Criminal Defense Lawyers

My Employee Told Me the FBI Interviewed Them About Me

Your employee just walked into your office with a look you’ve never seen before. The FBI showed up at their apartment last night. Or maybe they pulled them aside at the office. Either way, federal agents asked questions about you – your business dealings, your finances, your activities. Your employee is telling you this because they’re confused, scared, or maybe loyal. Here’s what you need to understand right now: the people who work for you are not protected by any privilege. They are not your attorney. They are not your spouse. When FBI agents knock on their door, your employees become government witnesses. And whatever they said last night is now part of a federal case file.

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. We handle federal defense cases where business owners, executives, and professionals discover they’re under investigation through exactly this scenario – an employee comes to them with news that changes everything. The second thing you need to understand is this: your instinct right now is to ask your employee what the FBI wanted to know. What questions did they ask? What did you say? That instinct – completely natural, completely understandable – could land you in prison for witness tampering. The FBI knows you’ll want to talk to your employee. They’re counting on it.

The people you trust most, the employees who know your business inside and out, are now the government’s best witnesses against you. They’ve observed your behavior for years. They’ve seen documents. They’ve been in meetings. They’ve heard phone calls. All of that information is now accessible to federal prosecutors – because unlike attorneys, employees have no legal obligation to keep your business confidential when a federal agent asks them questions.

The Witness-Subject-Target Trap

Heres something that confuses almost everyone in your situation. Federal investigators use three specific classifications to describe your status in an investigation. Understanding which one applies to you is critical – but nobody tells you what these classifications actually mean.

A “witness” is someone who observed relevant conduct but isnt themselves suspected of wrongdoing. A “subject” is someone whose conduct is within the scope of the grand jury investigation – they might have done something, and prosecutors are looking into it. A “target” is someone as to whom the prosecutor has substantial evidence linking them to the commission of a crime.

Heres the inversion you need to understand. The question isnt “what did my employee say to the FBI.” The question is “am I a witness, a subject, or a target.” Because your status determines everything about how serious this situation is – and what you should do next.

The terrifying part is this: the FBI dosent have to tell your employee wheather your a witness, subject, or target. They certainly wont tell you. And your status can change based on what your employees say during there interviews. Someone who starts an investigation as a witness can become a target becuase of what other people told investigators.

Why Reaching Out to Your Employee Is the Wrong Move

OK so your employee just told you about the FBI interview. Your first instinct is to sit down with them and find out exactly what happened. What questions did agents ask? What did you say? Did they ask about specific documents? Did they mention any dates?

Do not do this.

Heres the paradox that destroys people in federal investigations. You need to know what your employee said so you can understand what the government knows about you. But trying to find out what your employee said looks exactly like witness tampering. You asking questions about there FBI interview can be characterized as attempting to influence there testimony or coordinate stories.

Under 18 U.S.C. § 1512, witness tampering carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. And heres what makes it worse – the government dosent have to prove you actualy influenced your employees testimony. The attempt alone is enough. If you asked questions that could be interpreted as trying to shape what your employee might say in future interviews, your exposed to federal charges.

Todd Spodek tells every client in this situation the same thing: the conversation you want to have with your employee is the conversation that creates the biggest legal risk. Your instinct to talk is the same instinct that generates obstruction charges.

What the FBI Already Knows

Heres an uncomfortable truth nobody wants to hear. By the time the FBI is interviewing your employees, the investigation has probly been running for months. Maybe longer. Federal investigations dont start with employee interviews. They start with document review, financial analysis, and surveillance. Employee interviews come later – when agents already have a theory of the case and there looking for witnesses to confirm it.

Think about what that means. The FBI showed up at your employees door with specific questions. Those questions wernt random. They were based on evidence agents have already gathered. Documents theyve already obtained. Records theyve already analyzed. Your employee isnt the beginning of the investigation. Your employee is confirmation.

Every email your employee has ever sent about your business is now potentially relevant. Every text message. Every calendar entry. Every expense report. Your employee dosent realize that when they “just answer questions,” there not having a casual conversation. There creating evidence. There memories become part of the governments case. There recollections get written into FBI 302 reports that will be used at trial.

And heres the hidden connection nobody explains. The FBI agent who interviewed your employee was building a timeline. When did you make that decision? Who was in the room? What was said afterward? Your employees answers fill in gaps in the governments understanding of events. Information your employee thought was routine becomes proof of knowledge, intent, or conspiracy.

