The question coming out of the hearings into Hewlett-Packard's pretexting scandal is to what extent executives were working together to subvert the law. If that's the case, then we could be looking at conspiracy charges.

It's a subject explored in more detail by Professor Peter Henning in the White Collar Crime Prof Blog.

"The key question for the two top H-P lawyers caught up in the case, former General Counsel Ann Baskins and former chief ethics officer Kevin Hunsaker, is whether their links with the phalanx of private investigators who conducted the pretexting are sufficiently close to tie them into potential illegal conduct,'' Henning writes."In the face of clear warnings about the legality of pretexting, the H-P employees and outside investigators may have agreed to move forward with an investigation that used illegal means to gather information. Under conspiracy law, an agreement need not be express, and the co-conspirators need not know all aspects of the illegal conduct so long as there is an agreement to engage in criminal conduct, or to use illegal means to reach an otherwise lawful objective."

Interesting point with the recently departed HP general counsel Ann Baskins and seniot counsel/ethics officer Kevin Hunsaker both refusing to testify and taking the fifth.

So will we see conspiracy charges? To get a better idea, take a look at the HP chain of command as set out in today's New York Times.