White collar crimes often slide under the radar when people discuss life-ruining convictions. But a conviction for one of these crimes can and often does have the power to ruin lives. The FBI states that federal law enforcement agencies investigate all crimes brought to it. They use this information to determine whether you are guilty of your accused crimes.
Though the FBI states investigations only happen with reason to believe your actions violated federal law, this is not always the case. Thus, you should prepare yourself to face investigation in the safest way to you.
The pretrial stage
The FBI discusses how violations go into the federal criminal justice process. This has a pretrial stage first. This includes any grand juries and arrests, as well as initial investigations. In order to prove that you may have broken the law, agents must obtain proof of your supposed crimes. This largely includes documents and other paper trail material. A judge must issue a search warrant. If they cannot get this warrant, they might ask for a subpoena.
The grand jury then examines whether or not this alleged crime is valid. They determine if an offense exists at all, and find the root cause if this is true. With their power, they collect evidence, make a decision and may issue indictments.
How should you act?
In short: do things as usual. In pretrial and investigation, your business should operate in the normal way. You need to spend time reviewing your operations and making necessary adjustments. Ensure that employees are properly trained and follow the workplace protocol, too.
During these stages, you still have the right to counsel and remain silent. Thus, you may want to consider contacting a legal expert to help you through.