If the vote was made when no one was there to see it, did it really happen? There's a reason to make these votes in meetings, because then you've got a record that it happened. I don't see how the board as a whole can make a decision without having a board meeting.
Depending on jurisdiction and bylaws, the board may hold a pre-meeting, where informal consensus is reached, and potential for majority vote is gauged.
Since the bylaws state that the decision to fire the CEO may happen at any time (not required to be during a meeting), a plausible process for this would be to send a document to sign by e-mail (written consent), and have that formalize the board decision with a paper trail.
Of course, from an ethical, legal, collegial, and governance perspective that is an incredibly nasty thing to do. But if investigation shows signs of the CEO lacking candor, all transparency goes out of the window.
> But even then it's weird to not invite Greg.
After Sam was fired (with vote from Ilya "going along"), rest of the board did not need Ilya anymore for majority vote and removed Greg, demoting him to report to Mira. I suspect that board expected Greg to stay, since he was "invaluable" and that Mira would support their pick for next CEO, but things turned out differently.
Remember, Sam and Greg were blindsided, board had sufficient time to consult with legal counsel to make sure their moves were in the clear.
