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Business partner lies for 3 months on corporate money he spent

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mazzonleonardo

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Hello everyone. I'm new here and I'm glad to be able to see other people who have taken up the fast lane and are helping each other to walk it the best way possible.

I am making this post to ask for advice from people who have been in the game for years about a situation I am in right now.

Now I am 19 years old, I started my entrepreneurial journey at 17 years old with 2 of my childhood friends selling Web site back in the early Covid days. We decided to walk the fast lane together and now we have a marketing agency with several of clients working with us.

Let's get to the crux of the matter, I'll try to make it as short and simple as possible for you. Around June 2022 we had a client's payment sent to an account of one of the other two partners, because no incoming transfers could come into the corporate one at that time. After a few days solved the problem with the corporate account there was the possibility of getting the money back there, only this money never came back.

For the next 3 months this other person claimed to have problems with the bank not letting her send the transfer, which he was solving, after a while of saying so I and the other partner asked if he had spent it, he denied everything several times with indifference saying he would send it. That was for the month of June and July. Now towards the end of August, after I also almost forgot about this money, I asked when he was going to send it, and with a whatsapp message he writes that he will send it in 20 days when he gets his salary from the new job he got because he had spent that money in June when they unblocked his card.

How would you guys act in this situation? We made the mistake of not putting anything in writing, so in his mind there were no real consequences for what he was doing. He claims that he has been in a very stressful period but surely that are not a justification, we also know how much he cares about our project and how many sacrifices he has made to dedicate himself to us, however now we are facing an important decision and we wanted to get the opinion of someone who has already gone through this kind of situation.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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Sounds like a very expensive education for you. Never have corporate earnings go to any bank account other than the corporation/business.

And second, unwind yourself from this "partner" as well as the friendship. People like this are bloodsucking leeches. They don't need to be in your life in ANY capacity.
 

mazzonleonardo

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Sounds like a very expensive education for you. Never have corporate earnings go to any bank account other than the corporation/business.

And second, unwind yourself from this "partner" as well as the friendship. People like this are bloodsucking leeches. They don't need to be in your life in ANY capacity.
Thanks MJ for the answer, the options we had thought for now were either to put him in the minority or to throw him out directly, the options that we had thought of for now were either putting him in the minority or throwing him out directly looking at it in the long term
 

Johnny boy

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Everyone should be collectively thinking “F*ck this guy let’s never talk to him again, unless we’re suing him”

If anyone in your group is not entirely done with that deadbeat, distance yourself from them too because they’re retarded.

Anyone who can’t be trusted with anything less than 10 grand is stupid. Because anyone with a brain knows burning a relationship over small money is extremely foolish and short sighted. He isn’t just an a**hole, he is literally too stupid to keep a relationship with.

Luckily you did not lose much more money. Many have lost millions in bad relationships.
 

biophase

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Thanks MJ for the answer, the options we had thought for now were either to put him in the minority or to throw him out directly, the options that we had thought of for now were either putting him in the minority or throwing him out directly looking at it in the long term
You need to throw him out of the company, and never deal with him again. Why would keeping him in the minority even be an option?
 
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Stargazer

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Aside from the theft bit, you have written that the three of you started an Agency, so should all be focussed 100% on growing this, yet he has found a new job according to you.

So he is not onboard anyway is he?

Dan
 

mazzonleonardo

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Aside from the theft bit, you have written that the three of you started an Agency, so should all be focussed 100% on growing this, yet he has found a new job according to you.

So he is not onboard anyway is he?

Dan
Yes surely now he would work less hours than us for his new job
 

Kevin88660

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Hello everyone. I'm new here and I'm glad to be able to see other people who have taken up the fast lane and are helping each other to walk it the best way possible.

I am making this post to ask for advice from people who have been in the game for years about a situation I am in right now.

Now I am 19 years old, I started my entrepreneurial journey at 17 years old with 2 of my childhood friends selling Web site back in the early Covid days. We decided to walk the fast lane together and now we have a marketing agency with several of clients working with us.

Let's get to the crux of the matter, I'll try to make it as short and simple as possible for you. Around June 2022 we had a client's payment sent to an account of one of the other two partners, because no incoming transfers could come into the corporate one at that time. After a few days solved the problem with the corporate account there was the possibility of getting the money back there, only this money never came back.

For the next 3 months this other person claimed to have problems with the bank not letting her send the transfer, which he was solving, after a while of saying so I and the other partner asked if he had spent it, he denied everything several times with indifference saying he would send it. That was for the month of June and July. Now towards the end of August, after I also almost forgot about this money, I asked when he was going to send it, and with a whatsapp message he writes that he will send it in 20 days when he gets his salary from the new job he got because he had spent that money in June when they unblocked his card.

How would you guys act in this situation? We made the mistake of not putting anything in writing, so in his mind there were no real consequences for what he was doing. He claims that he has been in a very stressful period but surely that are not a justification, we also know how much he cares about our project and how many sacrifices he has made to dedicate himself to us, however now we are facing an important decision and we wanted to get the opinion of someone who has already gone through this kind of situation.
I don’t get what do you mean by “there is no writing and hence no consequence”.

All the WhatsApp messages you had and your the other partner as a witness are already evidence that a crime has taken place. Theft or criminal breach of trust.

Having his card blocked means he could be a pathological gambler, trying to pay down his high interest card debt.

It will be a headache to work with such a person. It will be best to remove his position as a partner and put him as a freelancer That would pay him a higher share of his sweat contribution but in return he should have no sweat equity.

