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We are grateful to have the opportunity to provide you with this valuable information via our monthly e-newsletter and our unparalleled forensic accounting and fraud investigative services.
The goal of this e-newsletter is to provide you critical, inside information that will help you "follow the money" in business disputes, divorce cases, fraud cases, estate matters, corporate embezzlement and to prevail when defending an IRS criminal case. We will do this by sharing the knowledge we have from our 25+ years of experience as an IRS Special Agent and 16 years as a private investigator / forensic accountant.
We take special care to ensure the information we provide you in "The Beacon" is the latest and most current information available.
In this edition, we talk about the many different ways to embezzle.
We encourage you to share our e-newsletter with others in your sphere of influence.
Sincerely,
Edmond J. Martin
Principal, Chief Investigator
Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE)
Texas Certified Investigator (TCI)
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Embezzlement? Let me count the ways.
 This article is a supplement to the earlier article "Who Are Embezzlers?
Misappropriation of funds is a method of money theft of which
embezzlement is a common form. This form of crime involves a person who steals something he/she possesses and controls but does not own.
The Embezzlers are very crafty people and are looking for weaknesses in systems including cash controls, accounting, inventory, payroll or other
systems
of
control
. They have
control
and access to funds of
a business
because of their position of trust. There are many forms of embezzlement including:
- The outright theft of money by misclassifying the theft as a business expense or an owner draw. This happens when often in small businesses, where the owner is busy developing his/her business.
- The creation of ghost employees by a bookkeeper who has an agreement with individuals who have false identities that can cash the payroll check and split the proceeds. This happens when a business owner does not pay attention to the employees on his/her payroll.
- The bookkeeper has authority to authorize company credit cards without company oversight. This happens when the controller ignores the activities of the bookkeeper because they are having an affair.
- The Chief Financial Officer (CFO)creates a vendor, placed it in the accounts payable list of vendors, without verifying the authenticity of the vendor. Months later, the CFO started to issue checks to the fictitious vendor based on false invoices. This fraud happens when the accounts payable clerk ignores irregularities, or the controller is too busy to listen to the accounts payable clerk.
- Mid-level managers of a large corporation ignored the collusion of an employee with vendors and allowed internal controls to be overridden. The compromised employee approves the invoices while knowing the services were not provided and made payment by the corporate credit card in violation of corporate policy. The managers ignored the policy violation for years and allowed continued payment by the corporate credit card, until an experienced manager arrived and questioned the use of the credit card.
- An employee and member of the accounting staff of a corporation were entrusted with the accounting for orders from customers. The staff member colluded with the customers to allow the theft of equipment and products. The employee receives a percentage of the theft.
Proving the Crime of Embezzlement
An attorney working with a private investigator of these types of embezzlement must develop the evidence and testimony that the embezzlement was committed and prove the embezzler took part in the following activities:
- The embezzler was entrusted with control of the company's money but not ownership of the company. The investigator of these types of money theft cases must show that the responsible person was entrusted with the funds through their employment contract, or instruction or directions by the owner of the company. Also, look at the training and prior experience of the embezzler.... Read More
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About Us
Serving your needs is our priority.
At Sage Investigations we are dedicated to serving our clients nationally, to help them navigate the difficulties of dealing with fraud, divorce, estate and probate, the IRS Criminal Investigation, and other complex (forensic) financial fraud investigations. By narrowing our focus to our primary strength of following the money, we steer our knowledge, efforts, and experience to financial issues. We help our clients propel their cases forward by assisting in the review, acquisition, and organization of financial records, evaluating the elements of their cases, and helping create winning strategies. Through the use of our proprietary advanced financial investigative technology we trace and analyze complex financial data quickly, easily and efficiently, saving our client's time and money.
Sage handles all cases with altruism, professionalism, honesty, integrity, passion and respect. When you hire Sage, you hire a team of professionals with skill and knowledge that helps you have more effective solutions. We are innovative with our DIO cutting edge technology, and perform every investigation in an orderly and organized manner to develop a clear investigative roadmap and deliver a quality work product. The compass that guides us is strong leadership and accountability.
Learn more
...
Contact Us
P.O. Box 160161
Austin, TX 78716
Phone: 512-659-3179
Fax: 512-328-6878
Texas License #A10803
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