House Issues 5 More Subpoenas in HP Probe

The United States House Energy and Commerce Committee has handed down another five subpoenas to individuals who were potentially involved in Hewlett-Packard’s (HP) controversial investigation into the sources of sensitive company information leaked to media outlets, just one day before the committee is set to convene to discuss the ongoing scandal, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The news comes from a “person close to the investigation,” according to the Journal.

The five newly subpoenaed individuals are thought to be subcontractors for Action Research Group, a Florida-based data broker employed by HP to find telephone records and electronic communications of board members, employees and journalists, according to the Journal.  HP used both physical and e-mail tracking to obtain such records.

The five individuals that recently received subpoenas were identified by the source close to the probe as Bryan Wagner, a Colo. Man; Darren Brost of Texas; Charles Kelly, a Ga. resident; Cassandra Selvage, of Fla.; and Valerie Preston, also of Fla., the Journal reports.

According to a separate Journal report, a source close to the investigation said Wagner told an investigator in Colo. that he had recently destroyed his computer using a hammer and threw away the pieces.

The unraveling scandal at the PC giant has already sparked the resignation of its Chairman Patricia Dunn, a public apology from Chief Executive Mark Hurd, and House subpoenas to various company officials—including both Dunn and Hurd—to appear at the House hearing on Thursday.  Larry Sonsini, a HP attorney, has also received a subpoena to appear before the House, and on Friday, a security official tendered his resignation after being subpoenaed.

The United States Department of Justice and the Calif. attorney general are also investigating HP’s use of “pretexting”—or the impersonation of individuals to obtain records—in an effort to dig up information on people it suspected of involvement in the media leaks.

Keep checking in at our HP Spying Scandal page for more CIO.com coverage of this unfolding story.

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