UK tech pioneer Mike Lynch acquitted in US fraud trial

Good morning. Mike Lynch, as soon as one of many UK’s main tech entrepreneurs, was acquitted of legal prices by a jury in San Francisco yesterday, capping a 12-year authorized saga stemming from considered one of Silicon Valley’s greatest fraud instances.

The previous Autonomy chief government was accused of falsely inflating revenues on the UK software program firm forward of its $11bn sale to Hewlett-Packard in 2011. The decision is a second of vindication for Lynch after a protracted battle that noticed him extradited to the US and subjected to deal with arrest beneath 24-hour surveillance forward of the trial.

Lynch, 58, has lengthy claimed he was used as a scapegoat by HP for its personal botched acquisition and later mismanagement of Autonomy. He unsuccessfully argued that any legal prices must be heard within the UK.

Following the not responsible verdict, Lynch mentioned he was “elated” and “looking forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field”. Learn the total story.

Right here’s what I’m conserving tabs on at present and over the weekend:

• Financial information: The EU publishes its first-quarter GDP at present, whereas the UK has information on public sector funds and a home value index from Halifax. Germany releases commerce figures, and the US has employment information.

• UK politics: At present is the deadline for candidate nominations for July’s basic election (scroll down for the most recent updates from the marketing campaign path). Public sector union GMB begins its annual congress in Bournemouth on Sunday.

• Russia: The Financial institution of Russia publicizes its rate of interest determination at present, whereas Vladimir Putin speaks on the St Petersburg Worldwide Financial Discussion board.

• EU politics: The bloc’s parliamentary polls proceed till Sunday, with Eire, Italy, Belgium and Germany voting at present or on the weekend. Don’t miss this morning’s Europe Specific, which shall be free for all subscribers at present and on Monday as Henry Foy breaks down the elections.

How effectively did you retain up with the information this week? Take our quiz.

5 extra prime tales

1. Unique: South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance has claimed Russia is financing Jacob Zuma’s celebration, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK). DA chief John Steenhuisen instructed the Monetary Occasions that the previous president’s celebration had been extraordinarily effectively funded because it began six months in the past, and mentioned he was “certain” there was cash from Moscow, although he conceded there was no proof. MK has denied the accusation. Learn the total story.

2. Unique: US enterprise capital companies are placing strain on tech start-ups to chop ties with Chinese language backers as they anticipate tighter controls on overseas possession from Washington. In a single instance, HeyGen, a man-made intelligence start-up based in Shenzhen however now based mostly in Los Angeles, requested buyers together with HongShan, Sequoia Capital’s China spin-off, to promote shares to US counterparts, based on individuals conversant in the matter. Eleanor Olcott has extra particulars from Beijing.

3. Credit score Suisse bondholders have sued Switzerland over the choice to wipe out $17bn of debt when the financial institution was rescued by its rival UBS final yr. Within the first main declare introduced in a US courtroom over the takeover, legal professionals representing the group accused Switzerland of unjustly violating their property rights in orchestrating the deal.

4. France will ship some Mirage fighter jets to Ukraine and prepare pilots to fly them as a part of a step-up in support to assist Kyiv resist Russian advances in its territory. President Emmanuel Macron made the pledge yesterday after Nato allies dedicated to dispatching about 80 US-made F-16 fighters to Ukraine.

5. Labour will suggest a authorities mortgage assure scheme whereas the Conservatives will promise to chop taxes in separate bulletins by Sir Keir Starmer and Jeremy Hunt at present. The opposition chief’s “Freedom to Buy” scheme goals to get 80,000 individuals on the housing ladder, whereas the chancellor will double the wage degree at which baby profit begins to be withdrawn. Extra particulars on the events’ newest makes an attempt to woo center Britain.

• Tory ‘chicken run’: Get together chair Richard Holden grew to become the fifth Conservative MP emigrate south to contest a safer seat, damaging already-poor morale.

• Labour manifesto: Leaked particulars reveal the celebration is not going to scrap a contentious two-child restrict on advantages and can decide to recognising a Palestinian state.

With lower than a month till voting, get the most recent updates and evaluation by way of our UK election WhatsApp channel. Enroll right here.

From the Journal

Since buying the Boston Crimson Sox baseball staff in 2002 and soccer membership Liverpool in 2010, John Henry’s Fenway Sports activities Group has grow to be the trendy blueprint for a transatlantic sports activities empire, shopping for troubled establishments and restoring them. FT Journal speaks to one of many trade’s best-known however least-understood homeowners, whose firm has ended World Collection curses and Premier League droughts.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• How Aaqua failed: The social media app as soon as had ambitions to grow to be a European unicorn. As an alternative, its founder Robert Bonnier is in bitter authorized battles with buyers.

• Champs-Élysées ‘store wars’: Luxurious teams led by LVMH are pouring cash into reviving Paris’s most well-known thoroughfare amid a world race for prime actual property.

• Zebra economics: Within the newest version of Undercover Economist, Tim Harford compares the ecosystem behind US tariffs on Chinese language items to trophic ranges within the savannah.

• From Abbott to Corbyn: Andy Beckett’s The Searchers is a topical e book documenting Labour’s main lights. Right here’s why Robert Shrimsley thinks it misses the mark.

Chart of the day

Labour has a manner to save cash, strengthen the Financial institution of England and increase funding for public companies if it wins the UK election, writes Chris Giles: setting minimal reserves for industrial banks. The one losers can be the banks, which have been having fun with considerably larger income for the reason that Covid-19 pandemic.

Take a break from the information

In a studio area tucked away on a aspect road within the western Ukrainian metropolis, the Lviv Nationwide Opera is busy making ready for the nation’s premiere of Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, set in a nunnery in the course of the French Revolution. Within the shadow of warfare, the opera’s themes of tyranny, sacrifice and terror shall be all too acquainted to Ukrainians.

Further contributions from Sophie Spiegelberger, Benjamin Wilhelm and Gordon Smith