HP boss cleared in corporate spy scandal

Mar 15, 2007, 4:07 GMT

San Francisco - Former Hewlett-Packard Co Chairman Patricia Dunn was cleared Wednesday in the corporate spy scandal that rocked the giant technology company last year when a state court recommended that all criminal charges against her be dropped.

Three other defendants in the case also are expected to avoid criminal charges and serve short periods of community service, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The resolution by Superior Court Judge Ray Cunningham followed a plea offer by then-California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who proposed dropping the criminal charges if the defendants agreed to plead guilty to a a single misdemeanor count of fraudulent wire communications. Under the deal sanctioned by the judge Dunn and three others pleaded no contest to that charge.

The case stemmed from an attempt by corporate bosses at HP to find the source of boardroom leaks by using outside investigators to get the phone records of directors and reporters they were suspected of contacting. The investigators used techniques known as pretexting to trick the phone companies into giving up the private phone records.

'I have always had faith that the truth would win out and justice would be served - and it has been,' Dunn said in a statement.

However Dunn could still face charges from a US Justice Department investigation into the affair, though legal experts say that lax privacy laws will make it hard for prosecutors to win a case.

The scandal which erupted in September led to the resignations of Dunn as chairman and of board member George Keyworth. Silicon Valley pioneer Tom Perkins resigned from the company board in protest at the leak investigation.