Embezzlement is a common white collar crime that occurs when a trusted employee or individual misappropriates funds from their workplace, client or employer. They siphon money and divert it into other bank accounts for their personal use. While New Jersey has no specific law for embezzlement, it still criminalizes the theft of immovable property. Fundamentally, embezzlement is property theft. Charges of theft are serious, but they may be unreasonable. There are different ways to defend yourself against embezzlement charges.
The affirmative defenses to embezzlement
As an employee in an established company or financial institution, someone can use you as a pawn in an elaborate embezzlement scheme. You may not even be aware of your involvement in the operation. The criminal charges may not hold if you were the victim of the following circumstances:
- Duress: A third party has knowledge of your position in the company or your trusted business relationship with a wealthy client. They used this information to threaten or harm you or those important to you if you did not comply with their instructions to steal from the individual or entity.
- Entrapment: A law enforcement officer persuades or tricks you into committing the crime to obtain evidence for their case. It is especially possible in a sting operation where they need someone to blame to justify the undercover operation. You were not in a predisposition to commit the crime before the intervention of the law enforcement agent or a government official.
- Misconception: What you believed to be true was something other than the truth, implicating you in a crime you did not even know you were committing. In short, you made an innocent mistake.
Regardless of knowledge or innocence, you had no intent to commit the crime. It would help if you started gathering evidence to build a defense supported by the law.
Your position puts you in jeopardy
What makes an act criminal is the intention to gain from another’s harm. You had no such intentions. Your position places you in the middle of a predator and its prey. Let us help you get out of the way.