HP counsel resigns ahead of House hearing
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Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ.N on   Thursday said its general counsel, Ann Baskins, had resigned,   effective immediately, ahead of a U.S. House of Representatives   hearing on the company's methods in investigating boardroom   leaks.
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HP chairwoman to step down in January    WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairwoman Patricia Dunn will step down in January due to her involvement in an espionage scandal that has sparked legal investigations, the computer maker said on Tuesday.
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(InfoWorld) - A U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee probing theÂ Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) pretexting case has issued more subpoenas to compel witness testimony at a Thursday hearing. The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Energy and Commerce Committee issued subpoenas Wednesday for five people identified as "pretexters," data brokers who sometimes obtain access to confidential records under false pretenses. HP has been embroiled in a scandal over its hiring of private investigators who engaged in possibly illegal pretexting to investigate news leaks from HP's board to reporters. Served with subpoenas, according to the Subcommittee, are: Bryan Wagner, a private investigator from Littleton, Colorado; Charles Kelly, of the CAS Agency in Villa Rica, Georgia; Cassandra Selvage of Eye in the Sky Investigations, of Dade City, Florida; Darren Brost, of Austin, Texas; and Valerie Preston from InSearchOf Inc., of Cooper City, Florida. Wagner was identified in a Wednesday Wall Street Journal article as a suspect in the pretexting of phone records of HP directors, employees and journalists who cover the Palo Alto, California technology company. The Journal reported that Wagner told an investigator that he smashed his computer to pieces with a hammer, destroying data that was saved on it. The article also said that the destruction of the computer may hamper an investigation by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's office into possible illegal activity by people at HP or by the private investigators HP hired. The five who were subpoenaed Wednesday have been added to a list of witnesses that also includes HP's Chief Executive Officer and President Mark Hurd and former board chairman Patricia Dunn, who resigned last Friday because of the scandal. While Dunn and Hurd have volunteered to appear, two other HP executives involved in the investigation were subpoenaed: senior counsel Kevin Hunsaker and Global Security Manager Anthony Gentilucci. Hunsaker "left the company" and Gentilucci "resigned" effective Tuesday, said HP spokesman Ryan Donovan. Also subpoenaed are Ron DeLia, operator of Security Outsourcing Solutions Inc., a Needham, Massachusetts, private investigations firm, and Joe Depante, owner of Action Research Group, of Melbourne, Florida. HP has acknowledged hiring both those firms in its leak investigation and that they used pretexting to track down personal phone records. Â
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By Jordan Robertson Associated Press  SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Hewlett-Packard Chairwoman Patricia Dunn will step down in January and be succeeded by CEO Mark Hurd amid a widening scandal involving the computer and printer company's possibly illegal probe into media leaks.
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(InfoWorld) - A state judge in California on Thursday dismissed charges against the three remaining state criminal defendants in theÂ Hewlett-Packard spying case. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Ray Cunningham dropped charges against former HP attorney Kevin Hunsaker and private investigators Ron DeLia and Matthew DePante. The charges were dropped for their part in the use of false pretenses to obtain phone records of individuals they were investigating for leaking HP board deliberations to news media. Cunningham agreed to the dismissal after each of the defendants performed at least 96 hours of community service. In fact, each of them did more than required. According to each of their attorneys, the defendants did the following: DeLia, the owner of Security Outsourcing Solutions, a security firm hired by HP, performed 100 hours of community service at a veterans' organization; DePante, of Action Research Group, an investigative firm hired by DeLia, performed 120 hours at a church organization; and Hunsaker performed 165 hours at a nonprofit legal organization "At worst, the conduct in this case amounted to boardroom politics and a betrayal of trust rather than criminal activity," Cunningham said from the bench in his courtroom in San Jose, Calif. None of the defendants were in the courtroom but were represented by their attorneys. Deputy State Attorney General Ralph Sivilla said the state agreed to the dismissal. "I think everybody at Hewlett-Packard thought they were doing the right thing, the legal thing," Tom Nolan, Hunsaker's attorney, said