My Business Partner Just Got Arrested by the Feds - Am I Next
Your business partner just got arrested. Federal agents. FBI, maybe IRS Criminal Investigation. You either watched it happen from across the office or got the call hours later from someone who did. Now your phone is blowing up, your stomach is in knots, and one question keeps screaming through your head.
Am I next?
The uncomfortable answer is probably yes - or at least, you're already part of the investigation whether you know it or not. Federal prosecutors don't arrest business partners randomly. They build cases for 8 to 18 months before anyone gets handcuffs. By the time your partner was walking out in cuffs, the government had already decided what role they believe you played. The 93% federal conviction rate exists because by the time they move, they've already won.
Welcome to Spodek Law Group. We handle federal criminal defense for people in exactly your situation - business partners, co-defendants, and targets of multi-defendant investigations. If someone you worked with just got arrested by federal agents, you need to understand what's happening and what options exist before those options disappear.
Why Your Partner's Arrest Probably Involves You
Federal prosecutors spent somewhere between 8 and 18 months building this case before your partner got arrested. They didn't wake up yesterday and decide to make an arrest. They've been reviewing bank records, emails, corporate filings, and witness statements for over a year. They've probly interviewed people you work with. They've obtained documents you forgot existed.
And they've been building a theory of the case that almost certainly includes you.
Under Pinkerton v. United States - a 1946 Supreme Court case that still governs federal conspiracy law - you can be held criminally liable for crimes committed by your co-conspirators even if you didn't participate in them, didn't know about them, and didn't benifit from them. The only requirement is that the crimes were "reasonably foreseeable" as part of the conspiracy you allegedly joined.
Heres the part that destroys people: the "reasonably foreseeable" standard is objective. It dosent matter whether YOU actually foresaw the crimes your partner supposedly committed. Courts ask whether a reasonable person in your position could have anticipated that this type of crime might occur. Your actual knowledge, your actual intentions - these matter less then you think.
The federal conviction rate sits at aproximately 93%. When prosecutors file charges, they've already won. The investigation is the real trial. The courtroom proceeding is just the formality. Most federal defendants plead guilty because the evidence the government has already gathered makes trial a losing proposition.
They have your emails. They have your bank records. They have the communications between you and your partner. They interviewed your employees, your vendors, your clients - all before you knew an investigation even existed. By the time your partner got arrested, they'd already decided what they believe you did.
The domino effect is already in motion. Your partner is arrested. That means the government has all your shared business records. Your partner has massive incentive to cooperate - and cooperation means talking about you. Your name surfaces in proffer sessions. A target letter arrives at your door. Bank accounts get frozen. Business relationships dissolve overnight. Then the indictment.
Each step happens faster then the one before it.
The Cooperation Race You Didn't Know You Were In
Right now - probably at this exact moment - your business partner is sitting in a room with federal prosecutors. They may have already signed whats called a proffer agreement, sometimes known as a "queen for a day" letter. This lets them tell prosecutors everything they know in exchange for limited protections.
The government doesnt announce when someone starts cooperating.
You find out when its too late. Usually when the prosecutor withdraws their plea offer to you because they dont need your information anymore. Or when you show up to court and see your former partner listed as a government witness.
This is the prisoner's dilemma playing out in real time. In multi-defendant cases, both defendants have incentive to proffer - to talk first, to cooperate first - even though both would be better off if neither did. Prosecutors design it this way. They want defendants racing to cooperate, providing conflicting accounts that can be used against everyone.
Joint defense agreements - where co-defendants coordinate their legal strategy - dissolve the moment someone breaks ranks and proffers individually. Once your partner starts talking, any agreement you had evaporates. Its every defendant for themselves. And the second person to cooperate gets offered far less then the first.
Prosecutors offer the best deals to whoever walks through the door first with useful information. Your partner is already in that room. The question isn't whether theyre talking about you. The question is what version of events there telling - and how that version paints you.
Your in a race you didnt know started. Your partner is already running.
What Not To Do Right Now
Your instincts are wrong. Almost every natural response to this situation creates new criminal exposure.
Things innocent people do that become federal crimes:
- Talking to investigators to "clear your name" becomes false statements to federal agents under 18 U.S.C. § 1001
- Reviewing old documents to "get your story straight" becomes obstruction of justice
- Calling your former partner or mutual colleagues becomes potential witness tampering
- Deleting emails or text messages becomes evidence destruction
Federal agents are not obligated to tell you the truth. They can and will misrepresent statements you make in reports that get used to justify your indictment. That friendly conversation where you thought you were clearing the air? It became exhibit A in the government's case against you.
Obstruction charges carry there own sentences - on top of whatever underlying charges you might face. People go to federal prison for the cover-up when they might have beaten the original allegation entirely. The instinct to protect yourself by taking action is what creates the additional exposure.
This feels impossible. Stay silent and your partner controls the entire narrative - telling prosecutors whatever version of events makes them look best and you look worst. Take action to defend yourself and you risk creating obstruction charges, false statement charges, witness tampering charges. Neither option feels like winning.
That's precisely why having counsel matters. Someone who understands what you can do, what you absolutley cannot do, and how to navigate between them.
The Window That's Closing
If you receive a target letter - an official notification that you're the target of a federal grand jury investigation - you have somewhere between 30 and 45 days before the grand jury presentation. This is the only window where prosecutors might be open to alternatives. After indictment, the options narrow dramaticly.
Most people waste this window waiting to see what happens.
By the time charges are filed, you're fighting uphill against a 93% conviction machine. Prosecutors have already committed publicly to a case theory. They've already told their supervisors this case is worth pursuing. The political and professional incentives all point toward conviction.
Pre-indictment defense works diferently. A skilled federal defense attorney can engage with prosecutors before charges are filed. They can leverage DOJ guidelines - specifically 9-27.220 - to argue that prosecution doesn't serve a substantial federal interest. They can conduct independent investigations that expose flaws in the government's evidence. They can proactively negotiate resolutions that avoid criminal charges entirely.
None of this works after indictment. The leverage disappears the moment charges are filed.
Todd Spodek has handled multi-defendant federal cases involving business partners, co-conspirators, and targets who learned about investigations through someone else's arrest. He understands the cooperation dynamics, the timing pressures, the strategic decisions that need to happen immediately versus the ones that can wait.
When Your Ready
If your business partner was just arrested by federal agents - if you're sitting there wondering whether you're next - Spodek Law Group can help you understand exactly where you stand.
The consultation is free. Theirs no obligation. What you get is an honest assessment: Are you a target? Are you a subject? What stage is the investigation in? What are realistic outcomes based on how these cases actually play out?
Call us at 212-300-5196. The window between your partner's arrest and your potential indictment is shrinking. Your partner is probly already talking. The longer you wait, the less leverage exists.
Don't be the person who waited until they were in handcuffs to call a lawyer.
Were here when you need us.
