The information request by a US attorney’s office and a congressional committee was disclosed in HP’s quarterly earnings report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The US attorney’s office for the northern district of California also issued a statement that said it was investigating the processes employed in an investigation into possible sources of leaks.
The filing came as HP’s board met for a second day to discuss its internal board probe. The company has been accused by former board member Thomas Perkins, a prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist, for hiring private investigators to improperly record phone calls and emails as part of its investigation. He alleged those investigators illegally spied on HP directors and several journalists and their families.
HP had denied it eavesdropped on conversations or recorded any phone calls, but said some form of pretexting of phone records had been used.
Pretexting is a murky area of US law. The recent request for information into HP’s investigative methods was part of an ongoing probe into pretexting by the US House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Perkins, a former HP director, quit in May in protest over HP’s alleged investigative tactics. He recently called for the resignation of the chair of HP’s board Patricia Dunn, who has said she does not intend to step down, but would quit if the board asked. She also denied any knowledge about the private investigator’s methods, which included using false IDs to get phone records.
HP said, in the filing, it would fully cooperate with the federal enquiries.
