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IBM Puts Systems Chief on Leave of Absence

Bob Moffat has been temporarily placed on a leave of absence while he sorts his life out
By Maureen O'Gara
Article Rating:
October 19, 2009 05:30 PM EDT
Reads:
 7,099

Robert Moffat (pictured below) ain’t running IBM’s systems business, its chips or its supply chain and he ain’t serving as an officer of the company following his arrest Friday on criminal charges that he disclosed confidential inside information on AMD, Sun and IBM itself to a hedge fund ring that was trading on the secrets.

He has been temporarily placed on a leave of absence while he sorts his life out.

IBM has moved Rodney Adkins, senior VP in change of development and manufacturing into Moffat’s job as acting head of its Systems and Technology Group. Adkins will report to IBM CEO Sam Palmisano.

Adkins, who become IBM’s highest ranking black executive ever, will also keep his current job.

The handwriting was on wall that IBM would take this course of action when it disappeared Moffat’s bio from its web site over the weekend.

Moffat has been described as a confidant of Palmisano and a candidate to replace him though some folks close to IBM deny he would have ever been named CEO of the company.

He allegedly disclosed the state on IBM and Sun’s financials ahead of the companies reporting their numbers and the details of AMD’s spin-out of its factories into a joint venture. Moffat allegedly came by Sun’s financial condition doing due diligence for IBM’s prospective acquisition of the company earlier this year and the AMD data he got because IBM had to license its chip technology to the joint venture.

The sting operation that netted Moffat and five other has been described by authorities as the largest insider trading scam involving hedge funds ever cracked and also the first time court-authorized wire taps were used in an insider trading case.

Published October 19, 2009 – Reads 7,099
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More Stories By Maureen O'Gara

Maureen O'Gara the most read technology reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025. Twitter: @MaureenOGara

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