Dunn, Others Charged in HP Scandal

The windup to criminal charges stemming from Hewlett-Packard’s shameful leak investigation has taken weeks. Then, just as the Major League Baseball playoffs got under way, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer delivered his pitch: felony charges against HP Chairwoman Patricia Dunn, Kevin Hunsaker, a former senior lawyer at HP, and three outside investigators.

The charges were announced at a press conference held Wednesday at the California Department of Justice. They include using false or fraudulent pretenses to obtain confidential information from a public utility, wrongful use of computer data, identity theft, and conspiracy to commit each of those crimes. All of the charges are felonies.

Saying HP “lost its way” in looking for the source of boardroom leaks, Lockyer charged people inside and outside of HP with violating privacy rights and breaking state law. Lockyer’s office has been investigating the spying allegations because HP is based in Palo Alto, Calif. The U.S. Attorney Office in San Francisco and the FBI have been conducting investigations, as well.

In a statement released after the filing, Dunn’s attorney, James Brosnahan, said his client will fight the charges.

“These charges are being brought against the wrong person at the wrong time and for the wrong reasons. They are the culmination of a well-financed and highly orchestrated disinformation campaign,” Brosnahan said. He did not elaborate on his charge of a disinformation campaign.

Dunn said, in testimony before Congress on Sept. 28, that HP’s lawyers told her the investigation was being carried out “legally and properly.” However, a complaint that Lockyer filed said that both Dunn and Hunsaker “knew the outside investigators obtained phone records through false pretenses” and “facilitated the continued use of the illegal means to obtain phone records, making both culpable for the crimes.”

HP CEO Mark Hurd told the Congressional committee that he didn’t read a report from the investigating team detailing the use of pretexting and he wasn’t aware of the details of the techniques being used.

Congress is looking into creating new laws that would specifically outlaw the practice of pretexting, which currently sits in a murky legal territory. However, even without a federal or state pretexting statute, the defendants face serious fines and jail time if convicted under California laws.

All four counts carry a maximum prison sentence of three years and fines ranging from $10,000 to $25,000.