The US technology company says it will continue its case against Lynch's heirs following her death in a yacht shipwreck off Sicily.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has confirmed it will seek $4 billion in damages from the estate of technology mogul Mike Lynch following his death in a yacht sinking off the coast of Sicily.
HPE had sued Lynch and his former CFO Sushovan Hussain for allegedly inflating the value of Autonomy before its $11 billion acquisition in 2011.
The Texas-based tech firm won a civil lawsuit against Lynch in the UK High Court in 2022, although the judge said any damages would be significantly less than the $5 billion it had claimed.
“HPE intends to pursue the proceedings to their conclusion,” the company said in a statement on Monday.
Lynch, the founder of software company Autonomy, died when his superyacht, the Bayesian, sank in a storm off the Italian island on August 19.
Six other people died in the sinking, including Lynch's 18-year-old daughter.
Fifteen people survived, including Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, who could now be held liable for damages.
Just over two months before his death, Lynch was acquitted of all 15 counts of fraud related to the sale of Autonomy in a criminal trial in San Francisco.
Lynch, who has consistently denied wrongdoing, said he was “elated” and “grateful” after the June verdict.
“I am looking forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and being able to innovate in my sector,” he said.
Lynch launched Autonomy in 1996 as a tool that businesses could use to identify useful data from sources such as phone calls and emails.
The 2011 purchase of Autonomy was at the time considered the most expensive acquisition of a British technology company on record.
HPE initially praised its purchase of the company, but less than a year later announced an $8.8 billion writedown after reporting it had discovered “accounting misrepresentations.”
