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Former Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch Cleared in US Fraud Trial
Mike Lynch, a software mogul once heralded as “Britain’s Bill Gates,” has been acquitted of fraud by a jury in the US.
In the course of a meandering eleven-week trial, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) accused Lynch of overseeing an elaborate, multi-year fraud that served to inflate the value of Autonomy before its purchase by Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011. This avenue of defense was ruled out in advance of the criminal trial by the presiding judge, Charles Breyer, who directed that only evidence relating to the period prior to the deal, when the fraud was alleged to have taken place, would be admissible. Lynch’s argument played on the fine distinction between neglience—a failure as chief executive to maintain effective oversight of company finances—which does not amount to fraud, and a willful blindness to the misconduct of other members of an organization.
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