defendant in US trial dies in UK road accident, lawyer says
19/08/2024 20:25
(Adds statement from lawyer confirming Stephen Chamberlain's
death in paragraphs 1, 3 and 8)
LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Stephen Chamberlain, once
Mike Lynch's co-defendant in the U.S. fraud trial over the sale
of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, has died after a road accident
left him critically injured, days before Lynch went missing off
the coast of Sicily, his lawyer said on Monday.
Chamberlain - Autonomy's former vice president of finance
alongside chief executive Lynch - was hit by a car in
Cambridgeshire on Saturday morning and had been placed on life
support, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier
on Monday.
In a statement, Chamberlain's lawyer, Gary Lincenberg, who
described him as a "dear client and friend", said he had died
after being "fatally struck" by a car while out running.
Lynch was one of six people reported missing after a luxury
yacht was struck by an unexpectedly violent storm and sank off
Sicily early on Monday.
Chamberlain faced the same charges of fraud and conspiracy
as his former boss for allegedly scheming to inflate the value
of Autonomy, then Britain's largest software firm, before it was
sold.
Both the men were acquitted of all 15 charges by a jury in
San Francisco in June.
After leaving Autonomy in 2012, Chamberlain worked as chief
operating officer for cybersecurity firm Darktrace and
volunteered as a finance director for Cambridge United soccer
club, according to his LinkedIn profile.
"He was a courageous man with unparalleled integrity, and we
deeply miss him," Lincenberg said. "He fought successfully to
clear his good name, which lives on through his wonderful
family."
Cambridgeshire Police appealed for witnesses after a
collision between a pedestrian and a car in Newmarket Road in
Stretham, Cambridgeshire, saying a man in his 50s had been taken
to hospital with serious injuries.
A police spokesperson said on Monday there was no update on
the pedestrian's condition.
(Reporting by Paul Sandle, Alistair Smout and Andrew MacAskill;
Additional reporting by Catarina Demony; Editing by Hugh Lawson
and Sandra Maler)
((paul.sandle@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 7542 6843; Reuters
Messaging: paul.sandle.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))