"), of unknown origin)[1] is a term commonly used for a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer.
It often involves a trusted individual taking advantage of their position to steal funds or assets, most commonly over a period of time.
Embezzlement is not always a form of theft or an act of stealing per se, since those definitions specifically deal with taking something that does not belong to the perpetrators.
[3] North Carolina appellate courts have compounded this confusion by misinterpreting a statute based on an act passed by parliament in 1528.
[7] The statute served the purpose of the then North Carolina colony as an indentured servant and slave-based political economy.
[citation needed] Embezzlement sometimes involves falsification of records in order to conceal the activity.
[citation needed] Embezzling should not be confused with skimming, which is under-reporting income and pocketing the difference.
For example, in 2005, several managers of the service provider Aramark were found to be under-reporting profits from a string of vending machine locations in the eastern United States.
[citation needed] Some of the most complex (and potentially most lucrative) forms of embezzlement involve Ponzi-like financial schemes where high returns to early investors are paid out of funds received from later investors duped into believing they are themselves receiving entry into a high-return investment scheme.
The Madoff investment scandal is an example of this kind of high-level embezzlement scheme, where it is alleged that $65 billion was siphoned off from gullible investors and financial institutions.
[citation needed] Internal controls such as separation of duties are common defences against embezzlement.
[12] In the United States, embezzlement is a statutory offence that, depending on the circumstances, may be a crime under state law, federal law, or both, with the definition of the crime of embezzlement varying according to the statutes of the jurisdiction in which charges are filed.
[17] A 2009 journal article reported estimates that three quarters of medical professionals would suffer from embezzlement at least once in their career.