Lynch is accused of orchestrating a false accounting transaction before selling his software company Autonomy for $11.7 billion to HP. Photo: Lauren Elliott/Bloomberg < p>Alleged fraudsters typically don't testify in their own criminal trials. Just ask Donald Trump.
“The theory is that you never testify,” the former president said last week after being found guilty in a New York courtroom after complaining unfair hearing. «Once you testify… they'll catch you saying something that you said a little wrong.»
If Mike Lynch's lawyers gave him such advice, he didn't listen. The British tech mogul sat on the witness stand for four days in the final hearings of his 12-week trial in San Francisco in what prosecutors have called the biggest fraud in Silicon Valley history.
Lynch has chosen to ignore Donald Trump's mantra of never testifying in his own trial. Photo: AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson
Lynch, 58, is accused of orchestrating a phony accounting transaction before his software company Autonomy was sold for $11.7 billion. (£9.2 billion) Hewlett Packard in 2011.
In the trial, which is expected to end on Tuesday lunchtime in the US, Lynch was accused of «multi-year, multi-level fraud.» inflating the earnings of a former FTSE 100 software company through fraudulent accounting practices.
If convicted, the man once dubbed «Britain's Bill Gates» faces up to 25 years in prison in the United States.
Both Lynch and Stephen Chamberlain, Autonomy's former chief financial officer, who is also charged, did not plead guilty. guilty. But although Chamberlain refused to testify, Lynch was always expected to testify.
It was a bold move, and not just because Lynch suffers from hearing problems, which means he often resorts to lip reading .
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Many criminal defendants die under intense cross-examination by prosecutors. But Lynch, who spent more than a decade fighting fraud charges, was never a coward.
«Mike was eager to tell you his story,» Brian Heberlig, Lynch's lawyer, told jurors at closing. disputes on Monday.
For two months, Lynch sat in a San Francisco courtroom, usually in the presence of his wife Angela, while his two daughters took university and A-level exams in England.
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He watched as US government lawyers make their case with a range of witnesses, including former Autonomy executives, City analysts and clients, most of whom Lynch said he did not recognize.
«It's surreal,» Lynch said when asked by his lawyer, Chris Morvillo, what his reaction was to the trial. «I've heard comments from people that just don't paint a picture of the company that I, my colleagues and my friends have worked for for 15 years.
«I've sat there and watched a series of witnesses that I've never met, some of whom I may have just shaken hands with, and I've heard about a series of deals that I wasn't involved in.»
< p>In closing arguments Monday, U.S. lawyers said Lynch was «at the top» of a fraudulent conspiracy in which Autonomy hid less profitable hardware sales and engaged in «back and forth» deals in which it paid its own customers. «[Lynch] was in control, he was dominating Autonomy,» Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Leach told jurors.
He cited Joel Scott, Autonomy's general counsel, who testified that Lynch bragged about running Autonomy like mafia, saying: “We are like the mafia, you can’t leave.”
Other witnesses at the trial included former Autonomy US CFO Brent Hogenson, who was paid a $750,000 settlement after being fired days after he alerted regulators to alleged accounting irregularities. (Lynch's lawyers said they showed Hogenson was dishonest and incompetent.)
The defense sought to refute allegations that Autonomy falsified its books, but also portrayed Lynch as an engineer who spent little time on accounting issues.
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“My role has always been to see the technology and where it will lead. Lynch told the court. “I'm not an accountant. I'm not involved in accounting decisions and I'm not a salesman… I can write good code even now, but I can't sell it for butterscotch.»
Lynch's testimony details his background and personal life. He said his summer job as a hospital cleaner had made him a «demon cleaner» and waxed lyrical about the rare pigs and cows he keeps on his Suffolk farm, saying: «Medieval pig breeds are really hardy.»
< The level of detail drew a modest rebuke from Circuit Judge Charles Breyer overseeing the trial, who said the court had heard "enough farm stories."
Lynch acknowledged that Autonomy was not perfect, saying some the evidence presented at the trial was «extremely disappointing», but he did not know this at the time.
«The reality of life is that it's nuanced and messy, and sometimes you do the best you can to deal with it, and that's what companies are like,» he said.
Instead, he said HP has buyer. remorse after agreeing to acquire Autonomy.
Leo Apotheker, the chief executive who secured the takeover, was fired before the deal was completed, after which the American company changed strategy.
Lynch told the court he was sitting outside HP's boardroom when Apotheker was fired, ready to discuss the deal with directors, but was sent home. «There was complete chaos and paralysis for several weeks,» he said.
The defense scored a small victory last week when one of Lynch's 16 charges was dropped, a decision his lawyers seemed pleased with. . the tycoon's decision to testify.
«The prosecutor didn't pay attention to Mike; if this was a prize fight, they would have called it by noon last Wednesday,» Heberlig said. “The government failed to meet its burden [of proof].”
Sushovan Hussain, Autonomy CFO, has already served a prison sentence for selling
Whether the jury will agree is another question. A verdict is expected in the coming days. Sushovan Hussain, Autonomy's chief financial officer, has already served a prison sentence for the sale.
Prosecutors said there was «no reasonable doubt that fraud occurred at Autonomy» that involved both Lynch and Chamberlain,” pointing to this. it turned out that the first one earned 500 million pounds sterling from the sale.
“Dr Lynch had 500 million reasons to deceive HP. It says a lot about who was in power and who benefited from it,” said Prosecutor Leach.
Whatever the decision, Lynch wanted to put his side of the story on the record.
During the trial, Autonomy's founder stated that the company would be among the most audited businesses in history. All he can do now is wait to see how the story ends.
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