My Employee Told Me the FBI Interviewed Them About Me

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. Our goal is to give you the reality of what this moment actualy means - not the sanitized version other websites present, not the legal fiction that everything will be fine, but the actual truth about what happens when an employee walks into your office and says those words.

The conversation probly lasted thirty seconds. Maybe a minute. Your employee looked uncomfortable, maybe scared, and told you that FBI agents came to talk to them. About you. And in that thirty seconds, everything you thought you knew about your life flipped upside down. Your mind is racing. Your hands might be shaking. Thats normal. Anyone would feel the same way in this situation.

Heres what you need to understand right now, before you do anything else: This is not the beginning of something. By the time the FBI is interviewing your employees, the investigation has been running for months. Often eighteen months. Sometimes years. You are not getting an early warning. You are getting late confirmation that a federal case has been building against you while you went about your daily life having no idea any of this was happening. The FBI doesnt knock on doors for fun. They dont interview witnesses on a whim. Every interview is part of a methodicaly constructed case that began long before you had any clue.

What This Moment Actualy Means

Think about the timeline here. Federal investigations dont start with employee interviews. They start with document subpoenas. Bank records. Email preservation orders. Surveillance. Analysis. The FBI spent months, maybe years, pulling your financial records, reading your emails, analyzing your transactions - building there understanding of whatever conduct theyre investigating. Your whole life has been under a microscope and you didnt even know it.

Employee interviews come later. Much later. Thats the part nobody tells you.

Heres the thing nobody wants to admit: by the time agents are talking to your employees, they already know the answers to the questions theyre asking. The interview isnt about learning new information. Its about locking witnesses into testimony that matches the documentary evidence theyve already collected. They already have your bank statements. They already have your emails. Now they want your employees to confirm what the documents show.

Your employee walked out of that interview, and somewhere theres an FD-302 form documenting every single word they said. That form becomes trial evidence. That testimony becomes locked in. And now the FBI knows exactley what your employee will say under oath if this ever gets to a courtroom. The FD-302 is like concrete - once it sets, its permanant. Whatever your employee said in that interview is now the official record.

So when your employee warned you - and it probly felt like loyalty, like they were giving you a heads up - what actualy happened is you just learned that a federal investigation into you has progressed to the witness interview phase. That means the case is nearly complete. That means prosecutors are getting ready to decide weather to present to a grand jury. That means the window between now and potential indictment could be measured in weeks. Not months. Not years. Weeks.

Why Your Employee Told You (And What They Might Already Have Done)

Heres were it gets uncomfortable. You need to ask yourself: why did your employee tell you?

FBI agents routinly instruct witnesses not to discuss the interview with anyone. Sometimes they say it directly. Sometimes they imply that discussing it could impede the investigation. Sometimes they tell the witness that revealing the conversation could be problematic for them personaly. So why would your employee ignore that warning?

If your employee told you anyway, there are a few possibilities, and none of them are particulary comforting. You need to think about this carefuly.

Maybe your employee is genuinly loyal and felt you deserved to know. Thats possible. But consider this: if the FBI already interviewed them, and they already gave statements, and those statements are already documented - then telling you now doesnt change any of that. The damage, whatever it is, is already done. The testimony is locked. The FD-302 is written.

Or maybe - and this is the possibility that should keep you up tonight - your employee is cooperating with the investigation. Maybe theyve cut a deal. Maybe theyre providing ongoing assistance to federal agents. Maybe theyre wearing a wire right now. Think about that for a second. The person standing in your office telling you about the FBI might be working with the FBI at this very moment.

That sounds paranoid. I get it. But Todd Spodek has seen this pattern in hundreds of federal cases over his career. The employee who "warns" you about the investigation is sometimes the same employee who already told investigators everything they needed to know. And now theyre watching to see how you react. Every word you say could be recorded. Every question you ask could be documented.

Let that sink in.

The Trap That Springs When You React

OK so heres the most important thing Im going to tell you in this entire article. Read this carefuly.

Your natural instincts right now are going to get you indicted for additonal crimes.

The moment you learned about this investigation, your brain started generating questions. What did they ask? What did my employee say? Who else have they talked to? What do they know? How do I fix this? These questions feel completly natural. Anyone would have them.

Every single one of those instincts, if you act on them, becomes a federal felony.

