The estate of Autonomy founder Mike Lynch will be liable to pay Hewlett-Packard Enterprise up to $5-billion.
This week the estate was refused permission to appeal a London High Court ruling that it needs to pay the amount originally awarded to HPE.
In 2022, the court found that Lynch and Autonomy’s chief financial officer Sushovan Hussain had inflated Autonomy’s value ahead of HPE’s $11,1-billion acquisition of the company.
Within a year of the purchase, HPE had written down Autonomy’s worth by $8,8-billion, and made a case to recover $5-billion from Lynch and Hussain.
The estate had sought to overturn the liability and damages, which had been attracting interest.
It can still apply directly to the Court of Appeal.