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US attorneys require $ 815 million from former CEO and launch a book to the pair
Accused .. Cofounder of autonomy, Mike Lynch
Former Autonomy CEO, Michael Lynch, and the company 's whistleblower, Stephen Chamberlain, have been formally charged with fraud in America, in what Lynch' s lawyer called a "parody of justice".
In summary, Lynch and Chamberlain are accused of inflating Autonomy's sales numbers to meet their quarterly targets, in order to pocket large performance bonuses and make the business a lucrative business, the kind of company a big American company might want to buy.
The charges, filed Thursday in California by US prosecutors, add to the tangle of spaghetti litigation arising from the misfortune of HP 's acquisition of Autonomy in 2011, which was escalating. to $ 11 billion. it was misled on Autonomy's financial position and performance and suffered a $ 8.8 billion write-down as a result of the besieged acquisition. Since then, legal proceedings have taken place between the two camps.
And then there are the criminal cases: in April of this year, the former CFO of Autonomy, Sushovan Hussain, was convicted of fraud in California after preparing the books to persuade HP to engulf Brit Software for billions of dollars.
The clash in the British court of Mike Lynch against HPE postponed to 2019
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The latest criminal allegations indicate that Lynch was responsible, as CEO, for certifying the accounts of Autonomy and for the accuracy of the statements made to shareholders and others about the "products, products and expenses of the company, as well as its growth potential ". Chamberlain, vice president of finance, was responsible for collecting the company's accounts.
The indictment accuses Lynch and Chamberlain, both residents of the United Kingdom, of engaging in a "scheme to defraud" Autonomy stock buyers between January 2009 and October 2011.
It is alleged that the pair, with Hussain, lied about the true performance of the software industry, particularly its revenues, costs and growth. According to the indictment, they did it to achieve their goals and thus guarantee their salaries, their bonuses and their stock options, and to make Autonomy attractive to buyers – what is it? she did, since HP paid 11 figures for the company and its actions.
It is said that the trio massaged the numbers by antedating the agreements; Revenues were therefore recorded in previous quarters, recording premature sales gains, which lied to Autonomy's auditors and regulators, stating that it was a matter of developer with only high-margin software while he was secretly reselling hardware. to intimidate or pay money to anyone complaining about these alleged practices, and more.
The indictment brings a total of 14 charges, 20 years maximum, and each to Lynch and Chamberlain.
The indictment also asks Lynch to repay $ 815 million from HP's takeover and $ 4 million from Chamberlain. No trial date has been set and no wrongdoing has been proven at this stage.
Lynch's lawyers told the Financial Times that the indictment was a "travesty of justice", as it had brought a criminal court to a "commercial litigation" over the application UK accounting standards abroad.
This commercial dispute, in which HP is trying to extract $ 5 billion from Lynch and Hussain, is being prosecuted in a British court, but will not be heard until 2019. ®
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