<!–
<!–
<!– <!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
Britain’s response to Bill Gates was the “driving force” behind Silicon Valley’s biggest-ever fraud, a court heard last night.
Prosecutors have accused Mike Lynch of committing “massive fraud” when he tricked IT giant Hewlett-Packard into buying his software company Autonomy for £8.6 billion in 2011.
The lawyers claimed Lynch “told a fabulous story” about Autonomy’s finances, but in reality it was a “multi-year, multi-layered fraud.”
He denied 16 counts of conspiracy and fraud in San Francisco court.
But if convicted after a two-month trial, Lynch faces 20 years in prison.
US trial: Mike Lynch (pictured) allegedly committed ‘massive fraud’ by tricking IT giant Hewlett-Packard into buying his software company Autonomy for £8.6bn in 2011.
The affair has already proven to be a disgrace for Lynch, 58, who was awarded an OBE for services to business in 2006.
He served on the board of the BBC and was appointed in 2011 to Prime Minister David Cameron’s science and technology council.
But since his arrest and extradition to the United States ten months ago, Lynch has been living in an apartment in San Francisco where he has been forced to wear an ankle tag to monitor his movements as part of a $100 million bond. £78 million.
The case concerns the sale of Autonomy which made Lynch one of Britain’s most famous tycoons, comparable to Gates, the founder of Microsoft. Lynch, who grew up in Chelmsford, Essex, made more than £500million from the deal.
But the situation deteriorated almost immediately and triggered a decade of civil and criminal litigation, culminating in the trial that began last night.
Prosecutor Adam Reeves told the court Lynch lured HP with a series of allegations about Autonomy’s finances.
Reeves said: “HP ate it all – they thought this type of software company was exactly what they needed. »
A year after the deal was announced, HP was forced into a £6.9 billion writedown, blamed on “serious accounting irregularities”.
Reeves said Autonomy used accounting tricks such as backdating contracts to make its revenue appear larger than it was.
Another trick was paying more than necessary for services Autonomy didn’t need in order to get sellers to buy its products.
Former Autonomy vice president of finance Stephen Chamberlain is on trial and has also pleaded not guilty.
Lynch’s lawyer, Reid Weingarten, who once represented financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, said he was innocent.
HP was to blame because it was outdated and didn’t understand Autonomy’s software, Weingarten and his team claimed.