Did they still get away with it?
"In October last year, a Texas jury awarded ..."
The original article is worth (re-) reading. I'd be interested to know how the damages compare to the amount of money that HP overpaid in the first place. They (HP) speak of billions of dollars of drives so it would only have to be a small percentage markup for the culprits to have effectively got away with it. (At least, until the damages got tripled. I expect that hurts.)
If the odds against actually getting caught are N:1, the damages need to start at N * the benefit of committing the crime. I do sometimes wonder whether lawmakers and judges understand this point. They often seem to feel that N=1, whereas business types (especially crooked ones) take a different view.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
