suit against Lynch in the United Kingdom’s High Court in 2022, although the judge said any damages would be significantly less than the $5bn he claimed.
“HPE intends to pursue the action to its conclusion,” the company said in a statement Monday.
Lynch, the founder of software company Autonomy, died when his superyacht, the Bayesian, capsized in a storm off an Italian island on August 19.
Six other people died in the drowning, including Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter.
Fifteen people survived, including Lynch’s wife, Angela Becares, who may now be held responsible for the damage.
A little more than two months before his death, Lynch was acquitted of all 15 counts of fraud related to the sale of Autonomy at a criminal trial in San Francisco.
Lynch, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing, said he was “elated” and “grateful” after the verdict in June.
“I’m looking forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field,” he said.
Lynch launched Autonomy in 1996 as a tool companies could use to direct useful data from sources such as phone calls and emails.
At the time, the purchase of Autonomy in 2011 ranked as the most expensive takeover of a British tech company on record.
HPE initially hailed its purchase of the company, but less than a year later announced an $8.8bn write-down after it reportedly discovered “accounting misrepresentations”.
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