A private investigator has pleaded guilty to identity theft and conspiracy charges, the first conviction arising from the Hewlett-Packard boardroom leak scandal.
Bryan Wagner, a data broker hired last year to help HP discover the source of a news leak, has pleaded guilty to federal identity theft and conspiracy charges, according to a statement released by the US Attorney's office.
Wagner, 29, admitted during a hearing in federal court that he "used fraud and deceit" to obtain personal phone records of journalists, including three from CNET News.com, ZDNet Australia's sister publication, as well as members of HP's board.
The maximum sentence that Wagner could receive is a five-year prison term and a US$250,000 fine. Sources told News.com last week that Wagner entered his plea on the condition that his cooperation would bring a lighter sentence.
Wagner is one of five people, including Patricia Dunn, the former chairman of HP, charged in California on various counts, including conspiracy and identity theft. In an attempt to discover which member of HP's board of directors was leaking information to the media last year, the company's investigators allegedly duped phone company employees into handing over private records of accounts belonging to journalists, HP employees and board members. The practice is called pretexting.
Reuters contributed to this report.
