Woman in HP scandal 'saddened' by CEO's fall

The woman at the centre of the sexual harassment claim that forced Hewlett-Packard chief Mark Hurd to resign said she was "surprised and saddened" that he lost his job.

Jodie Fisher, 50, knew Mr Hurd through her contract jobs with HP's marketing department from 2007 to 2009 and was paid up to £3,145 per event to greet people and make introductions among executives attending HP events that she helped organise.

She has also worked as a saleswoman, an executive at a commercial property company, and as an actress, it emerged yesterday.

Ms Fisher appeared in some racy R-rated movies in her 30s and most recently was on a dating show called Age of Love, in which women competed for the attention of former tennis star Mark Philippoussis.

Her lawyer, celebrity brief Gloria Allred, said Ms Fisher was a single mother "focused on raising her young son".

Ms Fisher said she and married chief executive Mr Hurd, 53, never had a sexual relationship but neither she nor Ms Allred would discuss details of the harassment claim.

That claim set off the chain of events that led to the discovery of allegedly falsified expense reports for dinners Mr Hurd had with Ms Fisher and culminated in Mr Hurd's forced resignation on Friday from the world's largest technology company.

Ms Fisher acknowledged that she and Mr Hurd had settled the matter. A person familiar with the case said Mr Hurd agreed to pay Ms Fisher but would not reveal the size of the payment.

"I was surprised and saddened that Mark Hurd lost his job over this," Ms Fisher said in a statement. "That was never my intention."

Mr Hurd settled with Ms Fisher on Thursday, a day before he resigned. The settlement did not involve a payment from HP, the source said.

The investigation by HP's board of directors found that Mr Hurd listed other people as his dinner partners on expenses reports when he had been out with Ms Fisher. HP also claimed he arranged for her to be paid for work she did not do.

There was only one instance in which that occurred, the source said, but it was for an event that was cancelled at the last minute and that Ms Fisher's contract required that she would be paid unless an event was cancelled 30 days in advance.

The amount of money in question was not known.

Mr Hurd insisted they were legitimate business expenses and the errors in the reports may have been entered unwittingly by an assistant, according to the source.

The company determined Mr Hurd did not breach its sexual harassment policy, but broke its rules of conduct and irreparably harmed his credibility and integrity.

Interim chief executive Cathie Lesjak defended the company's decision yesterday.

She said HP acted appropriately and that investors and big customers she has spoken with had been "extremely supportive".

Ms Lesjak declined to give details about the expenses Mr Hurd was said to have doctored.

Under Mr Hurd, HP spent more than £12.6 billion on acquisitions to transform the company from a computer and printer maker dependent on ink sales for profits to a well-rounded seller of hardware and lucrative business services.

Mr Hurd, who spent 25 years at ATM maker NCR Corp. before coming to HP in April 2005, became a Wall Street darling as HP's market value nearly doubled during his five years as chief executive.

In recent weeks, he was in talks for a three-year contract that could have been worth £63 million, the source said, but that was scuppered when the harassment claims surfaced.

Mr Hurd will get about £17.6 million in cash and stock in severance.