Co-founder of Autonomy charged with 17 counts of wire fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy in 2011 sale of company to HP

The criminal fraud trial of the British technology tycoon once lauded as “Britain’s Bill Gates” is due to begin in San Francisco on Monday.

Mike Lynch, co-founder of the UK software company Autonomy, stands accused of artificially inflating the software firm’s sales; misleading auditors, analysts and regulators; and intimidating people who raised concerns before its blockbuster takeover by Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

He has pleaded not guilty, having always denied the allegations of wrongdoing. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in jail.

HP bought Autonomy in an $11.1bn (£8.72bn) deal designed to turbocharge its software business. Barely a year later, however, it wrote down the value of the acquisition by $8.8bn, and alleged “serious accounting improprieties, disclosure failures and outright misrepresentations” at the business.