FBI Said to Be Looking Into HP’s Allegations on Autonomy

The FBI, responding to an inquiry by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is looking into Hewlett-Packard Co.’s allegations of accounting improprieties at its Autonomy Corp. unit, a person familiar with the matter said.

Hewlett-Packard brought its claims about the U.K software company it bought last year to the SEC, which asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation for assistance, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter wasn’t public. Whenever a company reports a matter that could be criminal in nature, it will be examined and it wasn’t known whether any action will result from it, the person said.