after the hearing. "They had a serious problem and they relied upon counsel.... But as the [judge] said, they really didn't commit any crimes." The serious problem Nolan referred to, of course, was the leaking of board deliberations to the media. To trace the source of leaks, the private investigators obtained calling records of HP directors, some employees, and several reporters covering HP. At a hearing in March, Cunningham dismissed all charges against former HP chairman Patricia Dunn and said he would dismiss the charges against the other three if they performed community service. The scandal "has achieved much public good," Cunningham said, in that it has brought attention to the problem of "pretexting," or using false pretenses to access private records. It has resulted in the passage of state and federal laws specifically banning the practice. Also, HP agreed to a $14.5 million civil case settlement with the State of California in December 2006 that will support a state program focused on privacy protection. Cunningham noted that The Wall Street Journal editorialized that his dismissal decision in March showed "wisdom and compassion." Given that a Journal reporter was one of the victims of the pretexting, that's a notable endorsement, he said. Bryan Wagner still faces sentencing in federal court in San Jose on one count of conspiracy and one count of aggravated identity theft. HeÂ pleaded guilty to those chargesÂ in January. Wagner was hired by Action Research Group to do the actual pretexting to obtain the phone records, according to court testimony.DeLia's attorney, John Williams, said his client hopes "he gets to go back to work and get on with his life." This story was updated on June 28, 2007
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HP board chairwoman agrees to resign    LOS ANGELES, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairwoman Patricia Dunn agreed to resign next year in an effort to defuse a widening scandal surrounding the company's use of private investigators to obtain directors' phone records.
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Hewlett-Packard's chairman Patricia Dunn resigns amid allegations of illegal spying by the firm.
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By From news reports  Hewlett-Packard's chairwoman, Patricia Dunn, resigned Friday, effective immediately, following the company's ill-fated investigation into media leaks, the company said.
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(InfoWorld) - Like a good friend who has just gotten out of a terrible relationship, Hewlett-Packard seemed to be on the rebound and all the happier for it in recent months. After the departure of controversial CEO Carly Fiorina, the company has as of late shown newfound confidence and focus under new CEO Mark Hurd. But allâs still not well in the higher echelons of HP, as revealed in a filing the company made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The sudden and unexpected resignation of Silicon Valley venture capitalist Thomas Perkins from HPâs board of directors in May turned into a full-blown scandal last week, spawning law enforcement and SEC investigations and a PR nightmare for HP. At the center of the controversy is a legally and ethically questionable internal investigation of leaks of confidential company information to the media dating back to 2005. According to a copy of a letter from Perkins to the HP board explaining his sudden resignation, and republished on thesmokinggun.comâs Web site (a sure sign, if ever there was one, that youâre in the PR doghouse), HP hired outside companies to obtain personal phone records of board members using âpretextingâ (thatâs âsocial engineeringâ to you and me), in which a private investigator impersonated board members to obtain details of private phone company billing statements. In his letter, Perkins says he has proof that his own phone records were âhackedâ in the investigation. Those investigations ultimately fingered George Keyworth, an HP director since 1986, as the source of information about board deliberations and other confidential information, which were leaked to the media without authorization. Keyworth acknowledged he had leaked information at a board meeting on May 18 but refused the boardâs request to step down. Perkins announced his own resignation at that meeting, citing âpersonal frustrationâ with board Chairwoman Patricia Dunn over the handling of the leak investigation. In the meantime, the dispute has spilled over into the public domain. The attorney general of California asked HP to supply information about the leak investigation. The SEC has also been in touch over the 8-K filing HP made when Perkins resigned. HP believes its disclosures in May were âaccurate and complete.â In an Aug. 31 meeting, HPâs board of directors determined that Keyworth shouldnât be nominated for another term on the board.
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Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ.N   director George Keyworth resigned from the board on Tuesday as   the No. 2 PC maker tries to move beyond a brewing controversy   over its investigation into media leaks.
