Hewlett Packard boss defends Lynch family’s pursuit of £3bn fraud suit following tycoon’s death

The head of Hewlett Packard Enterprises has hit back after his company was accused of “a complete lack of humility” for suing Mike Lynch’s family following his death.

Antonio Neri, chief executive of the US software group, said it was a “difficult” decision to proceed with the £3bn fraud claim against the British tycoon’s estate.

But he insisted the move was “in the best interest of shareholders.”

Lynch, 59, and her 18-year-old daughter Hannah were among seven people killed when the superyacht Bayesian sank off Sicily last month.

The family was celebrating Lynch’s acquittal on US fraud charges relating to Hewlett Packard’s £8bn takeover of his technology company Autonomy in 2011.

Hewlett Packard Enterprises’ (HPE) decision to pursue separate legal action against Lynch’s estate after her death has sparked outrage.

Patrick Jacob, a close friend of the businessman, last week accused HPE of “first pursuing a man through a relentless battle in the press” and now going after his widow, Angela Bacares, 57, who survived.

“Before the bodies were buried, they had already begun circling like vultures, demonstrating a complete lack of humanity,” Jacob said last week. “This is absolutely cruel and disgusting.”

But speaking to the Financial Times yesterday, Neri, 57, said Lynch’s acquittal and subsequent death had not changed HPE’s plan to file a separate civil suit over the acquisition.

He said: ‘Obviously, my job as a shareholder representative is to make the difficult decisions. But at the end of the day, we are making decisions that benefit shareholders.

“What we saw is a sad story, but the reality of what happened does not change what happened in the last decade, when we believe that crimes were committed and therefore we have to move forward with the process.”

Although Lynch was acquitted of criminal charges in the US in June over the sale of Autonomy, HPE won a civil suit in the High Court in 2022.

A judge is expected to award damages later this year.