A coworker filed a very serious accusation of me to Ethics, the facility investigator contacted me, I explained to them that the accusation is not true and that this stems from a story I recounted at a work happy hour. I could have lost my clearance and my job due to this lie. The investigator stated that they are comfortable closing the case after speaking with me, but the thing is….I only told this story to 3 coworkers while we were standing in a circle drinking at happy hour.
I need advice on how to proceed forward because all 3 of these people have been extremely kind to me, praised me for my hard work, and told me they love working with me…so its really personal to me that one of them would try to ruin my career like this. Also I was tasked with hosting a farewell happy hour this Thursday for a co-worker that's leaving and who I suspect reported this absurd lie will be in attendance at that happy hour. Can you all give me solid advice on how to get over this event from today?
I know eventually I will just forget about it but it's really frustrating to think a work friend would do this to me. Also I wish Ethics/HR would disclose the identity so I could file a report to them against this person for bad intentions.