The United States has filed criminal charges against British entrepreneur Mike Lynch over the eleven billion sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard seven years ago, accusing him of making false statements that inflated the value of the software group.
The charges filed in a court in San Francisco carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and include 14 counts of conspiracy and fraud.
Lynch co-founded Autonomy in 1996 and served as its CEO.
In 2011, the company was bought by HP in a move that was supposed to form the central part of the U.S. group’s move into software.
But the deal turned sour a year later when HP wrote off three-quarters of the British company’s value, accusing Lynch and his colleagues of financial mismanagement.
Lawyers for Lynch, who has always denied any wrongdoing, said in a statement yesterday that the indictment was a “travesty of justice” and he would contest the charges.
