Depositions happen after the motion to dismiss, which is where you assess "even if the facts you allege are true, you have no case." And "we've known about it for months before we did something about it" isn't enough to get you to an unjust firing.

I agree with that. In some hypothetical where the board sat on information I'm not saying the executive would get out of being fired. I'd tend to think they still would - I just think the board itself would also be in trouble when their actions came to light.

It's criminal so the analogy isn't perfect but if you know I killed someone and neglected to mention it because you gained from that; I expect I'd still go to jail but it's not like you'd have nothing to worry about. We'd both be hiring lawyers.