Hey guys, this is all completely hypothetical but I would appreciate some srs advice on this

Right now me & my coworkers have been on a paid leave because my specific place of work shut down(located in a mall) but the company is still running and considered essential.

Well just yesterday the entire team I work with was terminated, everyone except for me. I figured it was because of covid-19 but didn’t understand why I didn’t get fired. Well a friend in a different location informed me that the real reason was that they just finished an investigation where they discovered all my coworkers had an involvement in an incident that happened a few months ago where they committed fraud and also manipulated commission. Everyone there had some involvement(even if they didn’t want to and it was minor) due to the managers actions, everyone except for ME because I was off those days away on a trip

They don’t know why they were terminated, they believe it was because of the pandemic but I do know. And they are calling / texting me freaking out wondering why I wasn’t terminated too(because they believe it was our entire location).

I called higher higher up and he was very vague but assured me my job was safe, they had been investigating for a while, and the less I know the better(I already know/knew) and to minimize contact with them.

So I’m in a very awkward situation brahs. What do I do? My former coworkers keep hounding me because they have no clue wtf is going on(until they piece it together), and what if when they do they try to throw me under the bus saying I knew about it too? Is it wrong to just flat out ignore these people lol I was on good terms with all of them and considered them coworker friends, but truly had 0 involvement in this and just kept to myself.

I’d also add 3 of the people I worked with had been there for 5+ years and were managerial

Any thoughts are appreciated

Weird that you weren’t lumped in with all your coworkers

But I would be worried about being thrown under the bus if I were in your shoes

I honestly wouldn’t say anything since you heard all this from a friend and just try to stay in the background while they deal with management

They'll be mad if they find out that you know why they were fired and haven't told them, but they don't have any way of finding out. It is also probably not your responsibility to tell them. Play dumb, as if you don't know anything.

Also do they really have any reason to throw you under bus? People that didn't want to play role in this fraud probably won't throw you, people that played big role in it might, but for what reason, with what proof, how do they tie to this mess if you were on vacation and who is going to believe them?

What part of this is hypothetical?