How do you handle reputation when an executive is arrested?

Executive arrest situations are among the highest-stakes and require unusual restraint in the first week. The legal posture controls everything – what the company can say, what the executive can say, who can speak publicly, and on what timeline. Reputation work in that window is mostly preparation rather than action: daily AIQ monitoring across all eight engines so the company knows what stakeholders are seeing, infrastructure work on entity layer and owned properties, and content that can support any of the possible resolutions. Governance decisions about continued role belong to the board and counsel, not to reputation. As facts emerge over weeks and months, the infrastructure gets used: factual content for an exoneration outcome, content covering the company’s response and changes for a conviction outcome, or measured content covering a plea. We have run this category of engagement repeatedly and the principle is consistent: act less, prepare more, in the first weeks.