Compaq sued over insider trading allegations

Two weeks after it was named in a patent infringement lawsuit, Compaq is staring at the business end of another writ. This time one of its own shareholders has filed suit seeking to gain access to Compaq's accounts in order to check up on alleged insider dealing by Big Q big cheeses. The shareholder is the Public Employees' Retirement Association of Colorado. It claims that Compaq insiders off-loaded shares ahead of a profit warning being made public. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the plaintiff's solicitor has said the action may be followed up with a shareholder-derivative suit. This would enable the Association to recover any profits made from the insider dealing. The WSJ quoted Alan Hodel, a Compaq representative, saying that "many of the allegations in the complaint are inaccurate" but, he continued, Compaq was hoping to resolve the matter amicably. ® See also: Compaq, Dell, Gateway sued over comms patent