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Hewlett-Packard's chairwoman says to step down if required    LOS ANGELES, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairwoman Patricia Dunn said on Friday that she would resign if requested by the company's board.
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Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ.N said on   Tuesday Chairman Patricia Dunn will step down on January 18,   2007, after coming under fire for ordering a controversial   board investigation into boardroom leaks to the media.
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The national counsel for President Bush&#39;s re-election campaign resigned on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after he acknowledged that he had provided legal advice
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California officials investigating the corporate spying issues at Hewlett-Packard Co. are examining the role of a Massachusetts investigations firm, Security Outsourcing Solutions Inc., in the events leading to Tuesday's decision by H P chairwoman Patricia C. Dunn to step down, according to published reports.
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(InfoWorld) - A criminal case against some of the people implicated in theÂ Hewlett-Packard pretexting scandalÂ may wrap up Thursday in a courtroom in San Jose, California. A hearing is scheduled in Santa Clara County Superior Court in the cases against former HP legal counsel Kevin Hunsaker, private investigator Ronald DeLia, and research consultant Matthew DePante. At a hearing in March, a state judge said charges against the three defendants would be dismissed if they performed 96 hours of community service and paid restitution to the victims. At that same hearing, state charges against former HP chairman Patricia DunnÂ were dismissedÂ altogether. Dunn was chair of HP in 2006 when the board authorized an investigation to find out which directors had been leaking details of confidential board deliberations to news reporters. The private investigative firms hired by HP engaged in a practice known as pretexting, in which they pretended to be someone else to obtain phone records of other individuals. HP directors, employees, and several reporters had their private phone records revealed under those false pretenses. The scandalÂ resulted in the departureÂ of three directors, including Dunn, from the HP board. Dunn and the three men had beenÂ chargedÂ with fraudulent wire communications, wrongful use of computer data, identity theft, and conspiracy, in a case brought by the Attorney General of California in October 2006. The hearing Thursday had originally been scheduled for sometime in September, but may have been moved up because the defendants met the judge's requirements for dismissal, said Carl Schulhof, a spokesman for the Superior Court. State charges were dropped against a fifth defendant in the case, Bryan Wagner, after he pleaded guilty in January to one count of conspiracy and one count of aggravated identity theft. He was a contractor who engaged in pretexting to gain access to phone records. Wagner's sentencing on the federal charges was postponed to October, his attorney Stephen Naratil, said Tuesday.
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(InfoWorld) - Patricia Dunn, Hewlett-Packard's embattled chairman, will be relieved of those duties after the board's Jan. 18, 2007, meeting, but will continue as a director. The announcement came Tuesday morning, followingÂ meetings of the boardÂ over the weekend and Monday. Mark Hurd, HP's chief executive officer and president will also take on the chairman's job. Richard Hackborn, who has been on the board since 1992, has been chosen as the lead independent director as of January. Dunn has been under intense pressure to step down as chairman after it came to light last week that the board of directorsÂ carried out an investigationÂ to determine who among the board leaked confidential information to journalists. The board admitted in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the internal probe involved "pretexting," where employees of an investigative firm hired by the company pretended to be reporters to gain access to their telephone records. Federal authorities, including the U.S. Department of Justice and a congressional committee,Â are questioning the board's conductÂ in the probe and the California attorney general has said thatÂ charges are likely to be filed. "The recent events that have taken place follow an important investigation that was required after the board sought to resolve the persistent disclosure of confidential information from within its ranks. These leaks had the potential to affect not only the stock price of HP but also that of other publicly traded companies," Dunn said in a written statement released by HP. "Unfortunately, the investigation, which was conducted by third parties, included certainÂ inappropriate techniques. These went beyond what we understood them to be, and I apologize that they were employed." Dunn pledged to take action to make sure that such "inappropriate investigative techniques" do not happen again. "They have no place in HP," she said in the statement.
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PALO ALTO, California  - Hewlett-Packard Co.   Chairman Patricia Dunn resigned as a director on Friday as the   embattled computer maker unveiled new details of the boardroom   leak probe, including the role of chief executive Mark Hurd.