Ex-Autonomy CFO Sushovan Hussain launches firm to help ex-offenders find work after US prison term

Sushovan Hussain, the former finance chief at Mike Lynch’s software company Autonomy, is planning a business comeback after serving a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence in the US.

Hussain, 61, has launched a new venture, Liberatus — Latin for “freed” — aimed at helping ex-offenders back into employment. The company will operate as an employment agency, matching those with criminal records to temporary work, with a pilot scheme planned in Cambridge before a national rollout.

Hussain said the idea was born from his own experience of returning to the UK last year after release from a Pennsylvania federal prison, where he served time for fraud over Autonomy’s £7bn sale to Hewlett-Packard.

“Reintegrating into society is extraordinarily difficult,” he said. “Securing employment with a criminal record remains one of the most significant barriers. For those who do find work, the reoffending rate drops to below 5%.”

He added that he had encountered the same issues many ex-offenders face, including difficulty opening bank accounts and obtaining ID.

Companies House records show Hussain owns Liberatus with his wife, Tracie, and has recruited former colleagues from Autonomy and cybersecurity firm Darktrace, which he co-founded with Lynch.

The initiative could attract support from prisons minister Lord Timpson, who has advocated for more employers to hire ex-offenders. Hussain echoed Timpson’s view that giving former prisoners a route back into work is a “win-win situation we cannot ignore”.

Hussain was convicted on 16 counts of fraud in 2018 and lost an appeal in 2020 before entering prison. He was released in early 2024, months before Lynch and Autonomy’s former finance director Stephen Chamberlain were acquitted of fraud in the US.

Earlier this year, Hussain settled a UK civil case brought by HP against him and Lynch, with a judge ruling damages of more than £740m — a sum threatening to wipe out Lynch’s estate after his death in 2024.

Liberatus plans to focus initially on building relationships with employers willing to take on staff with convictions, with the goal of expanding opportunities nationwide.

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Ex-Autonomy CFO Sushovan Hussain launches firm to help ex-offenders find work after US prison term