An embezzlement attorney acts as a party to a criminal or civil case involving embezzlement, which includes certain kinds of monetary theft. According to legal definitions, embezzlement is “the illegal transfer of money,” often for personal use. Embezzlement attorneys are part of the way that the justice system treats embezzlement cases.
Generally, an embezzlement attorney tends to act as the defense for someone who is accused of embezzling money, as opposed to a “prosecuting embezzlement lawyer” who is often simply called a “prosecutor.” A defendant may look for an embezzlement attorney in an embezzlement case, as these legal professionals tend to have a specific experience in defending individuals charged with these kinds of crimes. As many lawyers these days specialize, a financial lawyer with a background in representing defenses of fraud or theft allegations may refer to themselves as an “embezzlement attorney.”
As a legal professional, an embezzlement lawyer or attorney may defend clients in many different kinds of embezzlement cases. Common types of embezzlement cases range from “small claims” from employees or others removing small physical amounts of money from a till or other secured area, to large embezzlement cases where a much higher sum of money was illegally transferred electronically. That makes embezzlement attorneys versatile in their capacity to represent defendants.
In larger embezzlement cases, an embezzlement attorney might even represent business leadership responsible for some more complex kinds of embezzlement. As some current legal battles involve Corporation shareholders against CFO and CEO defendants, more of what an embezzlement attorney does is being focused on the need for transparent accounting in big business, and auditing for commercial or corporate accounts and enterprises. Some of the most high-profile corporate cases in past years could qualify as “embezzlement cases,” and examining these kinds of situations can provide insight into what an embezzlement lawyer or attorney may face.
Along with the above types of cases, an embezzlement attorney may also defend a client charged with credit card fraud, or similar crimes, where again, a large amount of money was moved in a more abstract way. Some cases can also revolve around fraudulent investment brokers who simply take money from investors and create false accounts, sometimes never meaning to pay the original investors back. These types of business operations often result in cases where an embezzlement attorney might help evaluate what kind of crime was done.