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HP is suing the co-founder and former CFO of software firm Autonomy, claiming it discovered evidence of fraud.
The tech company is seeking $5.1 billion (£3.4 billion) in damages from co-founder Mike Lynch and Autonomy’s ex-chief financial officer Sushovan Hussain, claiming they planned to manipulate sales figures, reports the Telegraph.
The alleged accounting fraud was uncovered by HP following its acquisition of Autonomy around four years ago for £7.1 billion.
Just one year after HP bought the software company, it announced that it would cut almost £6 billion from the value of the company, with over £3 billion of that connected with the supposed false accounting.
The claim states that Lynch and Hussain recorded fake sales, and didn’t reveal the low margins of its business, inflating the value of the service contracts.
The allegations against the two were examined by the Serious Fraud Office, which came to the decision in January that there was no real chance of a conviction.
HP’s lawyers have only filed the initial forms so far, and have not shared any further details of the legal claims.
Both defendants are denying wrongdoing, and have said that they plan on countersuing HP for £100 million due to loss and damage caused by negligent statements made against them.
