In Depth

5 Things About Corporate Investigations That Won't Change...

...As a Result of the Hewlett-Packard Pretexting Scandal

By Sarah D. Scalet

There began a litany of details from private phone records that no scrupulous investigator would have

been able to obtain without help from law enforcement. The 12 pages of material that would make any

investigators stand tall were actually embedded in an 18-page document that also spoke of things

more likely to make them slouch in their seats—covert intelligence gathering, video surveillance

and "third-party phone information."

Yet it was an effective campaign. By page 17, Keyworth had admitted to investigators and the board

that he was the source, explaining, in investigators' words, that "he thought it was in the best interests

of HP for the information in the January 23 article to be made public." Keyworth would soon resign.

p>

What followed is painfully well-known. Felony charges from the California Attorney General against five

people who allegedly were involved with accessing private phone records under false pretenses. Several

resignations, including Hunsaker, Dunn and Anthony Gentilucci, manager of global security

investigations. Congressional hearings where some HP executives pleaded the Fifth Amendment and

some lawmakers compared the scenario to Enron and Watergate. Salacious details of how investigators

trailed a board member from California to Colorado, used e-mail tracing technology unknown outside

of the marketing and investigations worlds, and even considered planting spies in newsrooms. Hurd's

very public apology. A $14.5 million settlement HP reached with California to resolve civil claims in the

case. (HP refused to comment for this story.)

The HP investigation was expensive, invasive, out of scale with the problem and largely unnecessary. In

short, it is probably the stupidest thing HP has ever done. And that's exactly why, despite what some

may hope, it is unlikely to have a lasting impact on how corporations run investigations.

To those who say that HP will change everything, we say, yeah right. Instead, we proffer five things that

the HP investigation won't change—at least, not in the way one might expect.

Assumption #1 This is a wake-up call to corporate America about the risks of botched

investigations.

As the scandal unfolded, Bill Wipprecht, CSO of Wells Fargo in San Francisco, worked on some elevator

"talking points."

In between floors 1 and 12, he says, "When other executives say, 'What do you think of that?' you have

to be able to respond instead of just fumbling for your keys."

For his part, Wipprecht likes to say that because the media benefits from leaks, journalists didn't focus

on what Keyworth did wrong. He also asserts that because Wells Fargo is in a highly regulated industry,

his investigations group doesn't take any chances by using risky techniques that wouldn't, as he puts it,

• Email
• Print
• Comments
• Digg This
• SlashDot

• How To Plan an Investigation
• Corporate Ethics Programs and Security