Hewlett-Packard reportedly will pay about $50 million to settle a lawsuit
filed by the Department of Justice over alleged kickbacks in connection with
government IT contracts.
HP announced a settlement in principle Aug. 2 that would reduce
the company’s third-quarter profits by 2 cents share.
The agreement still needs to be approved by the DOJ, other
government agencies and a U.S. District Court in Arkansas.
According to the DOJ, HP paid $3 million to system integrators
between 2001 and 2006 in hopes of getting favorable treatment in government
contracts.
Whistleblower lawsuits, filed by officials with Accenture and
PricewaterhouseCoopers, initially were filed in 2004 against Accenture, HP and
Sun Microsystems for allegedly soliciting payments or making those payments for
governmental technology contracts.
The DOJ joined the lawsuit against the three companies in 2007.
In their statement, HP officials denied any wrongdoing.
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