Something doesn't smell right. From the WSJ report "The recent chain of events was triggered when the employee mentioned the relationship to a colleague, the people said. This colleague, knowing company policy prohibits such relationships, felt compelled by the company’s rules to report it to Intel’s general counsel, and did so on June 14, the people said."
So you're telling me Intel legal made all of these moves in 1 week! Having been the target of one of these investigations I can tell you they last for weeks, if not months.
Maybe some day we'll get the real story. Or not.