Moral dilemma - at work

[sucka]

I work for a financial institution which has a hotline available to raise any issues that may be seen as unethical or cause undue risk to the org.  I don't fully know the actual mechanics  but my brothers friend who is on the retail side had approached him about a lucrative operation he has set up, asking my brother (and other clients) for money and promises 10% return.  I speculate that he is using these funds and loaning to either high risk borrowers or ppl that can't get a loan to buy a house (foreigners with no credit history).  This was a few months back and I told my bro to decline his offer and to not ask again.  But seeing he is a close friend of my bro, about to get married and had a sad childhood, I didn't do anything.  Now I hear it has progressed a step further - "using the bank's own money" was what was said...probably now getting people to take out bank loans and then relending those funds to the same type of people above and collecting the spread.
What to do? I have a strong sense of loyalty and duty to safeguard assets or reputation of the firm but I also don't want to be the snitch and end someones career, after all the borrowers could just be legit and able to pay back in which case no real harm done if nobody finds out.  Im all for the entrepreneurial spirit if he did this outside the confines of work, but thAt line is crossed the second he a) is representing our firm or b) he engages firm clients.  Whistleblow or no? Am I making a big thing out of nothing?

 

[Trolloc]

These are always tricky situations.

There was situation at my mother's place of employment where a manager was stealing money and abusing certain employees. One of the abused employees reported it through proper channels. She suffered greatly for this and was bullied. Also , faced attempts by the employer to get her to quit (cutting her hours to one day a week). On top of that, her husband also worked for the same people and they didn't want to take legal action because it could jeopardize both of their livelihoods. Anyways, this woman that was stealing had a great reputation among the higher ups, hence this whistleblower got the short end of the stick. Another woman decided to be smarter about getting rid of this manager. She worked in a department that looked over all of the businesses transactions. She photocopied questionable purchases and missing money while outlining everything this manager was doing in anonymous letters. She sent them out to every manager above her. Eventually the head office investigated and fired the manager. The other woman that was abused got her job back full-time.

In the end, if you decided to report it...you have to be comfortable with that choice. I just recommend doing it anonymously as you don't want to jeopardize your livelihood. From the sounds of it what he is doing is very serious. You go to ask yourself...in worst case scenario this man loses his job... am I ok with reporting him? If it was someone I didn't know personally would I think they disserved to be fired?

 

[Madferret]

4 words to live by - stay out of it

 

[MonikaM]

You need to let the appropriate supervisors know, because you could be implicated by knowing and doing nothing about it.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Anonymously or not at all.

 

[sucka]

Anonymously or not at all.

Oh for sure..I wouldn't even consider it if my name had to be given too.  Actually, i've been thinking about it all day...I guess, the dividing line between making the call and not is that before, it was just investor's (client's) own money and I guess they knew what they were getting into.  But now our firm is providing the funding, unknowingly, and that's what's bothering me.  Also, I can see this escalating into a potential ponzi scheme if any of the borrowers decide to not pay up and skip town.

 

[moon111]

Albert Einstein had a formula for success. He said,
"If A equals success, then the formula is: A=X+Y+Z.
X is work.
Y is play.
Z is keep your mouth shut."

If this can come back to bite you in the ass, do so anonymously.

 

[lamajama]

Anonymously or not at all.

For sure. Also consider the ramifications to the people getting the loans. If they already have limited credit etc they are going to lose big time. The promise of a 10% return is absolute BS as everyone knows. To get a 10%
return today you're subject to significant risk and/or volatility. Plus it's entirely likely this individual is going to have his a** sued off and pay fines (white collar crimes are given a tap on the wrist - certainly in Canada) so no monies will be regained.

Perhaps drop a "note" to the division in charge of security.

 

[McPwnage]

Anonymously or not at all.

this is the way to go