U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled Wednesday that executives of Oracle Corp. (ORCL) either destroyed or knowingly failed to preserve evidence sought in a securities class action against the company. According to the Mercury News, the judge also stated that she will infer that the evidence was incriminating, and instruct a jury to make the same inference if the case goes to trial.
The Mercury News article adds that the judge also “said it was clear that the company had failed to turn over key evidence, and that in some cases Oracle allowed documents or recordings to be destroyed even after the company was notified of its legal obligation to preserve them.”
