HP wins $5 billion fraud lawsuit against UK software tycoon

Tech giant HP won a multibillion-dollar lawsuit Friday against a British businessmen it accused of fraud after purchasing his software company Autonomy a decade ago.

The decision by the U.K.'s High Court also removes a hurdle for the potential extradition to the U.S. of Autonomy's founder, British entrepreneur Michael Lynch.

HP Inc. bought Autonomy for $11 billion in 2011 but was forced to write off most of its value the following year, in a corporate debacle that sparked a boardroom shakeup at the the printer and computer maker.

In its lawsuit, HP, previously known as Hewlett-Packard, had accused Lynch and Autonomy’s former chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain, of artificially inflating the company's revenues and committing a “deliberate fraud over a sustained period of time.”

High Court judge Robert Hildyard delivered a summary of his conclusions in court, saying HP had “substantially won” its claim against the pair for $5 billion in damages.

The case, believed to be the U.K.’s biggest civil fraud trial, went to court over nine months in 2019. Hussain was convicted earlier in a U.S. court and sentenced to five years in prison.

Lynch has been battling extradition to the U.S., where he faces separate criminal charges including charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy to defraud.

He has denied the allegations, and his lawyers have said he should face any criminal proceedings in England. The U.K.’s extradition treaty with the U.S. allows judges to refuse to hand over a suspect if most of the alleged wrongdoing took place in Britain.

U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel, who wanted to take the court's ruling into account in considering the extradition request, has a deadline of midnight Friday to make the decision.