To me, not getting a forthright answer (even after 'further prying') is a big red flag on its own.<p>At this point, I would wait until you received the offer, and then say something like "Look, unless there's a legal reason why you can't give me a full explanation of what happened, I'm going to need to know the whole story here.  We're going to all be working very closely together and I need to understand how the company makes key decisions like budgeting before I make a decision to join you."  If you still don't get a clear explanation, I'd think very carefully about taking the job - there's landmines under the surface you know nothing about.