Published: March 25, 2026 at 9:14 am
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has won £920 million compensation from the estate of late entrepreneur Mike Lynch.
Lynch died two years ago in a freak accident while celebrating his acquittal on 15 counts of fraud – avoiding a potential 20 years behind bars – in a San Francisco trial over the 2011 sale of Cambridge firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11.1 billion.
However HPE said it would follow through on a potential £3 billion legal claim against his widow Angela Bacares.
London’s High Court said the estate was liable to pay £700m compensation after a 2022 ruling that he duped the US firm into paying £8.2bn for Autonomy. It is also liable for £220m in costs and interest.
Lawyers for Lynch’s estate sought permission to appeal, but that was refused. Estimated to be worth about £500m, the damages could leave it bankrupt. However it can apply directly to the Court of Appeal.