Criminal Defense Lawyers

My Business Partner Just Got Arrested by the Feds – Am I Next

Last Updated on: 14th December 2025, 10:37 pm

My Business Partner Just Got Arrested by the Feds – Am I Next

Your phone buzzed with the news. Maybe someone texted you. Maybe you saw it on the local news. Maybe his wife called, crying. Your business partner got arrested this morning. Federal agents. Handcuffs. The whole thing. Now you’re sitting there trying to figure out what this means for you. And the honest answer is: nothing good.

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. We deal with exactly this situation regularly. Here’s what you need to understand right now, in this moment, before you do anything else: your business partner is almost certainly in a room with federal prosecutors discussing you. Not discussing the weather. Discussing you. Your role. What you knew. What you did. This isn’t paranoia. This is how federal conspiracy prosecutions work.

The clock started ticking the moment those handcuffs clicked shut. Within 48 hours – sometimes less – most federal defendants make a decision that affects everyone around them. They decide to cooperate. The prosecutors show them the evidence. They show them the sentencing guidelines. They explain that someone is going to prison for a very long time, and the question is simply who. The first person through the door with useful information gets the best deal. Everyone else gets whatever’s left.

How Federal Conspiracy Actually Works

Heres the thing most people dont understand about federal conspiracy law. You dont have to actually commit the crime. You just have to agree to commit it. And then someone – anyone involved – has to take one step toward making it happen. Thats it. Thats enough. You can be convicted of conspiracy even if the crime never occurred, even if you changed your mind, even if you tried to back out.

The Supreme Court established something called the Pinkerton doctrine in 1946. Under Pinkerton, you can be held responsible for crimes your co-conspirators committed that you knew nothing about – as long as those crimes were reasonably foreseeable consequences of the conspiracy. Think about what that means. Your partner did something you never approved of, maybe something you explicitly told them not to do, and you can still be charged for it.

Conspiracy charges are prosecutors’ favorite tool becuase they turn co-defendants against each other. The government doesnt need to catch you in the act. They dont need physical evidence in your possession. They need someone who was there to say you were part of the agreement. One witness. One co-defendant looking at fifteen years who suddenly remembers conversations that put you in the room.

Todd Spodek has seen this play out hundreds of times. The partner who thought they were a minor player. The executive who thought they were just following orders. The investor who thought they were just providing capital. Federal conspiracy law sweeps wide becuase prosecutors want it to sweep wide. It gives them leverage. It gives them cooperators. It gives them a 90% conviction rate.

The Wave – Why Minor Players Get Arrested First

Federal prosecutors dont arrest everyone at once. Thats not how this works. They use what experienced defense attorneys call “the wave” strategy.

First wave: the small fish. The accountant. The administrative assistant. The mid-level manager who processed paperwork. These arrests happen quietly. Early morning. No media. Quick processing. By lunchtime, these defendants are sitting in a room with an AUSA who’s explaining their options.

“You’re facing ten to fifteen years,” the prosecutor says. “But if you help us with the people above you, we can probably get that down to three to five. Maybe less. You have 48 hours to decide.”

Most of them decide fast.

Second wave: 4-6 months later. The mid-level players. By now, prosecutors have statements from the first wave. They have corroborating documents. They have recorded calls. The mid-level defendants face even more evidence and even more pressure to flip.

Third wave: the targets. The people the investigation was always about. By the time they get arrested, the government has cooperating witnesses from both previous waves, documentary evidence, recorded statements, and a case that’s almost impossible to beat.

Your partner’s arrest tells you something important. It tells you which wave just happened. If your partner was a small player, you might be in wave two or three. If your partner was a major player, the investigation might be winding down – or they might have bigger targets in mind. Either way, the waves dont stop.

Target, Subject, or Witness – Which One Are You

Federal investigations have three categories for people they’re looking at. Understanding which category you’re in determines everything.

A witness is someone who has information but isnt suspected of wrongdoing. Witnesses are asked to cooperate. They give statements. They might testify. But there not in legal jeopardy themselves. If you were just a witness, federal agents would probly have contacted you already. The fact that no one has called suggests something else.

A subject is someone whose conduct falls within the scope of the investigation, but who hasnt been identified as a target. Subjects exist in limbo. The government is still deciding whether to charge them. More evidence might come in. A cooperator might say something incriminating. Subjects can become targets overnight.

A target is someone the government believes has committed a crime and intends to prosecute. Targets sometimes receive target letters – formal notifications from the DOJ that they’re presumed defendants. But sometimes they dont. Sometimes the first notice a target gets is an arrest warrant.

