SEC Probing Hurd’s H-P Exit

The Securities & Exchange Commission is investigating Mark Hurd’s departure from Hewlett-Packard following claims that he shared inside information about a future deal. Sources say the SEC is looking into whether Hurd passed on information about H-P’s $13.9 billion acquisition of Electronic Data Systems Corp. to a former H-P contractor in 2008 before the deal went public. Hurd is also under investigation, the sources said, for possibly destroying evidence when he left in August as well as filing inaccurate expense reports. Hurd is now president of H-P rival Oracle, and has hired Daniel Bookin, a lawyer that specializes in defending white-collar criminal cases and civil-securities suits, people familiar with the matter said. Hurd left H-P in August after a former contractor claimed he sexually harassed her, and she also claimed Hurd told her about the then-secret deal with EDS.