Embezzlement

The fraudulent appropriation of property by a person to whom it has been intrusted; as, the embezzlement by a clerk of his employer's; embezzlement of public funds by the public officer having them in charge.

Note: Larceny denotes a taking, by fraud or stealth, from another's possession; embezzlement denotes an appropriation, by fraud or stealth, of property already in the wrongdoer's possession.

Embezzlement usually involves falsifying records in order to conceal the theft. Some very successful embezzlement schemes have continued for many years before being detected due to the skill of the embezzler in concealing the nature of the transactions.

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