The inside story of a rotten Hewlett Packard deal to be told in trial of fallen British tech star

An $11 billion acquisition that backfired on Silicon Valley pioneer Hewlett Packard more than a decade ago is being resurrected at a trial that exploring whether the deal was an illegal rip-off or a case of botched management. The criminal trial starting Monday in San Francisco revolves around HP’s acquisition of British software maker Autonomy, a deal that was celebrated as coup when it was announced in 2011, only to blow up into a costly debacle. The alleged villains in the trial are former Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch, who was once lionized as an example of British ingenuity, and Stephen Chamberlain, a former finance executive at Autonomy.