Hewlett-Packard Co.’s Chief Executive Mark Hurd may have known as early as in July 2005 the company was looking into private phone records as part of its leak investigation, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Monday.
A memo from the computer maker’s outside law firm suggests Hurd may have learned about the use of phone records within a few months of the start of the leak probe, though he may not have known if the phone records were obtained illegally, the Journal reported.
The memo, based on lawyers’ phone interview with Hurd, says Hurd recalled a meeting, “probably on July 22, 2005,” in which someone discussed obtaining phone records from the Internet, the newspaper reported.
Last month, HP Chairman Patricia Dunn resigned in fallout over the scandal, which centers on HP’s investigation into board leaks. Hurd took much of the responsibility for the scandal when he testified last week at a congressional hearing into the matter.
The company has admitted that investigators impersonated board members, employees and journalists to get their phone records so it could learn the source of leaks of secret board deliberations.