Re: Employer withdrawing IRA personal accounts
Well, this breaks down into two or three categories for discussion purposes. You ask only about protecting yourself, and this is hard to answer without a thorough behind-the-scenes investigation because the best answer depends upon this guy's fundamental character and also how much money he has taken, what he's done with it, and how much more money he has to make restitution. If he's otherwise a saintly guy and has invested the money in crude oil futures, he can and probably will repay. If he bet on the United States in the World Cup and is a total flake, there's probably no way to assure the funds will be restored, even if the U.S. Marshals clap him in chains tomorrow morning.
The second and third areas or issues involve not so much how you (and the other employees?) get voluntary restitution, but rather the civil and criminal wrongs that are occurring, and what ought to be done to stop him and get damages or criminal penalties.
On the civil side, terms like breach of contract, breach of trust, conversion, fraud and civil racketeering come to mind.
He is probably committing crimes as well; theft, embezzlement, and violation of laws enacted to protect employee pension and investment funds come to mind.
As a person who has discovered a crime, you may be under a legal compulsion to report it rather than try to rectify the harm doen to you without equally addressing the harn done to others. See Penal Code section 153 regarding compounding or concealing a crime, and don't become an unwitting accomplice. I'd suggest discussing what you know with a white-collar crimes specialist at your local DA's office - they may want you to make a police report first.
I would not hesitate also to talk with a civil-law attorney about filing a suit on your own behalf, or jointly with other affected employees, but I'd think about it long and hard and only after discussing the possible criminal case with the DA or police/sheriff. Finding the combination and sequence of actions that maximizes your money's safety while also preventing a possibly unjustified libel, getting fired, spending unnecessarily on lawyers, or failing to report a crime, all requires wisdom, judgment, and good advice.