If your business partner was just arrested, your status depends on what the government beleives you knew and did. If your names on documents, if your signature is on contracts, if your voice is on recorded calls – your probly not a witness. And the longer you wait without taking action, the more likely you are to move from subject to target.

At Spodek Law Group, we’ve had clients who were clearly subjects when they came to us. Some of them we helped stay as subjects. Some of them became witnesses through careful negotiation. And some became targets despite everyone’s best efforts becuase the evidence was too strong. What never works is pretending the investigation isnt happening.

The Cooperation Window Is Closing

Heres a number that should worry you: 45 to 60 days.

Thats how long the “cooperation window” typically stays open in federal conspiracy cases. After that, prosecutors have usually secured enough cooperating witnesses that they dont need more. They might still take your cooperation. They might still let you plead guilty. But they wont give you a good deal for it.

Think about the math. Your partner was just arrested. There probly already cooperating or deciding wheather to cooperate. Other people connected to your business – employees, contractors, vendors, clients – may also be getting calls, getting visited, getting squeezed. Every one of them is a potential cooperator.

The first person through the door with useful information becomes valuable. The second person is somewhat valuable. By the time the fourth or fifth person shows up, prosecutors have everything they need. They dont need you. Which means they have no incentive to offer you anything.

This creates a terrible paradox. The person most deeply involved in wrongdoing who cooperates first often gets a better outcome then the minor player who waits. Time matters more then culpability. Being first matters more then being clean.

Todd Spodek tells clients the same thing about this window: every day you wait is a day someone else is cooperating before you. You cant get that time back. You cant unknow what they’ve said about you. You cant unseal the indictment once its been filed.

What Your Partner Is Saying Right Now

Lets be honest about what’s happening in that federal building. Your partner is in a proffer session. Or there about to be in one. And here’s what a proffer session involves:

The government gives your partner a letter. This proffer agreement says that anything your partner says in the meeting cant be used against them directly – unless they lie, or unless they go to trial. Its a limited form of protection. It lets your partner speak freely without immediately incriminating themselves.

Then your partner talks. About everything. About the business. About the decisions. About who knew what. About you.

Everything your partner says about you becomes evidence. Not evidence against them – that’s protected. Evidence against YOU. Under Rule 801 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, statements by co-conspirators made in furtherance of the conspiracy are admissible. Your partner can put words in your mouth, describe meetings you dont remember, characterize conversations in ways that sound much worse then they felt at the time.

And you wont know any of this is happening. You wont see the transcript. You wont get to correct inaccuracies. The first time you see what your partner said might be at your own arraignment.

This is why calling your partner right now is the worst possible thing you can do. There phone is probly being monitored. Any conversation you have will be recorded. And it will sound like you’re trying to coordinate stories, which is obstruction of justice – a separate federal crime.

The Sealed Indictment Question

Heres something that keeps people up at night once they understand federal procedure. There might already be a sealed indictment with your name on it.

A sealed indictment means the grand jury has already voted to charge you. The indictment exists. Its filed with the court. But its sealed – hidden from public view – so you dont know about it. The government keeps indictments sealed for one reason: to prevent defendants from fleeing before they can be arrested.

If a sealed indictment exists, you’ve already been charged. You just dont know it yet. The government is waiting for the right moment to arrest you. Maybe there waiting for more cooperators. Maybe there timing it for maximum impact. Maybe there just getting there ducks in a row.

Theres no way to check. You cant call the court and ask if theres a sealed indictment against you. Your lawyer cant find out. It stays sealed untill the moment of arrest.

This is why “waiting to see what happens” is a strategy that helps the government, not you. While your waiting, there building. There documenting. There locking down cooperators. The indictment might already be signed. Every day you wait is a day closer to handcuffs.

The Evidence They Already Have

Heres something else you need to think about. What did your partner have on there phone? On there computer? In there email? In there filing cabinets?

When federal agents executed that arrest warrant, they almost certainly executed a search warrant at the same time. They took your partners devices. They took your partners records. And everything on those devices that mentions you – every email, every text, every document with your signature – is now in government hands.

Think about all the communications you’ve had with your partner over the years. The business discussions. The strategic decisions. The late-night texts when something went wrong. The emails where you discussed how to handle problematic situations. All of it. In government hands. Being reviewed by prosecutors and FBI agents who are looking for evidence of conspiracy.

And heres the part that really matters: you dont get to see what they have. Not yet. Discovery comes later, after you’ve been charged. Right now, they know everything your partner had, and you know nothing about what there looking at. This information asymmetry is deliberate. It keeps you off balance. It prevents you from preparing an effective defense.