The Obstruction Trap Nobody Warns You About

This is were most people in your situation make catastrophic mistakes. You learn the FBI interviewed one employee. You panic. You reach out to other employees to find out if they were contacted to. You want to compare notes. You want to understand what the government is looking at.

Every one of those actions can be charged as obstruction of justice.

18 U.S.C. § 1512 covers an extremly broad range of conduct. It prohibits intimidating, threatening, or corruptly persuading any person with intent to influence there testimony or prevent them from communicating with law enforcement. “Corruptly persuading” dosent require threats or bribes. It can include asking someone to withhold information, suggesting they “dont remember” certain things, or even just discussing what they should or shouldnt say.

Heres what catches people. In United States v. Tyler, the Third Circuit explained that the government is NOT required to prove a federal investigation was in progress at the time the defendant committed the obstruction offense. You can be charged with witness tampering even if you didnt know an investigation existed when you talked to your employees.

The consequence cascade looks like this: FBI interviews one employee. You find out. You contact other employees to ask if they were interviewed. In the process of asking around, you say something that sounds like your trying to coordinate stories. Now your not just the subject of whatever the original investigation was about. Your a defendant facing obstruction charges that could add years to any eventual sentence.

The Martha Stewart Lesson

If you want to understand how federal obstruction charges work, look at Martha Stewart.

In December 2001, Martha Stewart sold about $230,000 in ImClone stock. The timing was suspicious – she sold one day before the FDA announced it was rejecting ImClones application for a new cancer drug. The stock price plummeted. Federal investigators started asking questions.

Heres the paradox that should terrify you. Martha Stewart was interviewed by the FBI and SEC twice – in February and April 2002. During those interviews, she claimed she had a pre-existing agreement with her broker to sell the stock if it dropped below $60 per share. She said she didnt remember hearing that the companys CEO was trying to dump his own shares.

Prosecutors later proved she altered a phone message record before her first FBI interview. They proved she coordinated her story with her broker. They proved she lied about the circumstances of the sale.

Martha Stewart was convicted on all counts – conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and making false statements to federal investigators. She was sentenced to five months in federal prison, five months of home confinement, two years probation, and a $30,000 fine.

But heres the thing that should make you stop and think. Martha Stewart was never charged with insider trading. The underlying crime – the suspicious stock sale – was never prosecuted. She went to prison for lying about allegations, not for committing the original offense.

Thats how federal obstruction works. You can go to prison for how you respond to an investigation even if your completly innocent of whatever they were originaly investigating.

The FBI 302 Report Problem

Heres something that should concern you about your employees interview. FBI agents dont record interviews. They take notes. And those notes get transformed into what are called FBI 302 reports – written summaries of what agents beleive the witness said.

Think about how dangerous that is. Your employee had a conversation with federal agents. Maybe it lasted an hour. Maybe longer. Your employee was nervous, probably scared. They answered questions as best they could remember. Some of there answers were clear. Some were vague. Some included qualifications like “I think” or “Im not sure, but maybe.”

The FBI agent then goes back to there office and writes up a summary of that conversation. The summary reflects what the agent heard. What the agent thought was important. What the agent beleived your employee meant. All those qualifications your employee used? They might not make it into the 302. All that uncertainty? Might become definitive statements in the agents summary.

Your employees own words – filtered through an FBI agents interpretation – become the official record of what they said. If your employee ever has to testify at trial, prosecutors will use that 302 to challenge there memory. “You told the FBI something different.” “Your story has changed.” “Which version are we supposed to beleive?”

And your employee has no recording to fall back on. The FBI controls the only record of what was said. Your employees memory against the governments paperwork. Thats not a fair fight.

When Your Employee Becomes a Cooperating Witness

Heres an uncomfortable possibility you need to consider. Your employee might not just be a witness. Your employee might already be a cooperating witness.

Cooperating witnesses are people who have agreed to provide ongoing information to the government in exchange for favorable treatment. Sometimes that means avoiding charges entirely. Sometimes it means a recommendation for a lighter sentence on charges there already facing. Either way, the cooperating witness agrees to help the government build cases against other people.

FBI agents dont just interview people once and walk away. When they identify a useful source of information, they cultivate that source. They build a relationship. They ask for more. Your employee might have agreed to document conversations with you. To save emails. To report back on meetings. To wear a wire.

You have no way of knowing if your employee is a cooperating witness. There not going to tell you. The government certainly wont tell you. And whatever agreement your employee made with agents is legaly unenforceable anyway – prosecutors can still charge your employee whenever they want, regardless of promises agents made.

