5 ms·

Mike Rothenberg allegedly wired $5.2M from bank without permission

5 points by confiscate 10y ago

greenyoda 10y ago
"Indeed, one employee, David Haase, is currently suing the firm for breach of contract, saying it owes him more than $109,000 in business expenses that he accrued on a personal American Express card at Rothenberg’s direction." This is mind-boggling. Why would an employee agree to do this? If my employer is desperate enough for cash that they want me to open a personal credit line for corporate expenses, what chances are there that the company will ever be able to pay back what it owes me? The linked article[1] gives more details: "Haase says in his suit that in May, he opened the account with Rothenberg’s approval “for the purpose of acting as a credit line for the day-to-day expenses incurred by RVM.” These included business expenses charged by Rothenberg’s “numerous administrative assistants at his direct request.” Part of those expenses included payroll, according to our sources." The company is charging payroll to an employee's personal credit card? Either they don't have a bank account, or their bank account has nothing in it, or their funds are frozen pursuant to some legal matter. None of these would make it likely that the money would ever be paid back to the employee. But there's more: "Another former senior executive said Rothenberg owes him at least $40,000 in back wages. Another third employee has filed with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement for $70,000 of unpaid wages from the firm." $70K is a lot of missed paychecks, even for an employee with a rather high salary. Why would people continue working for a company that makes clear to them that it doesn't have the money to pay them? [1] https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/04/a-former-rothenberg-employee-is-now-suing-over-breach-of-contract-and-more-than-100k-in-amex-charges https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/04/a-former-rothenberg-employ...

5 ms·

Mike Rothenberg allegedly wired $5.2M from bank without permission

5 points by confiscate 10y ago

greenyoda 10y ago
"Indeed, one employee, David Haase, is currently suing the firm for breach of contract, saying it owes him more than $109,000 in business expenses that he accrued on a personal American Express card at Rothenberg’s direction." This is mind-boggling. Why would an employee agree to do this? If my employer is desperate enough for cash that they want me to open a personal credit line for corporate expenses, what chances are there that the company will ever be able to pay back what it owes me? The linked article[1] gives more details: "Haase says in his suit that in May, he opened the account with Rothenberg’s approval “for the purpose of acting as a credit line for the day-to-day expenses incurred by RVM.” These included business expenses charged by Rothenberg’s “numerous administrative assistants at his direct request.” Part of those expenses included payroll, according to our sources." The company is charging payroll to an employee's personal credit card? Either they don't have a bank account, or their bank account has nothing in it, or their funds are frozen pursuant to some legal matter. None of these would make it likely that the money would ever be paid back to the employee. But there's more: "Another former senior executive said Rothenberg owes him at least $40,000 in back wages. Another third employee has filed with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement for $70,000 of unpaid wages from the firm." $70K is a lot of missed paychecks, even for an employee with a rather high salary. Why would people continue working for a company that makes clear to them that it doesn't have the money to pay them? [1] https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/04/a-former-rothenberg-employee-is-now-suing-over-breach-of-contract-and-more-than-100k-in-amex-charges https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/04/a-former-rothenberg-employ...