The estate of ‘Britain’s Bill Gates’ ordered to pay $1.8 billion to US giant two years after his tragic death
James Titcomb
Mike Lynch’s estate has been ordered to pay £920 million ($1.8 billion) to US tech company Hewlett Packard, two years after the British tech tycoon’s death on his superyacht.
A High Court judge said Lynch owed the sum as compensation to HP for the fraudulent sale of software company Autonomy 15 years ago. This figure would bankrupt Lynch’s estate.
The entrepreneur, known as “Britain’s Bill Gates”, died aboard the Bayesian superyacht off the coast of Sicily in 2024, along with his teenage daughter Hannah and five other victims.
He was celebrating his freedom after beating criminal fraud charges in the United States over the £7bn sale of Autonomy in 2011.
The deal was the largest ever involving a British technology company. But a year later, HP wrote down its value in billions of dollars and claimed that Lynch and other executives had overstated the company’s value by exaggerating revenues.
HP sued Lynch and former chief financial officer Sushovan Hussain in British courts for US$5 billion ($7.2 billion) in 2015. The two were found liable in 2022. U.S. prosecutors indicted him on multiple fraud charges in 2018 and threatened him with decades in prison.
Lynch defeated the US charges in 2024 in a shocking defeat for American prosecutors, and Bayesian was planning to rebuild his life before sinking in a terrible storm off the coast of Sicily in August 2024.
But HP won the civil case in the High Court and continued to pursue the case after his death, seeking a £1.5bn reduction in damages last year.
On Tuesday, Judge Hildyard awarded damages totaling US$1.24 billion, including US$236 million in interest. The estate will also be required to pay HP’s legal costs.
The judge also denied Lynch’s lawyers permission to appeal the case, but they may now seek to overturn it in the Court of Appeals.
Lynch was estimated to be worth $450 million by his lawyers in the US cases, meaning the verdict would bankrupt his estate.
Lynch’s widow, Angela Bacares-Lynch, who fled Bayesian when the superyacht capsized, has significant assets in her name. It’s unclear whether HP will pursue it due to the shortage.
A spokesman for the Lynch family said: “We are disappointed by the court’s rejection and believe that the appeal to the Court of Appeal should be pursued in the interests of justice.
“HP’s US$5 billion claim for damages has already been revealed to be grossly exaggerated. Today’s decision describes the exaggeration as ‘unfounded’ and the purposes of ‘setting, publicizing and pursuing’ as prejudicial, misleading shareholders and unnecessarily prolonging litigation.”
“Dr Lynch’s acquittal in the US, where witnesses were properly cross-examined, revealed the truth. The damage to Autonomy was the result of HP’s own actions and failures, not any wrongdoing at Autonomy.”
A spokesman for HP said: “HP is pleased with the court’s decision and the estate’s dismissal of the estate’s request for leave to appeal, which brings us one step closer to resolving the dispute.” HP has since split into two companies: Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP, with losses to be split between them.
Judge Hildyard estimated HP’s loss last year at around £740 million, although the final amount was increased due to interest, legal costs and currency conversions.
Hussain paid £77 million in separate settlements with the company last year.
Bacares-Lynch is also being sued by the Italian yacht builder who built Bayesian. Italian Sea Group, which owns Perini Navi, has filed a £400 million claim against holding company Revtom.
Telegraph, London
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