Motorola Says Ex-CFO Destroyed Evidence

Motorola is firing back at its ex-CFO and alleged in a court filing that Paul Liska destroyed evidence prior to the filing of a whistle-blower lawsuit.

Liska was dismissed earlier this year, and not many were surprised by the move because the company lost $3.6 billion in a quarter, and it's in the middle of a massive restructuring effort. But Liska filed a lawsuit that alleges he was unlawfully fired for trying to bring up issues with financial forecasts. He said the company's forecasts were based on inaccurate financial assumptions that ignored facts known to co-CEOs Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha.

Liska was dismissed Jan. 29, but he wasn't officially fired until a Feb. 19 SEC filing in which Motorola said he was terminated with cause for "serious misconduct and incompetence." Liska said this lag gave the company time to "concoct the false and malicious story" to damage his reputation for bringing up concerns about the company's future.

Motorola denies the claim and said the firing was the result of a variety of issues, including missing meetings and not being able to answer questions about the company's financials. The company upped the ante with a filing Wednesday that said Liska wiped his work laptop before returning it and said the computer was "virtually devoid of any usable data related to the case." Motorola said its forensic experts found evidence of data destruction, and it asked for a hearing to determine the extent of Liska's "spoliation of evidence and whether he improperly acquired evidence."

Outsiders have weighed in on the case, and JPMorgan issued a report that leans toward Motorola's side of the story. One of Liska's main complaints is that Motorola's financial forecasts went through multiple revisions in a short period of time. JPMorgan said this was a relatively common practice that other mobile companies like Qualcomm engaged in because of the rapidly declining mobile market.

"Motorola's 'dismissal for cause' now appears to make more sense than it did when it was first revealed, and we continue to believe this entire soap opera likely ends with little to no impact to Motorola, its finances, filings, or strategic direction," JPMorgan's report said.

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