[bernie01]

Hello, new here. This may be lengthy, but I want to be as detailed as possible.

I accepted a position as CFO of a privately held S Corp in March of 1999. When interviewing, the Pres and CEO agreed to pay all of my CPE expense and all other costs for me to retain my license. They did that for the two PE Engineers as well. The two PE's and myself also had to pay an additional tax to the state of TN in the form of Professional Privilege Tax. They paid that also. They also paid for my professional review by the state board every three years. At least one of those reviews I paid with a personal check and they reimbursed me. As a matter of fact, probably 70% of the expense was paid by me and reimbursed.

The company was undergoing a buyout starting in 2003, profits were WAY down and things weren't looking good. In October 2004, the Pres and CEO came into my office and asked me to take certain things out of the financials and give this "new & improved" set to the bonding company. I refused. They were VERY angry. December 21, 2004 I was called into the conference room and they laid out some checks made out to different org's and asked me to explain them. Most all were signed by a facsimile sig of the CEO generated at the time of check writing. I explained them and told them they looked at these and OK'd them and we could look in my A/P file, my A/P file was gone. I kept the carbon sheets in a folder in my office and it was gone too. It was the end of the year and I was behind on CPE and had been out the previous four work days catching up before 12/31. They said they had no memory of telling me they'd cover my license expenses. The total of the checks were right around $50,000. They said give them $25,000 or they's prosecute. I had a wife and newborn, they scared the crap outta me and I made a big mistake, I gave them $25,000 and quit. They wanted me to stay through March 31, 2005 and I told them I'd stay 'til 1/31/05.

I knew the company was short on profit of $140,000 and needed it desparately for the buyout to go through. I get a letter from the State Board of Accountantcy in February '05 that my previous company's CPA firm had done their own audit and come up with $143,000 and they were seeking my license. The owner of the CPA firm and my old boss (CEO) were TIGHT and that CPA just happens to be the HEAD of the state board. He and the four people under him would be my judge and jury. I called my old boss and asked him what was going on. He said he paid the CPA firm $40,000 to find all my "fraud" and the $25,000 I gave him went against that and the insurance company paid them the $143,000. It was up to the insurance company on what to do with me. I did get a letter from the insurance company about May '05 stating that they paid the company $143,000 and wanted to ask me questions. I called and got voice mail. They called back and said nevermind.

How long to I have to worry about defending myself against the insurance company? Also, can my old company legally apply the $25,000 against the CPA fees and still get fully reimbursed for $143,000? It's now 10/25/06.

Again, sorry for the length, but my nerves are rattled.

[Mr. Knowitall]

Are you presently concerned about being criminally charged, or is your concern about being sued?

Your CPA license fees were $50,000?

[bernie01]

Are you presently concerned about being criminally charged, or is your concern about being sued?

Your CPA license fees were $50,000?

The $50K was for the '99, '00, '01, '02, '03 and '04 years. It wasn't only for CPE, it also included two peer reviews, Professional Privilege Tax and the big kicker of travel. They wouldn't let me get any cheapy local CPE like most do to meet the minimum requirements. They wanted me to get CPE that was specific to their industry and what I actually did for them. I could understand that and had no problem with it since they agreed to pay for it. However, specific CPE isn't always available locally and more times than not, you have to spend the night somewhere in a motel. Especially the two or more day seminars.

Originally the $50K figure was quite a bit higher, but it included a number that was easily defended by me. So easy in fact that they were probably leery of including it. Basically the company carried NO company credit card. The phone/internet company we were with would only accept payment by tapping a credit card monthly. My Amex was hit with $397/month plus any overages that month. That was the method from about '01 'til March of '05. I was in such shock when all of this went down that I forgot to cancel it for three months after I left. However, I was told by the State CPA Board's investigator that it WAS included in the big number they gave to the insurance company.

I don't think I will face criminal charges. The investigator found me innocent (as far as the State Board is concerned) which was a huge win since his boss was one of my accusers. He spoke with the state attorney on my behalf and he agreed no charges would be filed. He also said that since my former company turned it over to insurance and was reimbursed, it was out of their hands to prosecute or come against me in any way. He said it was up to the insurance company if they wanted to do anything. Not sure if he's right or wrong, just what he told me. He did instruct me to put that copy of the cashier's check of $25K in a safety deposit box and keep it. He said it was my "get out of jail free card." He wouldn't elaborate on that though.

I guess I'm just not sure how much more I have to worry about the insurance company coming after me. Although I haven't been legally charged with a crime, and I won with the Board, it's a small town and word gets out and it almost completely put me under financially. If I had to get an attorney to defend myself against the insurance company, it would be a difficult task to say the least. Between finding an attorney within a decent radius that they don't have retained or finding one that doesn't have some sort of tie with them, the money would be out of reach.

I was almost to the point that the constant worry had dwindled. I get a voice mail two days ago from a law firm with no detail, just a case number and a phone number. I nearly got sick with worry. I called them back and it was concerning the people that had my phone number previously. I was relieved, but it brought back that feeling.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions. I really do appreciate it.