An American firm is seeking £1.35billion from Mike Lynch’s estate more than a year after the tech tycoon died alongside six others in the Bayesian yacht sinking.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HP) wants the 10-figure sum ($1.8billion USD) from Lynch’s estate over their acquisition of his tech firm, Autonomy, lawyers told a High Court on Tuesday.
The tech giant seeks to recoup its losses from the 59-year-old billionaire – who died with his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, the yacht’s chef, and four other guests, when the vessel sank in a storm off the coast of Sicily last year.
HP have accused the company’s chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain, of inflating the firm’s value before the takeover.
The American company purchased the British tech firm for £8.37billion ($11.1billion)in 2011, but within a year of purchase, Autonomy’s value fell to £6.7billion ($8.8billion).
Court filings show HP is claiming £1.36billion ($1.79billion), including interest and after prior settlements.
Lawyers, representing Lynch’s estate, are seeking to appeal a 2022 ruling that found the late tech tycoon, who was once hailed as Britain’s answer to Bill Gates, liable.
They argued the £579million ($761million) the American tech giant is after in interest is ‘an excessive sum’, and that HP has filed a separate lawsuit asserting the ‘estate may be insolvent’.
A spokesperson for Lynch’s family said: ‘The core facts remain that HP’s claim was fundamentally flawed and a wild overstatement.’
Mike Lynch, 59, and Hannah, 18, were among seven people who died when the Bayesian sunk
The superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily on August 19, 2024
HP viewed Autonomy, built on Lynch’s ground-breaking research at Cambridge University, as a transformational acquisition to move it from hardware to software.
But, after the deal soured, HP brought a £3.8billion ($5billion) lawsuit against Lynch and Hussain in 2015.
The High Court ruled in HP’s favour, although a judge said the company would receive ‘considerably less’ than the 10-figure sum they wanted.
In June, it was ruled HP suffered losses of nearly £698million ($1million), as it would have paid a lower price for Autonomy had it known its ‘true financial position’.
Lynch maintained his innocence and blamed HP for failing to integrate Autonomy, and was later cleared of related criminal charges in the United States on June 6, 2024.
It comes after the tech tycoon’s final words were revealed in an interview given by his wife just days after the disaster.
His wife, Angela Bacares, 58, said she only survived the ordeal because she got out of bed just a few moments earlier – after the boat had tilted sharply – and had made her way to the deck to speak to the crew.
In an interview given to Termini Imerese prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano three days after the sinking, a devastated Angela recalled Lynch asking her ‘What’s the time?’ after they had both awoken in the middle of the night due to the ship’s movement.
‘I told him it was 4:03am or 4:04am and I went up to ask the captain what was happening,’ she told investigators at the time.
Pictured: The super yacht Bayesian is raised to the surface off the coast of Porticello, Sicily in June. Mr Cutfield is under investigation for manslaughter along with engineer Tim Parker Eaton and nightwatchman Matthew Griffiths. All three deny the allegations
But little did she know that that would be the last time she saw or spoke to her husband, who had been celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges with his family and the people who had defended him at trial before the tragedy.
Just six minutes later, at 4:10am, the vessel was struck by a violent downburst, and 16 minutes after that, the Bayesian yacht was underwater.
Angela was already on deck when the yacht had begun to tilt to one side, as she recalled clinging to the captain while the boat began to fill with water.
‘I wanted to go back down to warn the others, but Sasha (the Irish stewardess) told me not to come down… In an instant, something happened, I no longer recognised what was in front of me,’ she said.
The panicked wife and mother claimed she was reassured by the captain that the 183ft yacht would not capsize.
‘I thought my husband and daughter could swim and get over,’ she said, but tragically, both would lose their lives.
Despite Italian coastguards issuing their interim report last month, which blamed the 52-year-old captain, James Cutfield, and the crew for the disaster, Angela said she had always felt ‘reassured’ by the crew in bad weather.
‘We’ve had the Bayesian scanner for 10 years, and generally the only fears were about hitting the rocks or getting tangled in another anchor.
‘I’ve never had to wake the others because of bad weather… I didn’t think something so catastrophic could happen,’ she told Cammarano.
In June part of the Bayesian was resurfaced following a two-month operation.
When it was raised, the superyacht was missing its 236ft mast, which was cut down and left on the seabed for future removal.
The mast had to be detached to allow the hull to be brought to a nearly upright position that would allow the craft to be surfaced, TMC Maritime said at the time.
British investigators said in an interim report issued last month that the yacht was knocked over by ‘extreme wind’ and couldn’t recover.
The report stated that the Bayesian had chosen the site where it sank as shelter from forecast thunderstorms.
Wind speeds exceeded 70 knots (81 mph) at the time of the sinking and ‘violently’ knocked the vessel over to a 90-degree angle in under 15 seconds.
Three crew members, including the New Zealand-born skipper James Cutfield, first engineer Tim Parker Eaton and night watchman Matthew Griffith, both from Britain, were placed under formal investigation for manslaughter and causing a disaster.
Lynch and Hannah, lost their lives in the tragedy, as did a lawyer, Chris Morvillo, and his wife, Neda; Jonathan Bloomer, a banker, and his wife, Judy; and the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas.
Nine other crew members and six guests were rescued.