The Phillip Burton federal building in San Francisco. Credit: Jason Doiy/ The RecorderFormer Autonomy CEO Indicted on Wire Fraud Charges Related to Sale to HP
Autonomy's former CEO and vice president of finance have been indicted on wire fraud charges and allegations they conspired to inflate the company's performance before its 2011 sale to HP.
November 29, 2018 at 10:59 PM
3 minute read
A federal grand jury has indicted the former chief executive officer of Autonomy Corp. on wire charges related to the software company's $11 billion sale to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.
The indictment, handed down Thursday, charges Autonomy's former CEO Michael Richard Lynch with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and multiple counts of wire fraud.
Lynch allegedly engaged in a scheme to defraud Palo Alto-based HP and other sellers of its securities by fraudulently inflating Autonomy's financial returns. HP announced an $8.8 billion write-down of Autonomy in 2012, claiming misinterpretations pre-merger.
In an email statement, Mike Lynch's attorneys, Chris Morvillo of Clifford Chance and Reid Weingarten of Steptoe & Johnson, called the indictment a “travesty of justice” and the case “unsupportable.”
“It targets a British citizen with rehashed allegations about a British company regarding events that occurred in Britain a decade ago. It has no place in a U.S. court,” they said. “The claims amount to a business dispute over the application of U.K. accounting standards, which is the subject of a civil case with HP in the courts of England, where it belongs.”
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert S. Leach, Adam A. Reeves, and William Frentzen will prosecute the case.
The U.K.-based company's former vice president of finance Stephen Keith Chamberlain also was indicted on the same charges Thursday. Autonomy's former chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain, was found guilty of inflating the company's returns in April 2018.
No federal court appearance has been scheduled for either defendant. Lynch and Chamberlain each face a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 plus restitution per charge.
A spokesman for Hewlett Packard Enterprise, the software portion of the since-split HP, said in an email Thursday that the company was “gratified that justice prevailed and that Mr. Hussain was held accountable for his criminal actions when he was convicted in April of this year.”
“HPE is now pleased to learn that Dr. Lynch and Mr. Chamberlain have also been criminally charged in this matter by a federal Grand Jury. HPE believes that the facts uncovered during the course of this matter will further demonstrate the harm that was caused by Dr. Lynch, Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Hussain and others to HP and looks forward to seeing justice served once again.”
Read the indictment below:
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Collectible Maker Funko Wins Motion to Dismiss Securities Class Action
How Tony West Used Transparency to Reform Uber's Toxic Culture
What Paul Grewal Has Learned About Advocacy as Coinbase's Top Lawyer
7 minute read
Showered With Stock, Tech GCs Incentivized to 'Knock It Out of the Park'
Trending Stories
- 1Judge Denies Sean Combs Third Bail Bid, Citing Community Safety
- 2Republican FTC Commissioner: 'The Time for Rulemaking by the Biden-Harris FTC Is Over'
- 3NY Appellate Panel Cites Student's Disciplinary History While Sending Negligence Claim Against School District to Trial
- 4A Meta DIG and Its Nvidia Implications
- 5Deception or Coercion? California Supreme Court Grants Review in Jailhouse Confession Case
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
