A few years ago, Hewlett-Packard apparently decided to save some money on private investigators.
“HP used to be a client of ours,” said Steve Foster, 43, chief operating officer of Business Controls Inc., a Littleton- based corporate-security consultant with 100 employees. “They stopped using us because we were expensive.”
Eventually, HP ended up with another Littleton-based investigator, 29-year-old Bryan Wagner, who allegedly obtained phone records using an illegal practice called “pretexting” and then took a hammer to his computer to hide his deeds.
HP’s investigation sought to uncover which of its board members was secretly leaking information to the press. “The cure,” said Foster, “proved worse than the disease.” Former HP chairwoman Patricia Dunn, Wagner and three others who took part in the probe each have been charged with four felonies, including identity theft and conspiracy.
HP CEO Mark Hurd was not charged. Why serve up the guy credited with overtaking Dell Inc. as the world’s largest computer maker? But Hurd is looking increasingly out of touch.
Documents released this week show Hurd has responded to written questions from congressional investigators with lines such as “not that I recall” and “I can’t say.” When asked what he thought about the private phone records investigators produced, he answered:
“I simply thought there must be some Web site containing publicly available information about phone records. I did not give any further thought to the issue and do not recall any other discussions.”
Hurd’s response is as absurd as HP’s initial claim that pretexting was “not generally unlawful.” Tell it to the judge.
“I guarantee you,” said Foster, “they would not be in this position right now if they had used our organization.”
Foster is a retired cop and graduate of Columbia College, the U.S. Air Force Security Police Academy and the Aurora Colorado Police Academy. He said his corporate-investigations firm is frequently retained to investigate top executives for everything from petty malfeasance to embezzling. This work must be done, legally and ethically, or companies can end up buried in lawsuits and indictments.
HP’s first mistake was not having a process in place in advance for how to handle investigations, said Foster. Next, it didn’t closely examine the credentials of its investigators. “In Colorado, all you have to do to become a private investigator is print business cards,” said Foster. “You just have to be able to tell people, ‘Hey, I’m the new Rockford.”‘
Dunn testified that the investigators kept her in the dark as the investigation was underway, since she was also investigated with the rest of the board.
“That is the biggest scam in our industry,” said Foster. “It’s the old joke, ‘We can’t tell you or else we’ll have to kill you.’ That’s how these people operate … in darkness, secrecy and trench coats. And we have to get out of that mode.”
I’ve talked to private investigators who defend pretexting as an effective and widespread tactic. But Foster doesn’t buy the old saw that sometimes you have to act like a criminal to catch one.
“I’m a street kid from south Philadelphia,” he said. “I had a stepfather who was a cop under (former Philadelphia Police Chief and Mayor Frank) Rizzo, one of the most corrupt law enforcement agencies of its time. I had a grandfather who was in the Mafia. I understand the criminal mind. I left that environment and came here because there are better ways to conduct yourself.”
And certainly there are more cost-effective ways than posing as someone else to steal phone records. Foster said he would have given a memo with slightly different wording to each board member. Once a uniquely worded memo turned up in the media, the leaker could be identified.
Foster’s firm probably charges more per hour than the idiots HP used, but it looks like he’d have been millions of dollars cheaper and saved HP its reputation as well as the careers of some of its top executives and board directors.
It’s truly amazing what an amateur hour it’s been at HP.
“We’re not talking about Joe’s Bait & Tackle Shop,” Foster said. “We’re talking about Hewlett-Packard.”
Al Lewis’ column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Respond to him at denverpostbloghouse.com/lewis, 303-954-1967 or alewis@denverpost.com.
