Pittsburgh Man Who Was Strangled to Death By a Friend In Hawaii Worked For Deloitte Consulting (UPDATE)
It’s been several weeks since we wrote about the Hawaiian vacation amongst three friends that turned deadly, so let’s catch you up on the latest. First, Benjamin Fleming of Pittsburgh, who was charged with manslaughter in the death of his friend and Carnegie Mellon University classmate Abhishek Gupta, who worked for Deloitte Consulting, was allowed […]
Deloitte Consultant Not Charged In the Death of a Pittsburgh Man Following an Altercation In Hawaii
[Updated on April 2 with additional information.] A consultant with Deloitte was released from jail and not charged with a crime following an altercation that turned deadly between roommates at a vacation rental complex in Hawaii earlier this week. Benjamin Fleming, 37, of Pittsburgh was charged with manslaughter on March 30 in the death of […]
Accountants Behaving Badly: Of Course One of the Capitol Insurrectionist Dummies Is a CPA
The owner of McAuliffe CPA Enterprises in Mineola, NY, took a field trip down to Washington, DC, and decided it would be a good idea to join a bunch of other domestic terrorist doofuses in storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 because they actually thought they could prevent Congress from confirming Joe Biden as […]
BDO Puerto Rico Tax Partner Accused of Trying (and Failing) to Defraud the IRS
More accountants behaving badly at BDO Puerto Rico. First it was good ol’ Fernando Scherrer, the BDO Puerto Rico managing partner who got indicted for taking part in a shady corruption scandal last year that also involved Puerto Rico’s former education secretary and the former head of the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration. Now, the […]
Look Out, Australia, You Have a Wild Accountant With an Aggressive Foot Fetish on the Loose
In my many, MANY years on this website, I’ve somehow been tasked with the job of writing up every perverted accountant who comes across our collective desk. I’m not entirely sure why this is, I think it started as a joke many years ago as my former colleague knew I loved to binge on old […]
IRS Agent Lady Allegedly Tries and Fails to Scam Unwitting Taxpayer Out of Thousands
When we talk about IRS scams, we’re usually referring to chain-smoking Indian dudes packed into a dingy call center trying to scam Google Play cards out of your grandma. Although few Americans might say they trust the IRS, I think we can all agree that at the end of the day, an overwhelming number of […]
Former EY Consultant Indicted on Hate Crime Charges for Allegedly Attacking Gay Couple, Being a Total D-Bag
Brandon McNamara, a 25-year-old former EY employee who was arrested in September for allegedly beating up two gay men outside a Brooklyn bar, faces up to 15 years in the slammer after he was indicted on hate crime charges last week. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said McNamara was arraigned on Nov. 14 and charged with […]
(UPDATE) Married Ex-KPMG Recruiter and Gym Coach Busted For Banging Young Gymnast in a Car
Whew, you guys, this one is … awkward. Scott Vetere is a 39-year-old father of three from Michigan who serves as assistant coach for the University of Michigan women’s gymnastics team, or at least he did until he resigned Oct. 15. His resignation came after Vetere was caught getting it on with an 18-year-old female […]
WTF? CPA Accused of Stealing Over $93,000 from Girl Scouts, Cancer Center
Through the years, Going Concern has chronicled accountants and finance chiefs getting caught doing really shitty things. But if this accountant is found guilty of the charges levied against her, this has to rank among the shittiest of the shitty. From the Los Angeles Daily News: A certified public accountant charged with embezzling more than […]
BUSTED: Which NYC Firm’s Former Partner Is Accused of Ripping Off $2 Million From Investors?
A CPA and former partner-in-charge of advisory services at New York City-based Marks Paneth LLP was arrested by federal authorities in Florida on Oct. 8 for allegedly bilking investors out of $2 million through an intellectual property scheme. Steven Henning, Ph.D., 57, was charged with one count of wire fraud in a federal court in […]
‘Drunk A-hole’ EY Senior Consultant Arrested By NYPD For Allegedly Beating Up Gay Couple
It has not been a good week for fellas with the last name of McNamara who work or who have worked at EY. Brandon McNamara, 25, who reportedly is a senior consultant with EY, was arrested by the New York Police Department on Sept. 26 and faces a slew of charges for the alleged beating […]
New Big 4 Associate Wants to Know If His Career Will Go Up in Smoke After Pot Possession Arrest
Welcome to the bullshit-faux-holidays-that-accountants-don’t-get-off edition of Accounting Career Emergencies. Today we have a new Big 4 associate who’s wondering how much trouble he could get in for a recent arrest for pot possession. If his firm finds out will they just blow it off or is his career baked?
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Now, then:
I just started at a Big 4 firm and to celebrate the college life being over my friends had a party over Labor Day weekend. To cut to the point, I ended up being arrested and charged with marijuana possession in a city about 2 hours away from my office. I had a prior arrest for marijuana from 4 years prior as well. Basically, my question is, how likely is it that the firm finds out about this incident without me telling them? Also, if they do find out does this mean automatic termination?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Dear Stoney Jabroni,
Let me just say first that I’m not a lawyer, so take this advice for what it’s worth (not much more than a dime bag). Having said, that, your solution is easy. Move to Colorado. Or California. Or anywhere pot is decriminalized. Maybe I’m misinterpreting “arrested” but here in in the MHC, for example, adults don’t really get “arrested” for possession of less than one ounce and thus, there is really no problem. I realize this is probably unrealistic advice but your state’s laws will ultimately determine how “serious” this really is. Generally, this is not a serious issue but if you’re in state that likes to throw the book at marijuana users, then it gets more complicated.
To answer your first question – since you work in a city that’s two hours from where your arrest occurred, it’s pretty unlikely that anyone at your firm will find out you had your little run-in with the law. Unless, of course, there’s townie that would go out of their way to contact your firm to fink on you. That seems unlikely but, hey! you never know.
As far as termination is concerned, it depends on the agreement that you signed when you accepted your offer. If you’re held to specific code of conduct, it’s possible that this arrest could violate that code. If there’s nothing in the agreement that would cover something like this, your firm doesn’t really have grounds to dismiss you. There are plenty of Big 4 employees and partners that enjoy a nice toke every now and again and it is more socially accepted than ever. If someone at your firm does get a whiff of this news, certainly some will frown on this behavior and you may get a talking to but does it mean the end of your career? That’s just wack, man.