Offer him something to buy out his shares for his peaceful exit.
 
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mazzonleonardo

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You need to throw him out of the company, and never deal with him again. Why would keeping him in the minority even be an option?
You need to throw him out of the company, and never deal with him again. Why would keeping him in the minority even be an option?
Yes you're right maybe I'm still seeing it from a friend perspective and not as a business partner perspective, but throw him out is definitely the right thing to do
 

MJ DeMarco

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I'm still seeing it from a friend perspective and not as a business partner perspective,

He's no friend and no partner. 100% get him out of the company, shouldn't even be a freaking debate!

You don't remain friends with anyone who screwed you.

If you screws you again, either as a friend or a partner, sadly, you deserve it.
 

heavy_industry

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That's the price tag for a learned lesson.

Whether you had signed a contract or not is completely irrelevant. Whether you recover this money or not is completely irrelevant as well.

The only relevant thing is that you now have the knowledge of someone in your organization that lies and runs away with money. It doesn't matter if it's 1k, 10k or 100k. It's the exact same psychology. So remove this person from your business and life unless you want this to happen again in the future (perhaps with a bigger number).
 
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Stargazer

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he writes that he will send it in 20 days when he gets his salary from the new job he got because he had spent that money in June when they unblocked his card.
Yes you're right maybe I'm still seeing it from a friend perspective and not as a business partner perspective, but throw him out is definitely the right thing to do

I was alluding to the fact that he is not a business partner even if he hadn't taken any money. He is someone else's employee, not your partner in the slightest.

Everyone is telling you to forget about him, I doubt you even have any contracts set up, so should not be a problem.

Dan
 

biophase

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Hello everyone. I'm new here and I'm glad to be able to see other people who have taken up the fast lane and are helping each other to walk it the best way possible.

I am making this post to ask for advice from people who have been in the game for years about a situation I am in right now.

Now I am 19 years old, I started my entrepreneurial journey at 17 years old with 2 of my childhood friends selling Web site back in the early Covid days. We decided to walk the fast lane together and now we have a marketing agency with several of clients working with us.

Let's get to the crux of the matter, I'll try to make it as short and simple as possible for you. Around June 2022 we had a client's payment sent to an account of one of the other two partners, because no incoming transfers could come into the corporate one at that time. After a few days solved the problem with the corporate account there was the possibility of getting the money back there, only this money never came back.

For the next 3 months this other person claimed to have problems with the bank not letting her send the transfer, which he was solving, after a while of saying so I and the other partner asked if he had spent it, he denied everything several times with indifference saying he would send it. That was for the month of June and July. Now towards the end of August, after I also almost forgot about this money, I asked when he was going to send it, and with a whatsapp message he writes that he will send it in 20 days when he gets his salary from the new job he got because he had spent that money in June when they unblocked his card.

How would you guys act in this situation? We made the mistake of not putting anything in writing, so in his mind there were no real consequences for what he was doing. He claims that he has been in a very stressful period but surely that are not a justification, we also know how much he cares about our project and how many sacrifices he has made to dedicate himself to us, however now we are facing an important decision and we wanted to get the opinion of someone who has already gone through this kind of situation.
Also I’d like to add that having nothing in writing goes both ways. That means that you don’t owe him anything either. So you just create a new company and transfer all your clients to it, without him.

All that other shit you wrote about how he is so dedicated, and cares about your project means nothing. He cared so much about you as a friend and your project that he stole money from YOU.
 
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Antifragile

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Sounds like a very cheap education for you.
Here, I fixed MJ’s post. Now… Move on. Remove this person from your life. It’s a cheap test and your “partner” failed it. And you learned something. Today it’s a thousand, tomorrow it could be a million! ;)
 

JJ24

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At worst - this is theft. He stole from you and is not to be trusted as a partner or a friend. Friendships from the past are not future friendships when things like this happen. Get him out.

At best - he has some type of financial problem (lack of responsibility, gambling problem, etc.) that caused him to lose track of his 'personal account' spending. This would seep over into your business and drag it down. Still theft, but coming from a more uncontrolled place. Get him out.

For whatever positive qualities he could bring into this business, there are 100,000 other people who are just as good, if not better than him - without the baggage that's attached.

Either way. I would cut this person out completely, and get the right documents with your other partner to protect both of your interests.
 

heavy_industry

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At best - he has some type of financial problem (lack of responsibility, gambling problem, etc.) that caused him to lose track of his 'personal account' spending. This would seep over into your business and drag it down. Still theft, but coming from a more uncontrolled place. Get him out.
The problem is not that he accidentally or compulsively spent some extra money.

The problem is that he purposefully lied and was being deceptive about it for 3 months, and only told the truth when they had no other option. This behavior itself is much more concerning than the money itself. And as @Antifragile said, if today was $1K , tomorrow might be $1M.

If I had a business partner that made a mistake but immediately told me the truth and started working on fixing the problem, I would start to trust them even more - not less.
 
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JJ24

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If I had a business partner that made a mistake but immediately told me the truth and started working on fixing the problem, I would start to trust them even more - not less.
That's a great quality to see - when they do the right thing immediately.

This conversation reminds me of someone who was almost a business partner. She started talking to a group of people around us how she doesn't think it is wrong to steal if it's from big companies. The small red flags get bigger over time.
 

originalMJT

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F*ck him off, the lazy thief, nothing but a parasite.
 

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