Early on in my career I was working for a consulting company at a parent company (the actual end-client) - we were based in the office as a small team of about

Early on in my career I was working for a consulting company at a parent company (the actual end-client) - we were based in the office as a small team of about 10-15 people. The boss of the team decided that there were good fees to be had, and so went to key players and tried to bid for the contract direct to the client under his own banner, in effect trying to form a company and go into competition with his current employer. The plan was to stitch up the contract for the second phase of the contract by underbidding, and pocket a portion of the massive fees being paid by the client to the consulting company. He came to me with an offer of more money if I threw my lot in with him. I agreed to do so, $$$ flashing in front of my eyes. Of course someone leaked the entire deal to the consulting company management and we all got sacked on the spot and I learnt my lesson which is to be very cagey about these types of things. It didn't worry me about losing the job, I wasn't into it much anyway, and I did actually get paid out a notice period, which was generous on their part (perhaps it was go-away money). But at a more crucial phase of a career it could have been very damaging.