Can I get into trouble for using my boyfriend’s corporate credit card?
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Can I get into trouble for using my boyfriend’s corporate credit card?
My boyfriend has given me his corporate card on many different occasions. His name is on it but so is his place of employment. Is this legal? Can I get into trouble? We have spent a lot. I don’t know how he is affording to pay for it. He doesn’t tell me everything. I know he has money put up and he grosses over 250k but we have spent at least 600k so far this year. He seems stressed and keeps asking me to ask my father for money. I talked to my dad and he
told me this situation sounded suspicious and he didn’t want me involved. What should I do?
Asked on July 4, 2016 under Criminal Law, Illinois
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
Yes, you could be sued and face jail time for being an accomplice to theft IF this is not your boyfriend's company (i.e. if he is not the company's sole owner.) As you clearly know, or at least suspect (since you are worried enough to pose the question), a corporate credit card like this one is for corporate or business expenses, not personal expenses. In using it for personal expenses, you have knowingly taken money from the corporation--that constitutes theft--and/or knowingly helped your boyfriend take money from his corporation--and knowing being an accomplice makes you liable for the crime, too.
Do NOT use the card again and speak to a criminal defense attorney immediatley; before speaking with the attorney, don't say anything to your boyfriend about this.
HOWEVER, if this is your boyfriend's company, you have not done anything legally wrong: as the owner and controller, he has the authority to let you use company money or resources. He could be facing tax liabiltiy, if he has tried to pass of non-business expenses as tax-deductible business expenses, but that is his concern, not yours.
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