The employee who warned you about the FBI interview might be doing exactly what the government hoped. Your reaction to that warning – the conversations you have, the steps you take, the people you contact – might be precisely what agents wanted to observe.

Think about that before you say another word to anyone who works for you.

The Interview You Never Knew Happened

Heres something else that should worry you. Your employee told you about there FBI interview. Thats how you know something is happening. But how many interviews happened that nobody told you about?

The FBI dosent interview just one person. When federal agents are building a case, they talk to everyone who might have relevant information. Former employees. Current employees. Vendors. Customers. Business partners. Competitors. The interview your employee told you about was probly one of many.

Some of those people wont tell you they were contacted. Former employees have no loyalty to you. Competitors have no reason to warn you. Even current employees might decide its safer to say nothing – especially if agents told them not to discuss the interview with anyone.

FBI agents routinly tell witnesses not to discuss there interviews. Its not illegal for the witness to talk about it, but agents suggest that silence is better. “We’d appreciate if you kept this conversation confidential.” “It would help the investigation if you didnt mention this to anyone.” Some witnesses follow that guidance. Your employee didnt. But others might have.

You could be the subject of a federal investigation that has generated dozens of witness interviews. You might know about one. The government has transcripts of all of them. That information asymmetry is deliberate. Its designed to keep you in the dark while the case develops around you.

What Your Employee Is NOT Required to Tell You

Your employee came to you voluntarily. They told you the FBI interviewed them. That was there choice. But heres something you need to understand: employees are not legally required to tell you when federal agents contact them.

Your employee could have been interviewed weeks ago and said nothing. Other employees might have been interviewed and chosen not to mention it. Some of your employees might already be cooperating with the government – providing ongoing information in exchange for promises of leniency.

Those promises, by the way, are legaly unenforceable. FBI agents can tell your employee that cooperation will help them avoid charges. They can suggest that providing information now will be remembered later. None of those promises are binding. The decision to charge or not charge your employee is made by federal prosecutors, not FBI agents conducting interviews.

And the FBI dosent have to tell your employee anything about your status. Agents might have told your employee your just a witness in someone elses investigation. Agents might have implied there investigating something completly different. Agents might have said nothing at all about why there asking questions about you. Whatever agents said – or didnt say – is designed to get information, not to give it.

Your employee may beleive the FBI was just asking routine questions. That beleif could be completly wrong.

What You Should Do Right Now

If an employee just told you the FBI interviewed them about you, heres exactly what you should do:

Do NOT have a detailed conversation with that employee about what was discussed. Thank them for telling you. Tell them you appreciate there loyalty. Do NOT ask follow-up questions about what the FBI asked, what they answered, or what agents seemed interested in.

Do NOT reach out to other employees to ask if they were contacted. Any communication with employees about a potential investigation creates obstruction risk. Even an innocent-seeming email asking “did anyone else get contacted by the FBI” could be characterized as an attempt to coordinate stories.

Do NOT tell employees what they should or shouldnt say if contacted again. Any instruction you give – even “tell the truth” – can be twisted into evidence of consciousness of guilt or attempt to influence testimony.

Hire a federal criminal defense attorney immediatly. Not your business lawyer. Not your contract attorney. Someone who specificaly handles federal criminal investigations. Your attorney can contact the government to determine your status – wheather your currently viewed as a witness, subject, or target. That information is critical and you cannot get it yourself.

Instruct employees to contact your attorney if they are contacted again. This is the one thing you CAN say to employees. “If the FBI contacts you again, please let our attorney know.” This is not obstruction – its directing communication through counsel.

Preserve all documents and electronic records. Do NOT destroy anything. Do NOT delete emails. Do NOT throw away files. Document destruction after learning of a federal investigation is itself a federal crime. Your attorney will advise you on what should be preserved and how.

Todd Spodek has seen this scenario play out hundreds of times. The clients who survive federal investigations are the ones who control there instincts, work through counsel, and understand that every action they take is being evaluated for potential obstruction.

Call Spodek Law Group at 212-300-5196. Before you talk to your employee again. Before you contact other employees. Before you make a mistake that turns a potential investigation into certain federal charges.

The fact that your employee told you about the FBI interview is actually an advantage – you know something is happening. Most targets of federal investigations find out much later, after theyve made statements they cant take back. Use this warning wisely. Call an attorney. Protect yourself. And understand that your next move matters more then anything else.