Since acquiring server vendor Tandem, Compaq has apparently turned up a few financial anomalies in the high-availability server vendors’ accounts. One of the most astonishing episodes came to light in January when former Tandem marketing manager Susan Thompson was sentenced to four years in prison for stealing $4m from the Cupertino, California-based company over a six-year period. Thompson apparently channeled multiple technical writing projects to businesses she operated with her husband. Compaq’s suspicions were raised when it found records showing the two had cashed in $3.1m in stocks in 1996 alone, even though their joint income was about $300,000. Thompson and her husband – who was sentenced to a year in prison – will be forced to repay $720,000 to Compaq.