Under 18 U.S.C. Section 1512, witness tampering carries a maximum sentence of twenty years in federal prison. And heres the trap that catches almost everyone: the statute doesnt require you to actualy influence testimony. The attempt is enough. The intent is enough. Simply asking your employee "what did you say to them" can be interpreted as an attempt to learn there testimony for the purpose of influencing future statements.

You think your asking an innocent question. The prosecutor sees you attempting to coordinate stories with a witness. And now, on top of whatever the original investigation was about, you've got a fresh obstruction charge with a twenty-year maximum. The original case might have resulted in probation. The obstruction charge puts you in prison.

This happens constantley. Defense attorneys see it all the time. The client finds out about the investigation, panics, starts asking questions, starts talking to people - and by the time they get to a lawyers office, theyve already committed three additional crimes just by reacting naturaly to learning theyve been investigated. Its tragic because its so preventable.

Martha Stewart didnt go to prison for insider trading. She went to prison for lying to investigators after she learned she was being investigated. The cover-up became the crime. Her case is proof that the reaction can be worse then the original conduct. She might have beaten the insider trading charges. She couldnt beat the false statements charge.

Heres the kicker: even if youre completly innocent of whatever the FBI was originaly investigating, the obstruction charges stick. You can be aquitted of the underlying offense and still serve ten years for the way you reacted to finding out about it. Innocence of the underlying crime is not a defense to obstruction.

What the FBI Already Knows About You

Let me explain exactley what youre up against. This isnt meant to scare you - its meant to prepare you for reality.

Federal investigations are not like what you see on television. Theres no dramatic confrontation in the first episode. No detective showing up at your door demanding answers while dramatic music plays. Instead, for eighteen months to two years - sometimes longer - federal agents have been quietly building a case you didnt even know existed. Your life has been investigated without your knowledge.

They have your bank records. All of them. Every account you thought was private has been subpoenaed and analyzed. Every wire transfer documented. Every cash deposit flagged. Every suspicious pattern identified and cataloged.

They have your emails. Not just the ones on your work computer - the ones you deleted too. The ones you thought disappeared. Digital forensics pulls everything. And now analysts have been reading your communications for months, building timelines, identifying patterns. That email you forgot about from three years ago? They have it.

They have your employees statements. Not just the one who told you - there may be others who were interviewed and specificaly instructed not to warn you. People you work with every day, people you trust, have been meeting with FBI agents and you had no idea. Your trusted colleagues might be witnesses against you.

They have cooperating witnesses. In complex federal cases, somebody usualy flips. They get immunity or a reduced sentence in exchange for testimony against the bigger fish. That could be a business partner, a former employee, a vendor, someone you worked with years ago. And that person has been feeding information to investigators for months while you thought everything was normal.

Think about the information asymmetry here. They know everything. You know almost nothing. You just learned thirty seconds ago that this investigation even exists. They've been working on it since before you could've posibly prepared. This is why the pre-indictment window is so critical at Spodek Law Group - once you know, the clock starts running.

Todd Spodek has handled cases were the investigation ran for over three years before the target had any idea. Three years of surveillance, document review, witness interviews, grand jury testimony - all happening in secret while our client went about normal life. By the time they found out, the government had assembled thousands of pages of evidence.

The 72 Hours That Matter Most

The window between when you learn about an investigation and when you make irreversible mistakes is shockingly small. Most people destroy themselves within seventy-two hours of finding out. This is not an exageration. It happens over and over again.

Heres what typicaly happens in the sequence:

Hour one: Shock. Disbelief. Maybe denial. "This cant be happening." Your mind races through every interaction, every decision, trying to make sense of it.

Hours two through twelve: Frantic mental review of everything youve ever done, trying to figure out what they might be looking at. You start remembering things you hadnt thought about in years.

Hours twelve through twenty-four: The urge to "do something" becomes overwhelming. This is when people start making phone calls. Deleting emails. Contacting employees. Trying to "get ahead" of the situation. This is when careers end and prison sentences begin.

Hours twenty-four through forty-eight: If they havent already spoken to a lawyer, they start reaching out to the FBI or prosecutor's office directly. "Let me explain." "This is all a misunderstanding." "If I could just tell you what realy happened." Every word becomes potential evidence.

Hours forty-eight through seventy-two: By now, the person has often committed multiple additional federal crimes. Witness tampering. Obstruction. False statements. Document destruction. The hole just keeps getting deeper.

