Embezzlement
An accusation of theft is not just a letter to HR. It’s an earthquake. One phone call from an investigator, a visit from an FBI agent, or a notification from the district attorney can in an instant jeopardize your freedom, your finances, and your entire professional reputation built over years.
You are in this position not because you were caught red-handed in a burglary. You are accused of something that the legal system considers far more insidious: a breach of trust.
This is a crime based on abuse of access. You, as an employee, manager, financial director, or partner, were entrusted with the keys to the kingdom—be it the company’s bank accounts, client funds, goods in the warehouse, or financial statements. Now the state claims that you used this trust for illegal personal enrichment.
What is embezzlement?
In the legal system of the USA, embezzlement is not a separate crime with a single name but rather a specific type of theft defined by one key factor: fiduciary relationships.
The legal definition of embezzlement is the unlawful and fraudulent appropriation of another person’s property by someone to whom this property was lawfully entrusted.
Let’s break this down. The entrusted property is the core of the accusation: you did not break into the safe, you were given the key. You had lawful access to the assets as an accountant, treasurer, or financial advisor. Embezzlement means that you committed an act contrary to the owner’s property rights, for example, spent the money, sold the shares, or transferred the funds to your personal account. The most important line lies in fraudulent intent. The prosecution is obligated to prove that you acted not out of negligence, but with a conscious intent to deceive and enrich yourself. To commit a crime, physical possession is not required. It is enough to have access or control — the right to sign checks, a password to the banking client, administrative rights in the accounting system. Assets can be anything: from cash and goods to stocks, intellectual property, client data, and even trade secrets.
Federal charges vs state charges
Theft can be investigated at both the state and federal levels, which is crucial for your defense. State charges are the most common scenario, where you are prosecuted by the local district attorney under your state’s penal code (for example, California Penal Code § 503).
Federal charges arise when a case involves federal interests. The investigation is conducted by the FBI, IRS-CI (Criminal Investigation), or the Secret Service, and the prosecution is handled by a U.S. Attorney (AUSA). This occurs if the embezzlement is related, for example, to bank fraud (18 U.S.C. § 656, if you are a bank employee) or theft from ERISA pension funds. The charges also become federal if embezzlement of U.S. government funds is documented or if mail and electronic communication were used to commit fraud (Mail Fraud / Wire Fraud).
The severity of the accusation almost always depends on the monetary value of the stolen item. This characteristic divides crimes into Misdemeanor, if it concerns a small amount, and Felony, if the value exceeds the threshold established by the state. A felony is a serious crime that entails punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.
Theft rarely looks like one big transaction. More often, it is death by a thousand cuts. The schemes we regularly observe and protect against include systematic expense inflation, creating ghost employees on payrolls, or supplier fraud through shell companies. They also encompass the direct use of corporate cards to pay for personal vacations or gambling, skimming cash before it is accounted for, and complex stock manipulations to siphon off assets.
Why an accusation of embezzlement is a professional apocalypse
Many defendants make the mistake of focusing only on one question: Will I go to prison? The truth is that for a professional, prison is just one of three devastating consequences.
1. Criminal punishments: Freedom and money
This is a direct threat. Depending on the severity and jurisdiction, you face imprisonment ranging from several months to many years in federal prison, where courts adhere to strict Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Additionally, you will face massive monetary fines, which at the federal level can reach $250,000 or double the amount stolen. Finally, you will be assigned Restitution—mandatory compensation for the full damage to the victim, a debt that is typically impossible to discharge even through bankruptcy.
2. Professional collapse
For managers, financiers, and licensed professionals, this is often scarier than prison. A guilty verdict is the end of your career as you know it. This is a real pain point for our audience, and the consequences here are catastrophic.
The consequences for your career and reputation can be summarized in the following points:
- Loss of professional licenses: You will not be able to work. The State Board of Accountancy will almost certainly revoke your CPA license for a crime of moral turpitude; lawyers face disbarment; and FINRA and SEC will revoke financial advisors’ licenses (Series 7, 66) and ban them from working in the securities industry;
- Reputational damage: An accusation of theft is a scarlet letter in the business world, you become toxic;
- Inability to gain employment: You will never again be able to hold a position of trust (position of trust) and will not pass any security clearance (background check) for a financial or managerial position.
It is worth mentioning the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) separately. This federal law, adopted after the Enron scandals, introduced criminal liability for executives (CEO, CFO) who knowingly certify false or misleading financial statements.
How we build your protection against theft
When state investigators or federal agents (FBI, IRS) are working against you, hoping that everything will resolve itself is a disaster. You need an experienced white-collar crime defense attorney who will immediately begin building your shield.
Our work begins long before the courtroom. We immediately request all case materials from the prosecution, but we don’t stop there. We conduct our own independent investigation, often involving forensic accountants, to find discrepancies, procedural errors, and gaps in the prosecutor’s case.
Our first order to you will be: Say nothing. You have the right under the Fifth Amendment not to testify against yourself. We will handle all communication with investigators, protect you from self-incrimination, and monitor the legality of any searches.
We know how prosecutors (DA and AUSA) think. We negotiate from a position of strength, striving to achieve the best outcome, whether it’s a complete dismissal of charges if the evidence is weak or a pretrial resolution that avoids a conviction. In other cases, we fight for reclassification of charges from a felony to a misdemeanor or reach a favorable Plea Bargain if the evidence is indisputable.
Key Strategies of Defense in Theft Cases
Here are the main legal strategies we use to protect our clients:
- Lack of intent This is the most powerful and common defense. We prove that what happened was an honest clerical error, not intentional fraud. The prosecution must prove that you acted with malicious intent. We provide evidence to the contrary, for example, that you accidentally used the corporate AMEX card because it looks just like your personal one, or made a mistake in QuickBooks. This is negligence, but not a criminal offense;
- The presence of permission You do not deny the transaction but prove that you had permission for it (or you genuinely believed that you had it). We are looking for evidence (emails, memos) that your management approved this action. For example, the CEO verbally told you to buy a good gift for a client, and you acted within what you reasonably believed to be your authority;
- Challenging the evidence and the amount We are attacking the foundation of the prosecution’s case — their numbers. We are involving our forensic accountant to review the prosecutor’s audit. We are looking for errors in the calculations. For example, the prosecution calculated $120,000 (felony), but our expert proves that the actual disputed amount is $10,000. This not only weakens the case but could also reduce it to a misdemeanor;
- Action under duressYou acknowledge that you committed the actions but claim that you had no choice. This defense is used when you acted under immediate threat or pressure. For example, your boss ordered you to process a fictitious invoice, threatening to fire you under an article and ruin your career. In this case, the criminal intent belonged to your boss, and you were merely an instrument.
Your next step: Don’t wait. Defend yourself.
An accusation of theft is not a problem that will disappear on its own. The longer you wait, the more time you give the prosecution to build a case against you.
Do not make these critical mistakes: do not talk to investigators, the FBI, or the police; do not attempt to correct or delete accounting records, which in itself is a federal crime (obstruction of justice); and do not discuss the case with colleagues or management. Your first and only call should be to a lawyer. Contact our firm for an immediate, 100% confidential evaluation of your case. We will analyze your situation, assess the risks you are facing, and outline the first steps to build your defense.
