ISP adware firm Phorm have been rocked today by the departure of four of its directors quitting, including recently appointed chairman Steven Heyer. Norman Lamont, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer has been named as one of the company’s replacements.

Heyer was employed just three months ago as non-executive chairman, and his leaving was swiftly followed by non-executive directors David Dorman and Christopher Lawrence. The company’s chief operating officer Virasb Vahidi also upped-sticks and left.

The executives have left due to “differences with Mr Ertugrul as to the management and future direction of the company,” the company said in a statement acknowledging the departures.

Taking the deportee’s positions are investment bankers Allesch-Taylor, Steven Partridge-Hicks and Kip Meek, the chairman of the telecoms industry lobby and Broadband Stakeholder Group. All are now non-executive directors.

Ertugrul said: “I welcome Lord Lamont, Kip, Stefan and Stephen to the Board. They bring extensive experience on government, business, regulatory matters and financial markets. As we move into the next phase of our development, the priority will be to build momentum in the rollout of our strategy.”

The news of the management bailing out follows Fridays notice that the Crown Prosecution Service is compiling evidence on BT’s allegedly dodgy trials of the Phorm ISP-level adware system. BT stand accused of breaching wiretapping laws.

BT is accused of carrying out two Phorm trials in 206 and 2007, which they never asked for consent to do.

The Crown Prosecution Service have obtained a copy of a leaked 2006 technical report that describes the trials as “stealth” tactics, and claims tat at no point were customers informed of the software’s presence.

The Prosecution Service will have to decide whether there is sufficient evidence that secret trials took place, and whether it should be brought to trial. So far how long this could take has not been made clear, and a spokeswoman said that it was likely deliberations would again focus on whether BT keeping the trials a secret from its customers and intercepting traffic were illegal.

BT has always claimed innocence in the case, and that the company sought legal advice before the trials went ahead. Unfortunately for the rest of us, we’ll have to wait and see what happens, but as a customer of BT broadband and phone lines myself during that time period I must admit to being a little worried that BT have taken my trust and abused it.