A US jury has begun deliberating the fate of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch in a corporate fraud trial that began in March, as a years-long saga over a 2011 acquisition deal approaches its end.
Lynch is charged with 15 counts of fraud, though originally he faced 16; one count of securities fraud was dismissed last week in a notable victory for his defense.
The charges center on allegations that Lynch artificially inflated numbers at his software firm Autonomy prior to an $11bn acquisition deal made with Hewlett-Packard. HP wrote down Autonomy’s value by $8.8bn in 2012, saying it had uncovered serious accounting improprieties.
The British technology tycoon once lauded as “Britain’s Bill Gates” faces as many as 25 years in prison and was extradited to the US for the trial, which has taken place in a San Francisco federal court house. Lynch has pleaded not guilty.
The 11-week-long trial chronicled the alleged missteps made by the businessman, who prosecutors said was the “driving force” behind a “massive” years-long fraud. Lynch’s team, meanwhile, argued the case amounted to a “routine business dispute” in which there was no deliberate wrongdoing.
After many days of arguments from opposing sides, including testimony from Lynch himself, here is what we have learned about the controversial case.