The cinematic universe of James Bond made an unusual appearance in San Francisco federal court Wednesday, in witness testimony at the criminal fraud trial of software executive Michael Lynch.
Perhaps not so well known in the U.S., Lynch is renowned in England as the billionaire co-founder and chief executive officer of software company Autonomy Corporation.
After a hard-fought battle over his extradition from the United Kingdom to San Francisco, Lynch is defending against charges that he lied to Hewlett-Packard about Autonomy’s finances leading up to the Silicon Valley giant’s 2011 acquisition of Autonomy for approximately $11 billion. One year later, HP said it wrote down Autonomy’s value by $8.8 billion due to Lynch’s misrepresentations.
US prosecutors have called it the “largest fraud in the history” of Silicon Valley.
Jurors at the trial Wednesday heard videotaped testimony from Elizabeth Harris, an accountant at Autonomy, about the company’s motifs based on the beloved — or in her case not-so-much-admired — British Secret Service agent 007. Harris was asked what she thought about conference rooms named Dr. No and Goldfinger.
“It’s a normal, blokeish thing to do,” Harris said dismissively, and, she added, not unusual behavior in the United Kingdom.
She was then asked about the tank of piranhas Lynch kept in Autonomy’s reception area. A lawyer asked if she found the fish intimidating?
“No,” Harris said. “They are really tiny.”
The trial started in March. Harris’ testimony was played as part of Lynch’s defense strategy. Prosecutors have argued that Lynch’s Bond villain and piranha motifs were part of his attempt to project an image of dominance, and as a lawless puppet master at Autonomy, according to a court filing.
One month before Lynch met with famed Silicon Valley banker Frank Quattrone to sell Autonomy, the chief executive posed in front of the piranha tank to “cultivate his carefully crafted image as a master of the universe,” prosecutors said, in “an image that ultimately attracted HP.”
Lynch’s lawyers seemed to be using Harris’ testimony to poke a hole in the narrative.
“Were they friendly fish?” a lawyer asked, in a stretch to draw Harris out on the subject.
“They are really tiny,” Harris repeated, seemingly unable to offer more detail.
Adam Reeves, an assistant U.S. Attorney, then took his turn at establishing the government’s strategy. The prosecutor asked Harris if she was familiar with James Bond films.
“Unfortunately yes, because I’m married to a middle-age man,” Harris said.
Reeves reiterated that the conference rooms were named after Dr. No and Goldfinger. “They’re the villains,” he suggested.
Prosecutors didn’t ask Harris about Scaramanga, another Bond villain who earned a conference room named after him, according to court filings. In her testimony, Harris seems to only acknowledge the names were based on characters in Bond films, but not their villainy, or what, if anything, their relationship is to Lynch or Autonomy.
The evidence Harris was asked about made its way into the trial over objections from Lynch’s lawyers. The motifs are “at best, tongue-in-cheek attempts at humor at Autonomy,” Lynch’s lawyers argued in a court filing.
The government’s insinuation that the Bond names or piranhas reflect Lynch’s malevolence is “absurd,” the executive’s lawyers said in the court filing.
The prosecution’s strategy was designed to transform innocuous names and decor into Lynch’s sinister attempt to “bamboozle” HP, Lynch’s lawyers said in the filing.
