California's Attorney General says that it has offered plea bargains to two former Hewlett Packard senior executives and two outside investigators involved in HP's spy scandal. Additionally, a private investigator involved in the HP pretexting scandal has pleaded guilty to two felony charges in a federal courtroom. State prosecutors have offered to drop all four criminal charges against Patricia Dunn, former chairwoman of Hewlett Packard, in exchange for pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge. Prosecutors say they have offered similar deals to HP's former chief ethics officer, Kevin Hunsaker, and two outside investigators involved in the deal. Lawyers for both HP executives say they are not interested in any plea bargain. Kevin Hunsaker's lawyer is quoted by the Associated Press as saying, "We're not involved in the plea negotiations because Kevin didn't do anything wrong and didn't do anything illegal." Hunsaker was the chief ethics officer at the time of the scandal, which raised major ethical questions across boardrooms in corporate America on the topic of "pretexting." Hunsaker and Dunn's alleged roles, along with the alleged roles of two private investigators, are still being investigated in the case. Pretexting is now officially illegal. The controversial use of "pretexting" by the computer giant, before clear laws were in place, propelled the term to popularity following news of the HP scandal. Now, U.S. President George W. Bush has signed a bill that makes pretexting a federal offense. The defendants in the California case each face four charges of identity theft, conspiracy, fraud and illegal use of computer data. Former chairwoman of HP Patricia Dunn initiated the spy operation at the computer giant in early 2005. A federal investigation is also ongoing. Federal prosecutors have netted their first victory in the HP case, with 29 year-old Bryan Wagner pleading guilty to two felony charges. Wagner was a private investigator hired by HP to investigate information leaks on its board of directors. News of the Hewlett Packard scandal first broke in September 2006 when the company acknowledged, in a U.S. Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) report, that the actions of its board of directors were under investigation by California's Attorney General. securityfocus.com
