Hewlett Packard Enterprise confirms it will continue its $4 billion suit against Mike Lynch's estate after he died in a tragic yacht sinking

• HPE says it will continue to pursue its $4 billion lawsuit against Mike Lynch’s estate.
• Lynch, along with his daughter and top attorney, died when his superyacht sank in August.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise said Monday that it wouldn't drop its lawsuit against the late tech tycoon Mike Lynch's estate.

The news came two weeks after Lynch died in a tragic yacht sinking off the coast of Sicily. Lynch, along with seven others, including his daughter and his top attorney, drowned when his superyacht, Bayesian, sank.

Before his death, Lynch had been embroiled in a nine-year legal battle with the company. Hewlett-Packard bought his software company, Autonomy, in 2011 and later accused Lynch of valuing it inaccurately. Hewlett-Packard broke into two companies — Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP — in 2015.

An HPE spokesperson said Monday that the company would continue to pursue the lawsuit, which seeks $4 billion in damages.

Angela Bacares, Lynch's wife who survived the yacht tragedy, is now expected to inherit her late husband's fight with HPE, Fortune reported.

"In 2022, an English High Court judge ruled that HPE had substantially succeeded in its civil fraud claims against Dr Lynch and Mr Hussain," the spokesperson said in a Monday statement to the Associated Press.

"A damages hearing was held in February 2024 and the judge's decision regarding damages due to HPE will arrive in due course," they added to the outlet. "It is HPE's intention to follow the proceedings through to their conclusion."

The Monday statement comes after the group initially sent a statement to several media outlets declining to comment on legal matters in light of the tragedy.

"We do not think it appropriate to comment on legal matters in these tragic circumstances," the spokesperson said, per Fortune. We're saddened by this tragic event and our thoughts are with the families and friends of all the victims."

The yacht sank just weeks after Lynch and Stephen Chamberlain, his former vice president of finance, were acquitted by a San Francisco jury in June of all criminal charges related to Autonomy's sale.

The indictment accused Lynch and Chamberlain of falsifying financial documents, lying to auditors and regulators, and suppressing people who criticized Autonomy's financial practices.

A representative of HP did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

Correction: September 3, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated when Lynch and Chamberlain were acquitted of criminal charges. They were acquitted weeks before the yacht sank, not weeks after. An earlier version also misstated the timeline of the lawsuit. It has been in process for nine years, not 13. The story has also been updated to clarify that Hewlett Packard Enterprise is pursuing the lawsuit against Lynch’s estate. HPE broke off from Hewlett-Packard in 2015.