Woman in HP scandal says she had no affair with Mark V. Hurd
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The woman whose sexual harassment allegations precipitated the resignation of Hewlett-Packard Co.’s chief executive denied Sunday that she had a sexual relationship with Mark V. Hurd and added that she was saddened that he lost his job over the scandal.
Hurd, 53, resigned abruptly Friday amid allegations of sexual harassment and falsifying expense reports, saying he “did not live up to the standards and principles of trust, respect and integrity that I have espoused at HP.”
The woman who made the harassment claim -- identified Sunday by her attorney as Jodie Fisher -- said she had resolved her claim with Hurd privately, without litigation.
“I was surprised and saddened that Mark Hurd lost his job over this,” Fisher, 50, said in the statement provided by attorney Gloria Allred. “That was never my intention.”
Fisher added: “Mark and I never had an affair or intimate sexual relationship.”
Fisher said she met Hurd in 2007 when she interviewed for an HP contractor job. She said she worked “at high-level customer and executive summit events held around the country and abroad. I prepared for those events, worked very hard and enjoyed working for HP.”
Officials with the technology giant launched an internal inquiry after an unidentified contractor claimed that she had been sexually harassed by Hurd. The investigation found that Hurd had submitted inaccurate expense reports designed to conceal his “close personal relationship” with the contractor. HP did not identify the woman, and an official said Friday that the company had found no evidence of sexual harassment.
On Sunday, Allred said Fisher is a single mother with a young son, has a political science degree from Texas Tech and was recently the vice president of a commercial real estate firm.
Allred also said that Fisher had appeared in television shows and films, “some of which were R-rated when she was in her 30s,” and that most recent was the NBC television show “Age of Love.”
-- Duke Helfand