Mike Lynch fraud trial co-defendant dies after being hit by car, says lawyer

Stephen Chamberlain was cleared alongside Mr Lynch of conducting a massive fraud over the sale of software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

Stephen Chamberlain was a former finance executive at Autonomy (Tim Ireland/PA) (PA Archive)

The co-defendant of technology tycoon Mike Lynch in his US fraud trial has died after being hit by a car on Saturday, his lawyer has said.

It comes as Mr Lynch was confirmed as one of the six tourists missing on Monday after the Bayesian luxury yacht sank in a tornado off the coast of Sicily.

Stephen Chamberlain was cleared earlier this year alongside Mr Lynch of conducting a massive fraud over the sale of software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011.

Gary Lincenberg, Mr Chamberlain’s lawyer, said in a statement provided to the PA news agency: “Our dear client and friend Steve Chamberlain was fatally struck by a car on Saturday while out running.

“He was a courageous man with unparalleled integrity. We deeply miss him.

“Steve fought successfully to clear his good name at trial earlier this year, and his good name now lives on through his wonderful family.”

HP acquired Cambridge-based Autonomy, founded by Mr Lynch in 1996, for 11 billion US dollars, but later wrote down its value by 8.8 billion dollars and asked the US Justice Department to investigate fraud.

Mr Chamberlain, a former vice-president of finance at the company, was accused of artificially inflating Autonomy’s revenues and making false and misleading statements to auditors, analysts and regulators in 2018.

Both he and Mr Lynch were found not guilty of the charge in June following a trial at a federal court in San Francisco, California.

Mr Lynch was previously made an OBE for services to enterprise in 2006.

The British-flagged superyacht, named Bayesian, capsized at about 5am local time off the coast of Palermo on Monday when the area was hit by a tornado.

Four of the missing passengers are British and two are American, Italian news website la Repubblica stated, while Sicily’s civil protection agency told the BBC that Mr Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah was also among those missing.

Fifteen people including Mr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, were rescued, according to local media.