Fraud

Fraud includes anything intended to deceive, including all statements, acts, concealment's, and omissions involving a breach of legal duty, trust or confidence which results in injury to one who justifiably relies.

Federal prosecutors use statutes for Mail Fraud, Wire Fraud and Money Laundering to prosecute more and more cases as "white collar crimes." The majority of corporate fraud cases pursued by the FBI involve accounting schemes designed to deceive investors and Wall Street analysts about the true financial condition of a corporation. Through the manipulation of financial data, the share price of a corporation remains artificially inflated based on fictitious performance indicators provided to the investing public.

Embezzlement

The "illegal transfer of money or property for personal use." The significant difference between embezzlement (employee theft) and other kinds of theft is that embezzled property is legally possessed or accessed by the person doing the embezzling; usually as part of the job responsibilities

Applicable code sections:

California Penal Code 503-515
18 USC 1001