ambiguous Fraud by Abuse of Position Allegation, how to act?
I worked for a friend (Richard) who started a print supply company and I was a sales person for him. He had 2 other share holders who funded the company formation and I joined many years after it began.
Richard said he owned 33% of the company and he was defined as Sales Director and my main point of seniority.
The company was quite disorganised with no job role definition or company structure of heirachy and authority laid out and I had no contract of employment. Richard supported me starting my own company where I sold similar products - ink cartridges.
When my stock ran low, he offered me stock at a price where I double by money. This seems synonomous with splitting the money with him and there lays some ambiguity. However, I paid the funds for the goods directly into his bank account and sold onto my customers and doubled my investment. Prior to accepting his offer, I consulted a solicitor to check the legality as I had never ran a business before. He said that since I had no employment contract, that providing I believed the goods were his to sell, there should be no problem.
we were both arrested without charge and both went no comment on the initial interview with bail 6 months later and electronic equipment such as PC and phone were seized. Richard is being investigated for £300,000 and myself for £25,000. I paid Richard £10,000 and sold goods for around £20,000 but the goods were worth £25,000 to the company/victim.
I went to the police within days and did a voluntary interview and told them I had paid Richard for the goods. They asked for all the paypal and bank statements to speed up the process and asked if I would produce a witness statement in return for exoneration from the investigation. I said I would consider that although I am reluctant to be a prosection witness against Richard. Richard wants me to say I lent him the money he received and says he will say that he sold me the goods but ommitted invoicing to my company because he was terminated as director and didnt get round to it.
With bail date approaching fast, I am wondering: at what point can I negotiate a repayment settlement before possible charges and court proceedings initiate?
Will offering this repayment i.e. the profit of 10k,test the strength of case against me prior to the bail date and therefore indicate if they want to prosecute me OR is my witness statement a better offer that should be played to exonerate me? There seems to be several points that I should consider and there are many more that I can put forward as a bargaining tool.For instance,they did not perform stock take reports until later, they dealt with apparent stolen goods themselves and ignored it when I realised it. Richard had sour grapes with the other directors after beleiving they were ripping him off after another director apparently confessed this after a few drinks.
Please advise and feel free to ask more!