Former Autonomy CFO banned from chartered accounting group until 2038

Sushovan Hussain’s failure in 2020 to appeal his 2018 fraud conviction in the US means he won’t be a member of ICAEW for 20 years

The expulsion of Sushovan Hussain, Autonomy's former CFO, from a chartered accountant organization is now set in stone.

The loss of his membership in the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) is a direct result of his 2018 conviction in a US court. Hussain was found guilty of 16 counts, 14 for wire fraud, one for conspiracy, and another for securities fraud. The ICAEW, which certifies chartered accountants in the UK, decided to expel Hussain and ban his membership for 20 years, or until November 2038

Autonomy was once one of the most valuable tech companies in the UK, so much so that HP bought the firm in 2011 for more than $10 billion based on a valuation of almost $12 billion. This was based on Autonomy's seemingly great financial performance, the reporting of which was the job of Hussain as CFO.

Just a year later, HP wrote off Autonomy for $8.8 billion and accused Autonomy's c-suite of fraudulently inflating the value of the company. Hussain allegedly played a key role in massaging the numbers of Autonomy's quarterly earnings. While the tech company's CEO and founder Mike Lynch was able to avoid conviction in his trial, Hussain wasn't so lucky, and also was unsuccessful in his appeal of his case in 2020, cementing his conviction.

Despite that being nearly four years ago, UK finance sector regulator the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) only just completed its investigation into the former accountant. The FRC said in a statement that Hussain's US conviction justified his ban from the ICAEW and that his failure to appeal it also meant his ban would stay in place. Hussain will also have to pay £450k ($581k), which is how much the investigation cost to carry out.

That's a fairly high budget for an investigation that based some of its findings on a trial in a different country.

On the bright side for Hussain, he only lost his status as a chartered accountant and about half a million pounds. The FRC didn't penalize him any further because he was already fined $10 million and sentenced to five years in prison after his US conviction. Hussain is expected to get out of prison around August next year, as he only started serving his five-year sentence in August 2020. ®