14 DAY TRIAL // It would appear that the intricacies of the legal system are convoluted enough that certain accusations against a certain former HP CEO may have been a means to conceal other, deeper reasons for Mark Hurd's departure from the company.
Once again it is confirmed that the holiday season is the perfect time for new lawsuits to sprout up on the IT industry.
This once, the legal action is one dealing with a certain event whose alleged cause may or may not have been genuine.
More than a little while ago, former HP CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Mark Hurd was forced to cut ties with the company.
The reasons behind it was a charge of misconduct filed by Jodie Fisher, an HP contractor.
This happened back in August, 2010, after which the ex-CEO quite quickly ended up in Oracle's camp, so to speak.
Now, however, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, according to The Wall Street Journal, have begun to suspect that other reasons may have been involved.
As it is now known, the one that alleged Hurd's misconduct was the HP contractor known as Jodie Fisher.
It is now believed, by WSJ's sources at least, that Hurd is actually suspected of having passed Fisher information about the $13.9 billion acquisition deal that HP struck with tech-consulting firm Electronic Data Systems Corp.
"Mark acted properly in all respects," said Glenn Bunting, a spokesman for Mr. Hurd. "It is understandable that the SEC is looking into the events surrounding Mark's departure, which was followed by a precipitous drop in the value of H-P's stock."
The deal was made in 2008, but Mark Hurd is also said to have falsified corporate expenses in his effort to conceal his relationship with Fisher, which happens to be the same contractor suspected to have received the info on the aforementioned acquisition.
HP is said to be “cooperating fully with the SEC on its investigation,” but Oracle and Fisher's legal representatives did not comment.