In addition to accusing him of sexual harassment, former HP contractor Jodie Fisher had also accused the company's former CEO Mark Hurd of telling her about HP's then-secret plan to buy EDS, a $13.9bn acquisition HP closed in 2009, reports the Wall Street Journal.

While the Journal's investigation into Hurd's forced resignation that sent waves through the technology sector in early August concluded that there was little evidence to confirm veracity of the leak allegation, the HP board of directors had started to doubt Hurd's honesty in talking about his relationship with Fisher, a loss of confidence that was the ultimate reason for his oust, according to the Journal.

Accusation of sexual harassment and of disclosure of the company's acquisition plans were both included in a letter Hurd received from Fisher's representatives in late June, describing her claims against both HP and Hurd personally. In a statement HP released in August announcing Hurd's resignation, the company said an internal investigation found no evidence for the sexual harassment claims.

HP said nothing in the announcements that followed the resignation about the leak allegation, explaining instead that the oust was associated with inappropriate conduct, including failure to disclose the relationship with Fisher, filing inaccurate expense reports and misuse of company assets. The company reportedly has an agreement with Hurd, which prohibits it from disclosing the contents of the letter from Fisher's legal representative Gloria Allred, which ended with an offer to settle.

An example of what caused the board's loss of confidence in Hurd was his denial of knowledge about Fisher's former job as an adult-film actress. HP's internal investigation discovered that he had browsed websites that contained pornographic scenes with her in them.

Hurd had also lied to the board about how close of a relationship he had with Fisher, saying first that he did not know her well and then telling investigators that they had a very close personal relationship.

Since his resignation from HP, Hurd became president of Oracle, an appointment that elicited a lawsuit by HP, which claimed the appointment violated Hurd's confidentiality agreement that was part of his resignation settlement.

Leo Apotheker, former CEO of SAP, replaced Hurd as CEO of HP in September.