Estate of drowned tycoon Mike Lynch faces being wiped out by order to pay Hewlett Packard £930m in fraud case
Late tech tycoon Mike Lynch's estate faces being cleaned out as it is ordered to pay $1.24billion (£930million) in damages to Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). A High Court judge on Tuesday ruled that HPE was owed the sum in damages and interest for the fraudulent 2011 sale of Mr Lynch's software company, Autonomy.The entrepreneur, known as 'Britain's Bill Gates', died in the Bayesian superyacht tragedy in Sicily in 2024 alongside his teenage daughter Hannah and five others.The 59-year-old had spent the summer celebrating his freedom on the luxury vessel after his acquittal on US criminal fraud charges related to the Autonomy sale.His widow, Angela Bacares, 58, who survived the disaster, has her own assets that are legally separate from her late husband's.The Lynch estate had been embroiled in a lengthy legal battle with HPE after it accused him in 2012 of inflating his firm Autonomy's value before the acquisition.In 2022, a judge ruled Mr Lynch and Sushovan Hussain, his chief financial officer, had defrauded HPE over the US tech giant's $11.7billion acquisition of Autonomy.Last year the judge awarded HPE £700million in damages, but the company has claimed interest on this figure, vastly increasing the amount owed. Angela Bacares, 58, pictured with her late husband Mike Lynch The entrepreneur, known as 'Britain's Bill Gates', died in the Bayesian superyacht tragedy in Sicily in 2024 alongside his teenage daughter Hannah (pictured)
Mr Lynch's estate had sought to challenge the 2022 decision, and also asked for permission to appeal against the 2025 ruling on the amount of damages and interest. In a ruling on Tuesday, Mr Justice Hildyard refused Mr Lynch's estate permission to appeal against either of his earlier judgments.After the judgement, a spokesman for HPE said the ruling awarded it a total of around $1.24billion (£930million) in damages and interest.'HPE is pleased with the court's ruling and its rejection of the estate's request for permission to appeal, which brings us another step closer to resolution of the dispute,' the spokesman added.The figure could bankrupt the estate which is estimated to be worth around £500million.However, the estate could still take its fight to the Court of Appeal in a further attempt to challenge the rulings.HP sued Mr Lynch for around five billion dollars (£3.79billion) following its purchase of Cambridge-based Autonomy for $11.1billion (£8.2billion) in 2011.The company claimed at a 2019 trial - then believed to be the UK's biggest civil fraud trial - that Mr Lynch inflated Autonomy's revenues and 'committed a deliberate fraud'. Seven people died in the Bayesian superyacht tragedy in Sicily in 2024 The hull of the superyacht Bayesian, which sank near Palermo, Sicily, on August 19, 2024, is pulled out of the sea off the village of Porticello in June 2025It said this forced it to announce an $8.8billion (£6.5billion) write-down of the firm's worth just over a year after the acquisition.In a 2022 ruling, Mr Justice Hildyard said the American firm had 'substantially succeeded' in its claim, but that it was likely to receive 'substantially less' than the amount it claimed in damages.He said that Autonomy, founded by Mr Lynch, had not accurately portrayed its financial position during the purchase, but even if it had, HPE would still have bought the Cambridge-based company, but at a reduced price.In written submissions for the hearing in November, Patrick Goodall KC, for HPE, said Mr Lynch had 'not only perpetrated an enormous fraud, but lied about it at every stage'.He argued an appeal aimed at 'escaping the consequences of that fraud' should not be allowed to be pursued.Richard Hill KC, for Mr Lynch's estate, said the $761million (£578million) in interest sought by the claimants was an 'excessive sum ... based on a flawed analysis'.Mr Hill also said Mr Lynch's estate should be allowed to appeal against the two earlier rulings, claiming that the judge 'erred in law'.In his written submissions he said that there was a 'compelling reason for allowing the appeal to be heard'. A spokesperson for the Lynch family said in a statement: 'We are disappointed by the Court's refusal and believe an application to the Court of Appeal should follow in the interests of justice. HP's $5 billion damages claim has already been shown to be vastly exaggerated.'Today's judgment describes the exaggeration as "without foundation" and the purposes for which it was 'calibrated, publicised and pursued' as objectionable, misleading shareholders and extending the litigation unnecessarily."They added: 'Dr Lynch's acquittal in the US, where witnesses were properly cross-examined, exposed the truth. The damage to Autonomy was the result of HP's own actions and failures, not wrongdoing at Autonomy.' Minute by minute, how the Bayesian tragedy unfolded August 18 - PM: The Bayesian was anchored at Cefalù on the northern coast of Sicily to shelter from the forecast weather and to allow for easy disembarkation of guests the following day.August 19 - 00.30am: Having checked the weather the captain and the last guest had retired, leaving deckhand (DH1) and the evening steward (S1) on duty.01.00am: The second deckhand (DH2) took over the watch. The wind at this time was noted as being no more than 8kts (9.2mph).03.00am: DH2 noted the wind as being at 8kts (9.2mph) from the west but thought that the thunderclouds and lightning seemed to be getting closer.03.55am: The deckhand 'videoed the advancing storm and posted it to their social media feed' before closing the hatches and cockpit windows.03.57am: The winds had picked up to 30kts (35mph) and the Bayesian was listing and dragging its anchor.04.00am: The deckhand ran to wake up the skipper and the crew leapt into action and began preparing to manoeuvre the Bayesian by starting the generators and steering pumps.The rest of the crew, woken by either the captain or the yacht's change of motion, got up and made their way out of the crew accommodation.Chef Recaldo Thomas was spotted in the galley stowing cutlery, pots and pans and called out 'Good morning!' to nearby stewards.The Bayesian was lying with the wind about 60 degrees off the port bow and moving at 1.8kts south-south-east of its original position.Two guests – a British couple – had been woken by the movements and decided to head to the saloon with their baby.4.06am: Disaster struck as the wind suddenly increased to more than 70kts (80.5mph) ripping the awning away. The Bayesian 'violently heeled over' in less than 15 seconds to a 90-degree angle.The sudden movement sent people as well as furniture flying across the deck leaving five people including the captain injured while a deckhand was thrown into the sea.Two guests trapped in their cabin were forced to used furniture drawers as an improvised ladder to escape into the saloon area.The yacht's crew were able to push four guests through the cascading water up to the skipper on the flying bridge.The captain called for the guests and crew to swim clear of the mast and boom as the vessel sank.04.22am: The crew had launched the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRB). They noted that the wind had eased and that Bayesian was only a short distance from shore.In the water, a deckhand(DH2) improvised a tourniquet for one of the guest's gashed arm while a cushion was used as a flotation device for the baby. Some of the survivors were treading water and others held on to some cushions that had floated free from Bayesian.One of the guests frantically searched for other survivors in vain using the torch from their phone - while the captain and chief officer freed the life raft from the sinking wreck.04.24am: The captain and chief officer managed to free the life raft from the sinking wreck. It was inflated and the survivors were able to get inside it where the crew began administering first aid.The skipper tried to raise the alarm by shouting at and then paddling towards the nearby vessel the Sir Robert Baden Powell.04.34am: The Chief Engineer fired a red parachute flare from the life raft. Despite the winds being calm at the surface, the flare was carried sideways. He then used the life raft's torch to signal towards a hotel on the cliffs above them, passing cars, and Sir Robert Baden Powell.04.43am: The Chief engineer launcheda second parachute flare that was seen by the crew of Sir Robert Baden Powell. Responding to the flare, the skipper dispatched its tender towards the visible lights of the EPIRB and life raft.04.53am: The tender carrying the 15 survivors returned to Sir Robert Baden Powell and a brief search was conducted to look for the missing seven people who were also on board.04.56am: The tender from Sir Robert Baden Powell returned to the scene with Bayesian's Chief Engineer and skipper on board to search for other survivors. The local coastguard was called to arrange to transfer the survivors to shore.
