HP Skates Away From SEC Charges

theodp writes "The SEC has dropping charges against HP, in return for some small concessions. The company was originally charged with improperly depriving investors of important information, violating the public reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act, and failing to disclose the full impact of an out-of-control press leak investigation. In return for the dropped charges, the computer maker simply agreed to cease and desist from doing similar acts in the future, without admitting or denying having done so in the past. 'HP acted in what it believed to be a proper manner,' said the company in a press release."

Thems with the deepest pocketses winses!

[Chas]

Yes my precious!

*** Beware. Disgust vent system engaged. ***

Re:Did they have those shoes with built in skates?

[ronadams]

No offense to the Parent, but why is it that 5982755979585 people post the obligatory outrage of corporate America posts, and not one of them reflects any actual knowledge of TFA? While it's an important issue, it doesn't really affect you or me that much...

Federal securities laws require a public company to disclose - by making a public filing with the Commission - the circumstances of the disagreement if a director resigns because of a disagreement with the company on any matter relating to its operations, policies or practices. Notwithstanding this requirement, HP did not make the mandated disclosures, instead reporting only the fact that Mr. Perkins had stepped down. The Commission found Mr. Perkins' disagreement related to HP's corporate governance and HP's policies regarding the handling of sensitive information, and therefore was a disagreement related to HP's operations, policies or practices which was required to be disclosed.

Sorry for quoting a whole paragraph; I know that's more than many /.'ers care to read from TFA. Relax, people. It's sunny today, and you don't have .0000001% of the insane red-tape restrictions on you a publicly traded company does.

Re:better headline

[sjwaste]

Moron. This settlement had nothing to do with pretexting. Read the SEC release before posting. Mods who bumped this to a 5, do a little bit of reading yourselves.

HP was charged with a '34 Act violation because they didn't report WHY a director (Perkins) resigned, only that he did. They were required to report WHY he resigned because he resigned over a disagreement with corporate policy, which must be disclosed per the '34 Act. He could've resigned because he disagreed with their pricing of toner, and it would've had to have been reported because:

Federal securities laws require a public company to disclose - by making a public filing with the Commission - the circumstances of the disagreement if a director resigns because of a disagreement with the company on any matter relating to its operations, policies or practices.

Yes, this happened in relation to the pretexting scandal, but that's not why the SEC sought enforcement. Therefore, HP's claims that it thought it was acting "lawfully" are not in regard to pretexting, but in regard to the disclosure of a director's resignation and what amounts to the quote above. They thought it didn't fit that definition, stupidly and blatantly incorrect, might I add, but it had nothing to do with them believing pretexting was a lawful action. That wasn't the question to be decided here.

First the FCC and now the SEC.

[Irvu]

I remember back in the 80's when people first noticed that the FCC was serving the interests of companies more than the populace. Everything else that has followed since from fighting for the rights of large media companies to merge to seeking to suppress internet content at the behest of AOL Time Warner started then with Regan's appointees. Now the FCC openly behaves as a tool of the conglomerates. Or in the case of the illegal wiretapping [wikipedia.org], a tool of the NSA.

A similar lack of complaint was heard when the food and drug administration reevaluated aspertame for the third time and declared it safe despite their own warnings to the contrary see here [wikipedia.org]. Thanks again Donald Rumsfeld.

Then the Food and Drug administration recently was accused of stepping down enforcement of many complaints and 'streamlining' the process of approval for the drug companies.

Now this. Realistically speaking I would hope that sooner or later events like this, you know large companies committing fraud and spying on people for money, lying, etc. and being given only a slap on the wrist, would say piss people off so much that they would Write their Congressional Representative [house.gov], and Their U.S. Senator [senate.gov], and even The President [whitehouse.gov]. A few e-mails saying, either this is a government of by and for the people or we'll vote for someone else. A few e-mails saying, I pay my taxes why are they being spent to harm me? A few e-mails just reminding them that we are paying attention. Lacking that they can do whatever they want and we're no longer the greatest nation on earth.