Your partner may also have been wearing a wire. Not before the arrest – but after. If your partner agreed to cooperate, prosecutors may have sent them back out to gather more evidence. To call former associates. To arrange meetings. To record conversations. If you’ve talked to your partner since the arrest, that conversation may already be on tape.

The 90% Reality

Federal prosecutors have a conviction rate above 90%. Some sources put it at 95%. Only 2% of federal defendants go to trial. The rest plead guilty.

These numbers should tell you something. Federal prosecutors dont bring cases they might lose. They bring cases they know they can win. By the time your partner was arrested, the government had probly been investigating for 18 to 36 months. They have documents. They have recordings. They have cooperators. They have you surrounded, and they’ve had you surrounded for a while.

The IRS Criminal Investigation division – just one of many federal agencies that pursue conspiracy charges – has a conviction rate of 98.5% in prosecuted cases. Ninety-eight point five percent. If IRS-CI is involved in your case, the odds are overwhelming that someone is going to prison. The only question is who, and for how long.

The trial penalty makes fighting even harder. Defendants who go to trial and lose receive sentences aproximately three times longer then defendants who plead guilty. The federal system punishes you for exercising your constitutional right to trial. Its not fair. Its not right. But its reality. A defendant facing 5 years if they plead guilty might face 15 years if they go to trial and lose. That kind of math changes how people make decisions.

This is why plea negotiations matter so much in federal cases. Most federal criminal defense work isnt about winning at trial. Its about getting the best possible resolution before trial. Its about cooperating strategically if cooperation makes sense. Its about minimizing damage when damage cant be avoided.

At Spodek Law Group, weve represented clients who were genuinly innocent and still chose to plead guilty to minor charges becuase the risk of trial was too high. Weve represented clients who cooperated and walked away with probation. Weve represented clients who fought and won. Every case is different. But every case requires understanding the math – and the math starts with that 90% number.

What You Should Do Today

If your business partner just got arrested by the feds, here is exactly what you should do:

Do NOT call your partner. Dont text them. Dont email them. Dont send a message through their spouse. Dont ask mutual friends to pass along messages. Any communication will be monitored and can be used as evidence of obstruction. Even asking “are you okay” can be interpreted as trying to coordinate stories. The safest communication with your arrested partner is no communication at all.

Do NOT destroy anything. Dont delete emails. Dont shred documents. Dont wipe your phone. Dont “clean up” old files. Destruction of evidence is a separate federal crime under 18 USC 1519 that can add 20 years to your sentence and will absolutly eliminate any possibility of a favorable cooperation deal. Prosecutors treat evidence destruction as consciousness of guilt – they assume you destroyed something incriminating.

Do NOT talk to anyone about the case except an attorney covered by privilege. Your spouse, your parents, your other business partners, your employees – none of these conversations are protected. Any of them can be subpoenaed to testify about what you said. Even casual comments like “I had no idea what he was doing” can come back to haunt you if a prosecutor decides to twist them.

Do NOT flee or make travel plans. If theres a sealed indictment with your name on it, the government is watching for exactly this. Booking a one-way flight to a non-extradition country is basicly an admission of guilt and will result in immediate arrest. Stay local. Stay available. Show that your not a flight risk.

Do hire a federal criminal defense attorney immediately. Not tomorrow. Not after you “figure out what’s going on.” Today. The cooperation window is closing. Your options are narrowing by the hour. You need someone who understands federal conspiracy law, proffer agreements, and the dynamics of multi-defendant prosecutions. A state court defense attorney wont understand federal procedure. A civil lawyer wont understand the criminal stakes. You need a specialist.

Do gather information privately. What documents might be relevant? What communications exist? What does the government probly already have from your partner’s devices and records? What financial records connect you to the business in question? Your attorney needs to understand your exposure completly before they can advise you properly.

Do prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. Maybe you’re just a witness. Maybe the government isnt interested in you. But if there is a sealed indictment with your name on it, you want to have already spoken with an attorney. You want to have a plan. You want to know your options before federal agents appear at your door at 6 AM.

Todd Spodek tells every client in this situation the same thing: the next 48 hours are the most important 48 hours of your life. What you do right now – today, this hour – will echo for years. The decisions cant be undone. The window cant be reopened. The cooperators cant un-cooperate.

Call Spodek Law Group at 212-300-5196. Right now. Before the window closes. Before someone else cooperates about you. Before the knock comes.

Your partner made choices that put you in this position. The choices you make in the next 48 hours will determine wheather you spend years in federal prison or walk away. Choose carefully.