Equifax board hired law firm WilmerHale to review early August stock trades

Tami Chappell | Reuters

Credit reporting company Equifax corporate offices are pictured in Atlanta, Georgia, September 8, 2017.

Equifax’s board hired the law firm WilmerHale to do an independent review of the data breach and the company’s response to it and to review early August stock trades by some of its top executives, the company said Friday.

An Equifax spokeswoman said the board’s special committee investigating the matter is “conducting a thorough and independent review” of the breach and retained WIlmerHale. The law firm is also reviewing “the circumstances surrounding the trading by certain of the Company’s executives,” she said in an email.

Three executives sold $1.8 million in shares just days after Equifax discovered the breach but more than one month before it disclosed it to the public. A spokeswoman has said previously that the executives, who include the company’s chief financial officer, were not aware of the breach at the time of the sales.

The breach compromised personal identifying information for as many as 143 million people. Equifax’s CEO, Richard Smith, abruptly left the company earlier this week after stinging criticism for the company’s handling of the incident. He is scheduled to testify in Congress next week.