Executive of firm acquired by Hewlett-Packard indicted

A federal grand jury in San Francisco has indicted the former chief financial officer of a British software maker on charges he engaged in fraud to artificially increase the company's share price and make it attractive to Hewlett-Packard.

HP bought the company, Autonomy, in 2011, for about $10 billion, but later wrote off most of the purchase price after alleging that the company had misrepresented its true value during sale negotiations. Autonomy's founder has denied the allegations.

The grand jury indicted former Autonomy CFO Sushovan Hussain on Thursday on wire fraud and conspiracy charges.

Hussain's attorney, John Keker, said his client defrauded no one and acted at all times with the highest standards of honesty and competence.

Shareholder outrage over the Autonomy deal and other soured acquisitions triggered a shake-up of HP's board in 2013.

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