The estate of late tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch is facing the prospect of being effectively wiped out after the High Court ordered it to pay $1.24 billion in damages and interest to Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).
The ruling marks the latest development in one of the UK’s most high-profile corporate fraud cases, stemming from HPE’s $11.7 billion acquisition of Autonomy in 2011.
The court had already awarded HPE approximately £700 million in damages last year. However, the addition of interest, calculated at around $236 million, has pushed the total liability to $1.24 billion.
Mr Justice Hildyard confirmed the additional sum and rejected an application by Lynch’s estate for permission to appeal, although a further appeal could still be sought through the Court of Appeal.
The case dates back more than a decade, with HPE first alleging fraud in 2012. The company argued that Autonomy’s financial position had been misrepresented ahead of the acquisition, a claim upheld by the High Court in 2022.
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