Criminal Complaints Filed Against Former H-P Leaders, Investigators

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed criminal complaints Wednesday against Patricia Dunn, former Hewlett Packard board chairwoman, and four others on charges related to HP's media leak probe.

Lockyer filed complaints against Dunn, Kevin Hunsaker, former lawyer and ethics officer for HP, as well as three private investigators, Ronald DeLia of Massachusetts, Joseph DePante of Florida and Bryan Wagner of Colorado, according to a spokesman for Santa Clara Superior Court.

Lockyer's office planned to hold a press conference in Sacramento outlining charges against the five. Earlier in the day, new reports citing the defendants' attorneys reported that they would be charged with using fraud or false pretenses to obtain private records from a public utility, unauthorized access to computer data, identity theft and conspiracy to commit those acts.

HP issued a statement Wednesday saying it is continuing to cooperate with investigations and has no further comment on the issue. Lawyers for four of the defendants did not return calls requesting comment. Neither DePante nor his counsel could be reached.

Dunn tapped DeLia, owner of Security Outsourcing Solutions, which then worked with subcontractors, including DePante and Wagner, to help the company root out the source of media leaks in 2005 and 2006.Investigators and HP employees were involved in a probe that included staking out homes of board members, reporter and their family members, rummaging through trash, sending fictitious news tips in an e-mail that included a tracer and using pretexting, or deception, to obtain private cell phone and home phone records, according to recent testimony from CEO, President and Chairman Mark Hurd.

Hunsaker supervised the internal probe, which has drawn the attention of several government regulatory and law enforcement groups. Dunn and former counsel Ann Baskins received updates, according to official HP accounts, external reviews and testimony from several people who were involved. Baskins has not been charged.

Baskins, Dunn and Hunsaker have left the company because of the scandal. Board members Thomas Perkins and George Keyworth, identified as the source of the media leaks, resigned their positions. Keyworth maintains that he did not leak confidential or harmful information. He said he only spoke to the press after being authorized to do so and for the benefit of the company. After his resignation, HP acknowledged it had given Keyworth permission to speak to reporters off the record but said he failed to go through the "proper channels" on other occasions.

Keyworth declined to comment Wednesday and Perkins could not be reached.

The U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and Congress are also looking into the matter.Lockyer's office declined to comment on the matter before a news conference scheduled for 4 p.m. PDT.

Of those Lockyer planned to file charges against, only Dunn testified at an investigative hearing on the matter last week. DePante, Hunsaker, Wagner and DeLia declined to testify and invoked their Fifth Amendment rights to avoid self-incrimination.

Dunn said last week that she takes no responsibility for the probe. Dunn has repeatedly stressed that the leaks were serious and required investigation.

The company has acknowledged, and apologized for more involvement and awareness than it took credit for when the news first broke and insiders claimed ignorance.