Hewlett-Packard Co.’s share price up, accuses Autonomy’s founder and ex-CEO of fraud

Hewlett-Packard Co. accused the former Autonomy Chief Executive Officer Mr. Mike Lynch in fraud and explained that it is also preparing to sue Autonomys ex Chief Financial Officer Mr. Sushovan Hussain.

The executives of Autonomy and Hewlett-Packard have been attacking each other over the causes of the $8.8 billion writedown taken by HP Co. a year after it acquired Autonomy.

Hewlett-Packard Co. said in a court filing, which was cited by Reuters: “The notion that (Hussain) should be permitted to intervene and challenge the substance of a settlement designed to protect the interests of the company he defrauded is ludicrous.” As reported by Bloomberg, the company said that Mr. Hussain “was one of the chief architects of the massive fraud on HP that precipitated this litigation”.

Mr. Hussain has tried to block Hewlett-Packards settlement of three shareholder lawsuits over the acquisition of the U.K.-based software company. The settlement in question was reached on June 30th. That is the reason why the U.S.-based company said that it intends to sue Mr. Hussain over a loss estimated at $8.8 billion, which was related to the acquisition of Autonomy.

Mr. Hussain said in court papers, which were cited by Bloomberg, that the settlement between the computer manufacturer and some of its shareholders “seeks to forever bury from disclosure the real reason for its 2012 writedown of Autonomy: HP’s own destruction of Autonomy’s success”.

Hewlett-Packard was reported to have taken a writedown of $8.8 billion in 2012. More than $5 billion of the writedown was related to alleged accounting misrepresentations. In July this year, Mr. Hussain was pushing the court to give him permission to interfere in the agreement between the U.S.-based company and its investors, claiming that it illegally protects the executive officers of Hewlett-Packard.

Hewlett-Packard Co. was 0.40% up to close at 35.33 dollars per share yesterday, giving the company a market capitalization of $66.11 billion. HPs shares have returned investors 30.85% over the past twelve months. According to the information published on CNN Money, the 25 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Hewlett-Packard Co. have a median target of $36.00, with a high estimate of $41.20 and a low estimate of $30.00. The median estimate represents a +1.90% increase from the last price of $35.33.