The first defendant facing charges for their part in the
Hewlett-Packard
boardroom spying scandal has pleaded guilty to the
charges.
Bryan Wagner, 29, has admitted in federal court to using fraud
and deceit in collecting personal telephone records of reporters
and HP officials.
In pleading guilty to two felony counts, Wagner admitted that he
was paid as part of a conspiracy that made fraudulent use of social
security numbers and other confidential information to obtain the
personal phone records of reporters and HP officials, as well as
the personal records of these individuals’ family members.
According to the allegations, HP engaged the services of
Security Outsourcing Solutions (SOS), a security consulting company
located Boston, USA, to obtain information used in what has become
known as the “Kona I” and “Kona II” investigations.
Kona I began in about April 2005 and Kona II started in
about January 2006. According to court documents, one objective of
these investigations was to identify potential leaks from HP
officials to news reporters.
Co-conspirators pursued a number of avenues during the
investigations, including requesting and obtaining confidential
personal information of subjects they targeted, including HP board
members and journalists.
According to the charges, SOS engaged the services of Action
Research Group (ARG), in Florida, who in turn engaged the services
of Wagner to assist with obtaining confidential personal
information for the Kona investigations.
Wagner was charged with being a member of a conspiracy which
gathered the personal and confidential information of HP board
members; journalists working for newspapers such as the Wall Street
Journal, the New York Times, and BusinessWeek; and family members
of these board members and reporters.
Wagner pleaded guilty to a charge alleging that conspirators
created e-mail accounts to establish online account access for the
telephone services of HP Kona subjects.
Wagner’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for 20 June this
year.
Former HP chairman Patricia Dunn, along with others, also face
charges for their part in the scandal. Dunn has denied the charges.
She left the company last year after the scandal broke.
HP settles over spying scandal
Dunn pleads "not guilty" over spying charges
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