HP's $11 billion acquisition of Autonomy in 2011 will be examined at a criminal trial of Autonomy's former CEO, Mike Lynch, and executive Stephen Chamberlain. They are accused of defrauding HP by inflating Autonomy's financial performance, leading HP to write off nearly $9 billion after the deal closed. Meg Whitman was hired as HP's CEO shortly before the deal and hoped it would turn the company around, but it instead hurt HP's finances. Lynch claims he was made a scapegoat and that Whitman was "out of her depth" in managing the acquisition.