It gets into obscure territory... private equity & various types of "corporate structure" can end creating (or be drawn specifically to create) serious conflicts of interest. They are not a single, uniform interest group and "self dealing" means screwing (fiduciary failure) someone.

In Germany you can basically go to jail for "stealing" money from a company you own to 100% (in some cases). Self-Dealing can be allowed for managing directs who are also majority owners (e.g. I'm allowed in certain limitis to sign contracts between me and my own company representing both "parties"). But still there are limits. No idea how this works in the US, but I can imagine that there are limits.

Of course, you can basically go to jail for "stealing" money from a company you own to 100%. Being able to do so makes a creditor unable to recover their money in limited-liability companies (a clear majority).

Which also makes perfectly sense, if you ask me!

Private businesses are primarily setup to be of the benefit to shareholders.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_v._Ford_Motor_Co.

If management is making decisions to enrich themselves first before the shareholders then they could run afoul if regulators.

Adam was likely not a target of this so long as valuation went up. Now that it’s fallen his shareholders are arguably potentially hurt by his actions and regulators can swoop in.