The latest scandal in the ongoing legal battle between computer giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) and British company Autonomy, has seen HP accuse founder of Autonomy, Michael Lynch, of fraud in HP's 2011 takeover of the company.
A spokesman on behalf of Mr Lynch described the comments as a "personal smear".
Autonomy was one of the greatest companies in the British technology industry, built by some of the brightest minds to have emerged from Cambridge University.
The company was in the FTSE 100, sponsored Spurs, and its chief executive Mike Lynch was a non-executive director of the BBC, on the British Library board and an advised the Prime Minister on scientific policy.
In 2011, HP took over Autonomy in the biggest ever takeover of a British technology firm. HP paid $11.1 billion (£6.8bn) for the company Autonomy but only a year later it was worth $8.8 billion less. Since this discovery, HP and it’s shareholders have been engaged in a legal battle with Autonomy accusing them of fraudulently misleading HP as to the value of the company.
The most recent court document in the case singles out the chief financial officer at Autonomy at the time of the takeover, Sushovan Hussain, with HP saying he was "one of the chief architects of the massive fraud on HP".The court filing also said that shareholders and management of HP are in agreement "that Hussain, along with Autonomy's founder and CEO, Michael Lynch, should be accountable for this fraud".
Shareholders originally were intending to sue the management of HP over the disastrous takeover of Autonomy. However, the latest accusations confirm will stand with HP to pursue who they believe to be the true perpetuators of the fraud.
A spokesperson representing Mr Lynch and Mr Hussain said;
"This breathless ranting from HP is the sort of personal smear we've come to expect. As the emotional outbursts go up, the access to facts seems to go down."
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This blog post is intended as a news item only - no connection between Lewis Nedas and the parties concerned is intended or implied.
