The HR director and the CEO of an e-commerce company with 330 employees each receive a similar email from an unrecognizable address. The letter is from an anonymous discontented employee. In the letter, the employees accuses the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the company of financial fraudulent practices including using accounting loopholes to hide hundreds of thousands of dollars of bad debt, while simultaneously inflating the company's earnings.
The anonymous email also accuses the CFO of intimidation, retaliation, and virulently attacking senior managers in front of junior colleagues. The email further states that the employee has taken great effort to remain anonymous because of a fear of retaliation, which may lead to termination for spurious reasons.
The email states that HR is improperly chummy with the CFO and has never been able to conduct an independent workplace investigation free of prejudice.
Which first step should the HR director take to handle the allegations in the email?