Former Finance Director Sushovan Hussain has been charged in the US of “allegedly defrauding investors”.
Former Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch, alongside Hussain, were named in a claim filed for $5.1 billion (€4.7 billion) in damages at the UK High Court in April 2015, after HP acquired Autonomy in 2011, but wrote down its worth in November 2012, claiming that “accounting fraud and inflated financials” from Autonomy officials, including Lynch, were to blame.
HP’s shareholders sued HP for mismanagement, though a settlement was announced in June 2014 and secured in March 2015, before the UK Serious Fraud Office closed its investigation into the circumstances of the acquisition in January 2015, and “ceded legal jurisdiction to US authorities”. Earlier this year, it was reported that the case in the UK will continue through to 2018.
Now, The Guardian has reported that Hussain has been “indicted in the US for allegedly defrauding investors and [HP] about his firm’s performance before its sale”. The article notes that the indictment was filed last week in federal court in San Francisco, with Hussain charged with “conspiracy and wire fraud”, and the charges state that since October 2009, Hussain and others “sought to deceive Autonomy’s investors and HP about the company’s performance, financial condition and prospects for growth”.
This deception scheme was claimed to have “had several objectives” including “to artificially increase and maintain Autonomy’s share price to make the company attractive to potential buyers”, though the news source noted that Hussain “remains in the United Kingdom” and “has not been arrested”. His lawyer, John Keker, said that he was “innocent and would be acquitted at trial”.
Keker added that “he defrauded no one and, as Autonomy’s CFO, acted at all times with the highest standards of honesty, integrity and competence”. HPE “did not immediately respond to requests for comment”, while a spokesman for Lynch, Hussain and “former Autonomy management” staff stated that “the group was certain of Hussain’s innocence and HP lied to the markets and shareholders”.