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The reason why he destroyed it now is so that he doesn't face obstruction of justice charges later. He realized they were coming, one way or another.

A lot of lawyers advise that the only and best time to destroy evidence is before it becomes evidence.

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I wouldn't put it past the DOJ to conjure up claims that there are always investigations into every company at all times, so any destruction of property at any time could be construed as destruction of evidence.

Then again I'm a bit more paranoid than most.

Jayzus. That would be as close as possible to actual implementation of the concept of 'thoughtcrime'. Thanks for the shiver.

What I thought you said, at first read, was "That would be close to impossible..." which would be a more correct statement.

They've done it in the past, to the auditing firm involved in the Enron scandal. They actually indicted and convicted them of destroying audit records according to their standard procedures prior to them being investigated by the SEC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Andersen_LLP_v._United_S...

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