The "British Bill Gates" disappeared at sea and accused the United States of "overstepping its jurisdiction"
2024-08-21
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According to reports from the British Independent and the American Cable News Network (CNN) on the 19th, the yacht on which Mike Lynch, a well-known British software technology entrepreneur, was traveling suffered a shipwreck near the coast of Sicily, Italy that day, and six people including himself were missing.
Mike LynchPhoto source: Reuters
According to previous reports by foreign media, Lynch founded Autonomy with two other entrepreneurial partners in 1996 to create a variety of innovative software. The company was later listed on the Nasdaq and London stock markets and expanded rapidly, becoming the largest software company in the UK by market value. Lynch became famous in the technology circle and was once called "Britain's Bill Gates" and "Britain's Steve Jobs" by Western media.
In 2011, they sold the "autonomous" company to HP for $11 billion, and Lynch personally earned more than $800 million, but the deal later triggered 13 years of business disputes and legal lawsuits.
After the acquisition, HP accused Lynch and other executives, including Stephen Chamberlain, then vice president of finance at the "autonomous" company, of conspiring to "drive up" the company's valuation before the deal was reached, causing HP to suffer huge financial losses.
Subsequently, the US prosecutors intervened in the business dispute, filed multiple criminal charges against Lynch and others, including suspected fraud, and demanded that the British entrepreneur be extradited to the US for trial. In response, Lynch accused the US of "jurisdiction beyond its legal boundaries" and undermining the sovereignty of the UK. He has always denied the above allegations from the US, arguing that HP's losses should be attributed to its inability to operate an "autonomous" company and the technology it uses, and that prosecuting him is just to find a scapegoat.
In April 2023, the British High Court rejected Lynch's appeal for "non-extradition" and he was extradited to the United States for trial on May 11 of the same year. If the charges of fraud and conspiracy are convicted, he will face more than 20 years in prison in the United States.
The following year, in June 2024, a jury in San Francisco, USA, found Lynch not guilty of all 15 charges, including one count of conspiracy and 14 counts of fraud. Lynch's attorney said Chamberlain, who faced the same charges with him, was also found not guilty of all charges.
Coincidentally, just two days before Lynch disappeared at sea, Chamberlain died in a car accident.
According to Chamberlain's attorney, he was killed in a car accident while out jogging on August 17. The attorney issued a statement saying, "Our dear client and friend Stephen Chamberlain was killed by a car while out jogging on the 17th. He was a brave man with unparalleled integrity. We miss him deeply. Steve successfully cleared his name in a trial earlier this year, and his reputation now lives on through his wonderful family."
It was reported that less than 48 hours after Chamberlain was hit and killed, the yacht Lynch was on sank at sea on the 19th due to an alleged tornado, and he and five other tourists on the boat were missing.
In addition, Susowan Hussein, the former chief financial officer of Autonomous Company, was also prosecuted by the US prosecutors in the same case as the two. He was convicted of fraud in the United States in 2019 and sentenced to five years in prison.
