Finance Fraud at startup
Hi all, I work in the finance team of a early to mid stage startup and have discovered financial fraud being done by one of the directors.
He has been hiring his relatives/friends as external consultants and we have been spending a significant amount on them.
I don't think the senior executives know about the friends and family connection.
Pls guide me on how I can raise this to our senior mgmt and investors in an anonymous way so that I don't get tracked.
One interview, 1000+ job opportunities
Take a 10-min AI interview to qualify for numerous real jobs auto-matched to your profile 🔑
If there is actual work happening through them, it's fine. Lots of people hire family members in their businesses.
If they're not actually working and just getting payments for made up/no work, it's probably fraud.
Senior execs probably know this already. All payments and hiring approval usually goes through them. Even if they don't, I doubt they can do anything about it because director is probably above them in hierarchy.
Also it may be ethically wrong but legally speaking it is not illegal as such afaik.
It doesn't matter
If a company doesn't have anti fnf hiring policy there is nothing wrong. Even if there is policy violation it's not financially wrong. Whether they are providing optimal services or not is not your evaluation to do.
Also even it were, it's common practice across the world. Welcome to the real world. Are you sure it's a fraud and only that one director is ultimate beneficiary? Chill and focus on learning real world finance skills like these.
“First ethical rule: If you see fraud and do not say fraud, you are a fraud.” — Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile
If you can't do that, then better silently look for other job. Looks like this company will explode anytime which may affect your growth. Before anything like that happens shift to some good job.
has some tier 1 fund invested in your startup?
Find another job and move out quick.