HP wins huge fraud case against Autonomy

Hewlett Packard won the multibillion-dollar fraud case over the purchase of British software company Autonomy in 2011. 

In a bid to reclaim losses due to overestimated valuation, HP filed a lawsuit against Autonomy — a company acquired for $11.1-billion (roughly Rs 83,251 crore) — under the context of fudging its accounts and inflating valuation leading to huge losses. 

HP litigated Mike Lynch, Autonomy’s founder and former chief financial officer Sushovan Hussain for around $5 billion (roughly Rs 37,500 crore). 

HP alleged that the two executives had “artificially inflated Autonomy’s reported revenues, revenue growth and gross margins... over a sustained period of time.” 

The company declared an $8.8 billion write-down of the firm’s value just over a year after the sale. 

Robert Hildyard, in the pronouncement of his judgement, said that HP and the other claimants had “substantially won”. He further said that the damages to be paid will be decided at a later date. 

On Friday, Interior Minister, Priti Patel signed an order for Lynch’s extradition to the US where he will be charged with separate criminal proceedings over the sale, said a statement by the Home Office. 

"Under the Extradition Act 2003, the secretary of state must sign an extradition order if there are no grounds to prohibit the order being made. Extradition requests are only sent to the home secretary once a judge who decides it can proceed after considering various aspects of the case,” BBC quoted a Home Office statement. 

“On 28th January, following consideration by the courts, the extradition of Micheal Lynch to the US was ordered," the Home Office spokesperson said. 

Lynch has not accepted the charges brought against him. 

Earlier, Lynch’s lawyer, Kelwin Nicholls said that his client, “firmly denies the charges” and will “continue to fight to establish his innocence”. 

“He is a British citizen who ran a British company in Britain subject to British laws and rules and that is where the matter should be resolved.”