June 6 (Reuters) - Autonomy founder Mike Lynch was

acquitted of fraud on Thursday by a jury in San Francisco, a

major win for the entrepreneur who has been dogged by legal

problems since the disastrous sale of his company to

Hewlett-Packard ( HPE ) for $11 billion in 2011.

Representatives for Lynch and U.S. prosecutors said Lynch

was acquitted on all 15 charges -- one count of conspiracy, and

14 counts of wire fraud, each connected to specific transactions

or communications.

Former Autonomy finance executive Stephen Chamberlain, who

faced the same charges at trial alongside Lynch, was also

acquitted on all counts, the Lynch representative said.

The trial where prosecutors said Lynch and Chamberlain

schemed to inflate Autonomy's revenue was the latest chapter in

a legal saga stemming from the failed deal.

The Autonomy sale was one of the biggest British tech deals

at the time but quickly went sour, with HP writing down

Autonomy's value by $8.8 billion within a year.

At the trial, which lasted three months, jurors heard from

more than 30 government witnesses including Leo Apotheker, the

former HP CEO who was fired weeks after the Autonomy deal was

announced.

Lynch also took the stand in his own defense at the trial,

denying wrongdoing and telling jurors that HP botched the two

companies' integration.

Prosecutors said Lynch and Chamberlain padded Autonomy's

finances in several ways, including back-dated agreements and

"round-trip" deals that fronted cash to customers through fake

contracts.

Lynch's legal team argued at trial that HP was so eager to

acquire Autonomy ahead of potential competitors that it rushed

through due diligence before the sale.

On the stand, the Cambridge University-educated entrepreneur

said he had been focused on tech issues, and entrusted money

matters and the accounting decisions at issue to Sushovan

Hussain, Autonomy's then-chief financial officer.

Hussain was separately convicted in 2018 at a trial in the

same court on charges related to the deal with HP. He was

released from U.S. prison in January after serving a five-year

sentence.

Lynch was one of the UK's leading tech entrepreneurs,

drawing comparisons to Apple cofounder Steve Jobs and

Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates.

Lynch turned ground-breaking research at Cambridge into the

foundation of Autonomy, which became Britain's biggest software

company and a member of the blue-chip FTSE 100 index.

He was lauded by academics and scientists and asked to

advise the British government on technology and innovation.

The Autonomy acquisition was meant to fuel HP's software

business. Instead, it spawned a series of bitter and expensive

legal battles.

HP largely won a civil lawsuit against Lynch and Hussain in

London in 2022, though damages have not yet been decided. The

company is seeking $4 billion.