Mike Lynch 'spun a fabulous tale' to defraud HP over $11bn purchase, US trial told

Autonomy co-founder Mike Lynch and former finance executive Stephen Chamberlain are accused of scheming to inflate the company's revenue, starting in 2009 and ending with HP's disastrous acquisition of the company in 2011

Mike Lynch, co-founder of software firm Autonomy, faces 16 counts of fraud and conspiracy.

Mike Lynch, the wealthy tech founder once hailed as Britain's answer to Steve Jobs, oversaw a "multiyear, multilayered fraud" that lured Hewlett-Packard into paying $11bn (€10.1bn) for his software company Autonomy, prosecutors told a US jury in California at the beginning of his criminal trial.

Mr Lynch "spun a fabulous tale" about the company's finances, prosecutor Adam Reeves said in federal court in San Francisco.