My Business Partner Locked Me Out And Smirked, “Sue Me—You Can’t Afford A Lawyer.” I Didn’t Sue. I Made One Quiet Call About The Unlicensed Enterprise Software Keeping Our Whole Operation Running… And 48 Hours Later, An Audit Notice Hit His Inbox And The Company Started Unraveling Fast.

April came. Jordan stopped showing up to our weekly partner meetings entirely. Just texted excuses.

Client emergency, stuck in traffic, food poisoning, family thing. Every Monday, a new excuse. I’d sit in the conference room alone reviewing projects and consultant schedules, then send him summary emails he probably never read.

Our consultants started asking questions. Where’s Jordan? Is he okay?

Does he still work here? I covered for him. Told them he was focusing on business development, handling high-level client relationships, managing strategic partnerships, corporate nonsense that sounded important but meant nothing.

Truth was, I didn’t know where Jordan was or what he was doing. He wasn’t answering emails promptly. Calls went to voicemail.

The few times we did connect, he was vague about his schedule, meetings, networking events, industry conferences. Then I started noticing the credit card statements. We had a company AMEX supposed to be for legitimate business expenses, client dinners, travel, equipment, subscriptions.

I reviewed the March statement during a quiet Sunday afternoon when I should have been relaxing, but was instead catching up on admin work Jordan had abandoned. $8,400 in restaurant charges, 14 separate dinners at places I’d never heard of. High-end steakhouses, sushi spots, wine bars.

I cross-referenced the dates with our client meeting calendar. Not one dinner corresponded to a scheduled client meeting. $3,200 in charges at a luxury hotel in Miami.

Four nights’ stay. I checked our project calendar. We had no clients in Florida.

No prospects. No conferences. Just Jordan apparently taking a vacation on company money.

$1,900 at a car dealership. Maintenance and detailing for his personal vehicle. Not a company car.

His personal BMW categorized as transportation business development. April statement was worse. $11,000 in charges.

May was $9,700. I pulled statements back to January. Total personal expenses run through business accounts: $47,300.

And that wasn’t even the creative accounting. Buried in our bookkeeping system, I found monthly payments to an LLC called Sterling Consulting Services. $2,500 per month since September 2023.

Continue reading…