The investigation that might have resulted in probation now results in a decade in federal prison. We see this pattern repeate itself constantly.

Stop. Before you do anything else. Before you talk to anyone else. Before you pick up the phone or open your email or have another conversation with any employee - stop.

What to Do Right Now (And What Will Land You in Prison)

Let me be very clear about what you can and cannot do in this moment. This isnt legal advice for your specific situation - for that you need to call us. But these are general principals that apply across the board.

What will land you in prison:

Asking your employee what the FBI asked or what they said. Thats witness tampering under 18 USC 1512.

Telling any employee not to talk to investigators. Thats obstruction of justice.

Contacting other employees to find out if they were interviewed. Thats witness tampering.

Deleting any emails, texts, or documents. The FBI already has copies - now youve added obstruction and consciousness of guilt.

Calling the FBI to "explain" without a lawyer present. Every word you say can become a false statement charge under 18 USC 1001.

Discussing the investigation with business partners, co-owners, or anyone who could be a witness. All potentialy obstruction or tampering.

Moving money, hiding assets, making unusual transactions. Now you've added money laundering or structuring charges to your problems.

What you should do right now:

Nothing. Literaly nothing. Dont react. Dont investigate. Dont ask questions. Dont explain. Dont delete. Dont move money. Dont talk to anyone except a federal criminal defense attorney.

The single most protective thing you can do in this moment is absolutley nothing until you have spoken with a federal criminal defense attorney who handles these cases.

I know that feels wrong. I know every instinct is screaming at you to do something. But those instincts evolved for physical threats - fight or flight - and they are completley wrong for federal investigations.

The fight response makes you confront, explain, argue - and creates false statement charges.

The flight response makes you delete, hide, run - and creates obstruction charges.

The only correct response is freeze. Do nothing. Speak to no one. Protect yourself through inaction until you have legal counsel who understands federal practice.

How Federal Investigations Actualy End

You need to understand the mathematics of what youre facing. These numbers are uncomfortable but there real.

Federal prosecutors maintain a conviction rate above ninety-three percent. That number sounds impossible until you understand how it works. Prosecutors dont charge cases they might lose. They only present to grand juries when theyre certain of the outcome. They have virtualy unlimited resources and time.

And grand juries? They indict in 99.8 percent of cases presented. The old saying that a prosecutor could "indict a ham sandwich" isnt a joke - its a statistical reality based on decades of data.

What this means for you: if the investigation has progressed to employee interviews, if a case is being activley built, the prosecutor beleives they have enough to win. Theyre not investigating to see if you did something wrong. Theyre building a case because theyve already concluded you did. The presumption of innocence is a trial right - not an investigation right.

Heres were Spodek Law Group operates differently than most firms. We understand that the pre-indictment window is everything. Once youre charged, options narrow dramaticaly. But before charges are filed, there are opportunities that disapear the moment an indictment drops.

A skilled defense attorney can sometimes meet with prosecutors during this window. Present mitigating information. Challenge the theory of the case. Negotiate a better outcome before charges are even filed. Sometimes we can prevent charges entirely by presenting context the government doesnt have.

But that window is measured in weeks, not months. And every day you spend in paralysis is a day lost. The clock is running whether you acknowledge it or not.

The Call You Need to Make

Youre sitting there with this information, and your mind is racing. Thats normal. This is an overwhelming situation and anyone would feel the same way.

But heres the reality: the clock is running. By the time your employee told you about that interview, the investigation was already near completion. The window for effective intervention is closing with every hour that passes. You dont have the luxury of waiting to see what happens.

Im not going to tell you that everything will be fine. I dont know what the investigation is about, what evidence theyve gathered, or what witnesses have said. Nobody can promise you an outcome without knowing the facts.

What I can tell you is this: people who face federal investigations with experienced counsel from the earliest possible moment have better outcomes than people who wait, react emotionaly, or try to handle things themselves. Thats not opinion - thats decades of experience.

The next seventy-two hours will determine weather this situation results in the best possible outcome or spirals into additonal charges that make everything worse. What you do right now matters more then anything youve done before.

Call Spodek Law Group at 212-300-5196. Do it before you talk to anyone else. Before you ask any more questions. Before the natural human responses to this situation turn into federal felonies. We answer calls around the clock because we understand that federal criminal matters dont wait for business hours.

The government had years to build there case. You have days to respond. Use them correctly.