White-collar crimes in Grand Rapids, Michigan, refer to a group of non-violent offenses that are often committed by business professionals looking to benefit themselves. The term derives from the type of professionals more likely to commit these crimes, which are commonly the affluent. Embezzlement and employee theft are two examples of white-collar crimes that often get used interchangeably, but they differ in some respects.
Embezzlement
Embezzlement involves someone getting entrusted with assets and misusing them. This crime often involves an employee taking money from an employer. The employer may have placed the employee in charge of sales, and the employee charged a higher price and kept the profit. Another example includes an executor of a will selling assets without giving proceeds to the proper heirs.
Embezzlement often continues for several years before someone catches it because embezzlers commonly only take cash or sell assets in small increments. The main factors that the government must prove is a fiduciary duty existed and that the relationship granted the offender access to the property.
Employee theft
Employee theft differs from embezzlement because the employee doesn’t have permission to use the assets. Stats show 75% of employees have admitted to stealing something from the employer. Employee theft costs business owners a great deal of money and managers make up 55% of offenders.
Besides cash theft, an employee could steal inventory and resell it, such as computers or medical supplies. Another type of employee theft is payroll schemes which involve the worker in charge of payroll inflating or duplicating their check.
White-collar crime convictions come with stiff penalties because of the damage they cause. People who are facing these types of charges would want to meet with a criminal defense attorney so that a strategy to combat the allegations can be constructed.