Hewlett-Packard State Court Espionage Case Resolved

From the San Jose Mercury-News, the denouement of the case by the California Attorney General against former HP chairman, Patricia Dunn, as well as a former company lawyer and two private investigators. The case arose out of elaborate attempts to track down a mole on the company's board of directors who was leaking internal information to the press. We've reported extensively on the case, including most recently here.

Under a deal reached with the AG, all charges against Dunn were dropped. As for the three others, according to the Mercury-News:

"The deal would effectively clear the three co-defendants of legal wrongdoing, which protects the professional licenses of former HP attorney Kevin Hunsaker and private investigators DeLia and Matthew DePante of Florida, said Thomas Lagod, an attorney for DePante. The deal requires each of them to perform 96 hours of community service and provide restitution to victims, in a manner still to be worked out."

The judge, instead of accepting the guilty pleas, took them under submission stating that they would be dismissed on the condition that the defendants perform the required community service and restitution.

This resolves the state court case. A federal case, however, still looms.