Need some legal advice

digitalbeachbum
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Need some legal advice

My boss owns her own company and the accounting office (CPA) they used embezelled a ton of money from her, well one of the employees. This employee then quit the company and then the owner of the company closed up shop after finding out what happened. Also they claimed their account had been wiped out by the same employee. It is unknown if they stole money from other customers.

The insurance for the accountant is claiming, per their "insurance coverage" that they are not liable to pay out any claim against this incident. I sort of glanced through it and was tired, but it smelled fishy. I can't believe that an insurance comany would sell "liability insurance" to an accountant then claim that they don't have to pay out for this sort of theft.

The first lawyer we had was a long time business aquaintance of my boss and basically said give up, it isn't worth your time. Then ended up dropping my boss because of some personal disagreement. She found another lawyer who took 6k of up front money then did nothing for six months. Then a third lawyer who is now telling her because of the insurance they accountant carried their is no way to claim even though hundreds of thousands of dollars have been stolen.

I have been searching the web and I know at the very least we can make their life miserable by reporting them to the state. Embezzling money in this way carries a minimum of 10 years in the state prison and then you can also be convicted at the federal level.

I just don't get the problems with the lawyers and the insurance company. It doesn't make any sense that liability insurance wouldn't cover liability for the services you provide. I almost feel that the paperwork that we were given was bogus information. I beleive the insurance company is actually lying and covering up the truth.

Any suggestions? Is there anything like the FDIC that covers banks where a CPA can be held accountable? Any free advice websites out there that might help?


Brian37
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 That sucks. I hope you get

 That sucks. I hope you get the help you need. 

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Beyond Saving
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 It is against the law for

 It is against the law for an insurance company to insure illegal activity, so if they can show a loss came from illegal activity, they are completely off the hook.

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Brian37
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 That makes sense if the

 That makes sense if the insurance company is in conflict of interest. But car insurance companies pay out for illegal drivers all the time. It only makes sense if the insurance company and business are in it together. But if the business is a mere victim there should be a recorse for them. No different than when someone robs a bank with a gun. The money is insured.

Otherwise if someone robs you and shoots you by your logic because they were committing a crime, your private insurance should not have to pay for it.

For someone who loves the private sector you should want that kind of protection. I would only say that like any possible law you could write, it should not be blindly written to allow for no oversight.

I am split on this because I agree, you would not want to pay out to someone knowingly commiting a crime. But you have to prove that the owner knew it was going on. On face value only, and playing armchair QB Digital has told a story of a victim, his former boss. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Jeffrick
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Digital...

 

 

 

                  What happened to the embezzler? A conviction and a civil suit could order the CPA to pay back all the money [even if not likely to get it]. State insurence regulators do have investigators, they could investigate to make sense of the insurence company's claims FOR FREE. Who Certified that Public Accountant? File a complaint with them; here in Ontario the CA board & Law society [Bar Assc.] have victom compensation payouts   [nowhere near what they lost but something] and I have no idea how your state deals with such things but start with the insurence regulators and certifing agencys [they certified a theif after all].

 

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Brian37 wrote: That makes

Brian37 wrote:

 That makes sense if the insurance company is in conflict of interest. But car insurance companies pay out for illegal drivers all the time. It only makes sense if the insurance company and business are in it together. But if the business is a mere victim there should be a recorse for them. No different than when someone robs a bank with a gun. The money is insured.

Otherwise if someone robs you and shoots you by your logic because they were committing a crime, your private insurance should not have to pay for it. 

It isn't the victims insurance company, it is the insurance company who is covering the accountant- the one who is alleged to have embezzeled. If you are breaking a law, no insurance company is going to pay a claim on your behalf. A business can carry insurance against things like theft and embezzelment committed by others, but most small businesses don't and since they are going after the accountants insurance company, I assume they didn't. If you get in a car accident while committing a felony- say a high speed chase running from a bank robbery, your car insurance isn't going to pay for whatever damage you cause. They would be breaking the law if they did, and they don't want to anyway. 

 

Brian37 wrote:
 

For someone who loves the private sector you should want that kind of protection. I would only say that like any possible law you could write, it should not be blindly written to allow for no oversight.

I didn't write the laws, I didn't vote for them, I didn't vote for anyone who voted for them, nor did I take any position on them. I simply stated what the law is. If you don't like it, you should pay attention to who you vote for. 

If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X


digitalbeachbum
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 Every aspect of the case

 Every aspect of the case is up in the air. The thing I suggested was turning it over to the state. If the state goes after them, for which we have proof they did steal, then part of the settlement might be "pay those who you stole from to avoid a court case".

The law is such a convoluted part of our society. There are so many hidden or loop hole type of situations.


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 I know this is getting on

 I know this is getting on here a little late, but if you are still dealing with this, you may want to talk to an attorney yourself.  It appears to me that you may have a case against the owner, but again, check with an attorney first. 


digitalbeachbum
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Burnedout wrote: I know

Burnedout wrote:

 I know this is getting on here a little late, but if you are still dealing with this, you may want to talk to an attorney yourself.  It appears to me that you may have a case against the owner, but again, check with an attorney first. 

I believe my boss turned it over to the state attorney. We have enough evidence that they will win a conviction