Good morning. Mike Lynch, once one of the UK’s leading tech entrepreneurs, was acquitted of criminal charges by a jury in San Francisco yesterday, capping a 12-year legal saga stemming from one of Silicon Valley’s biggest fraud cases.
The former Autonomy chief executive was accused of falsely inflating revenues at the UK software company ahead of its $11bn sale to Hewlett-Packard in 2011. The verdict is a moment of vindication for Lynch after a long battle that saw him extradited to the US and subjected to house arrest under 24-hour surveillance ahead of the trial.
Lynch, 58, has long claimed he was used as a scapegoat by HP for its own botched acquisition and later mismanagement of Autonomy. He unsuccessfully argued that any criminal charges should be heard in the UK.
Following the not guilty verdict, Lynch said 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”. Read the full story.
Here’s what I’m keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:
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Economic data: The EU publishes its first-quarter GDP today, while the UK has data on public sector finances and a house price index from Halifax. Germany releases trade figures, and the US has employment data.
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UK politics: Today is the deadline for candidate nominations for July’s general election (scroll down for the latest updates from the campaign trail). Public sector union GMB begins its annual congress in Bournemouth on Sunday.
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Russia: The Bank of Russia announces its interest rate decision today, while Vladimir Putin speaks at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.
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EU politics: The bloc’s parliamentary polls continue until Sunday, with Ireland, Italy, Belgium and Germany voting today or on the weekend. Don’t miss this morning’s Europe Express, which will be free for all subscribers today and on Monday as Henry Foy breaks down the elections.
How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.
Five more top stories
1. Exclusive: South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance has claimed Russia is financing Jacob Zuma’s party, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK). DA leader John Steenhuisen told the Financial Times that the former president’s party had been extremely well funded since it started six months ago, and said he was “certain” there was money from Moscow, though he conceded there was no proof. MK has denied the accusation. Read the full story.
2. Exclusive: US venture capital firms are putting pressure on tech start-ups to cut ties with Chinese backers as they anticipate tighter controls on foreign ownership from Washington. In one example, HeyGen, an artificial intelligence start-up founded in Shenzhen but now based in Los Angeles, asked investors including HongShan, Sequoia Capital’s China spin-off, to sell shares to US counterparts, according to people familiar with the matter. Eleanor Olcott has more details from Beijing.
3. Credit Suisse bondholders have sued Switzerland over the decision to wipe out $17bn of debt when the bank was rescued by its rival UBS last year. In the first major claim brought in a US court over the takeover, lawyers representing the group accused Switzerland of unjustly violating their property rights in orchestrating the deal.
4. France will send some Mirage fighter jets to Ukraine and train pilots to fly them as part of a step-up in aid to help Kyiv resist Russian advances in its territory. President Emmanuel Macron made the pledge yesterday after Nato allies committed to dispatching about 80 US-made F-16 fighters to Ukraine.
5. Labour will propose a government mortgage guarantee scheme while the Conservatives will promise to cut taxes in separate announcements by Sir Keir Starmer and Jeremy Hunt today. The opposition leader’s “Freedom to Buy” scheme aims to get 80,000 people on the housing ladder, while the chancellor will double the salary level at which child benefit starts to be withdrawn. More details on the parties’ latest attempts to woo middle Britain.
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Tory ‘chicken run’: Party chair Richard Holden became the fifth Conservative MP to migrate south to contest a safer seat, damaging already-poor morale.
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Labour manifesto: Leaked details reveal the party will not scrap a contentious two-child limit on benefits and will commit to recognising a Palestinian state.
With less than a month until voting, get the latest updates and analysis through our UK election WhatsApp channel. Sign up here.
From the Magazine
Since acquiring the Boston Red Sox baseball team in 2002 and football club Liverpool in 2010, John Henry’s Fenway Sports Group has become the modern blueprint for a transatlantic sports empire, buying troubled institutions and restoring them. FT Magazine speaks to one of the industry’s best-known but least-understood owners, whose company has ended World Series curses and Premier League droughts.
We’re also reading . . .
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How Aaqua failed: The social media app once had ambitions to become a European unicorn. Instead, its founder Robert Bonnier is in bitter legal battles with investors.
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Champs-Élysées ‘store wars’: Luxury groups led by LVMH are pouring money into reviving Paris’s most famous thoroughfare amid a global race for prime real estate.
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Zebra economics: In the latest edition of Undercover Economist, Tim Harford compares the ecosystem behind US tariffs on Chinese goods to trophic levels in the savannah.
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From Abbott to Corbyn: Andy Beckett’s The Searchers is a topical book documenting Labour’s leading lights. Here’s why Robert Shrimsley thinks it misses the mark.
Chart of the day
Labour has a way to save money, strengthen the Bank of England and boost funding for public services if it wins the UK election, writes Chris Giles: setting minimum reserves for commercial banks. The only losers would be the banks, which have been enjoying significantly higher profits since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Take a break from the news
In a studio space tucked away on a side street in the western Ukrainian city, the Lviv National Opera is busy preparing for the country’s premiere of Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, set in a nunnery during the French Revolution. In the shadow of war, the opera’s themes of tyranny, sacrifice and terror will be all too familiar to Ukrainians.
Additional contributions from Sophie Spiegelberger, Benjamin Wilhelm and Gordon Smith
Read the full article here