(Image source: Bloomberg)
BY NATHAN GIANNINI
ANCHOR ANA COMPAIN-ROMERO
The other shoe has dropped in the sexual harassment claims against former Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd. A letter details of the sexual harassment case presented in court.
Here’s Fox Business with the details.
“That letter was sent by Gloria Allred, on behalf of whom, Jodie Fisher, Hurd's accuser and a former employee at HP. It claims that throughout '08 and '09, Hurd tried to convince her to have sex with him and kissed and touched her inappropriately.”
And PC Mag has more of the unflattering details: “Hurd boasted of his attractiveness to various women in his attempts to win Fisher over, the letter claims, at one point ‘telling her about many different women that were crazy about [him] ... including [Sheryl] Crow.’”
For the record, when asked for comment, Crow’s manager told ABC News: “I don’t think she even knows him.”
Now the president of Oracle, Hurd resigned from his post at HP after it was found he inappropriately used company funds to take Fisher to dinner. But the company did not find any evidence of sexual harassment.
The Delaware Supreme Court ruled Wednesday the letter detailing Hurd and Fisher’s relationship wasn’t subject to privacy laws. Here’s KGO with more.
“Hurd's lawyers argue that making the letter public would violate his privacy. The Delaware supreme court says it is only mildly embarrassing, does not describe any intimate conversation or conduct and doesn't contain any trade secrets or inside financial information and is not protected from public disclosure.”
So why are we only learning about these details now? AllThingsDigital explains, Hurd was the subject of a shareholder lawsuit, brought by HP investor Ernesto Espinoza.
“Espinoza had argued that shareholders are entitled to read them in order to investigate possible corporate wrongdoing and waste arising from the relationship and Hurd’s subsequent resignation, including the terms of Hurd’s severance package from HP.”
That severance package was as much as $40 million, according to BusinessWeek. So what does this mean for Hurd and his new job as president of Oracle? Bloomberg’s Cory Johnson says -- he doesn't think much will change.
“I think it shows that what Larry Ellison and Oracle cares about is the performance that Mark Hurd delivers, they like the knowledge that the guy has about the computer industry ... And that’s why Oracle wanted him and didn’t care about the allegations.”
Hurd is married with two children. Along with the Gloria Allred’s letter, The New York Times has also published extracts from e-mails Fisher allegedly sent to Hurd -- the contents of which contradict details in Allred’s letter.