Law firms circle Intel as CEO stock sales draw scrutiny

NEW YORK, USA – Securities law firms announced Monday, January 8, US time, that they were pursuing investigations of a flaw affecting Intel chips as a prelude to class-action litigation against the company.

The Rosen Law Firm is probing “allegations that Intel may have issued materially misleading business information to the investing public,” it said, adding it is “preparing a class action lawsuit to recover losses suffered by Intel investors.”

Similar announcements came from Levi & Korsinky, Block & Leviton and Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, with the firms also pointing to reports that Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich sold Intel stock in November months after the company was informed of the defect by Google.

Intel shares were under pressure last week after researchers pointed to the so-called Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities  affecting the chips powering most modern PCs and many mobile devices. 

Researchers at Google showed how a hacker could exploit the flaw to get passwords, encryption codes and more, even though there have been no reports of any attacks using the vulnerability.

Intel said last week that it has issued updates for more than 90% of the processor products introduced in the last five years. The company has described the issue as an industry-wide problem and said it is working with other technology companies to address the issue.

Krzanich sold $39 million worth of stock on November 29, netting $25 million in profits, according to an article Monday in The Wall Street Journal, which quoted analysts and lawyers who said the transactions could raise questions with regulators.

Intel did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP. – Rappler.com