When authority is the real question
Accusations of corporate embezzlement against executives rarely look like cash missing from a drawer. They usually involve payments the person had power to approve: consulting fees to a related company, bonuses or expense advances, personal charges on a company card, or transfers booked as loans. The central question is often whether the payment was authorized, disclosed, or understood by others at the time, and that can be harder to reconstruct than it sounds. Board minutes, employment agreements, compensation committee records, and email approvals can point in different directions. A compensation dispute or a falling-out between founders can also be recast as an embezzlement story once lawyers get involved.
Company counsel is not your counsel
Lawyers hired by the company or its board represent the company, even when they are friendly and the interview feels informal. Many will say so at the start, and what you tell them can be shared with regulators or prosecutors if the company decides to cooperate. Before an interview, it is worth having your own lawyer review what is being asked and whether you should attend at all. Keep your own employment agreement, pay records, and personal documents, but ask before copying or keeping company files, since taking them can create a separate problem. Check whether the bylaws, your agreements, or a directors and officers insurance policy provide for advancement of legal fees, because that question often has to be raised early.
Tracks that may move at once
These matters can move along an internal investigation, a civil claim by the company or its insurer, and a criminal referral, sometimes all together. What you say or sign in one setting can be used in another, which is why a quick settlement or a repayment promise deserves careful review before it is made. At our first meeting, the focus is on what has been alleged, which documents you still have lawful access to, and whether any government agency has made contact. We also discuss whether there are employment or shareholder claims running in the other direction. The goal at that stage is to understand the exposure and decide how, and whether, to engage with the company's process.
