How do I legally punish someone to stole from me?

Question

I have my own business. Someone whom was in a position of thrust embezzeled money from my company. Due to the complexity of the situation the police believe it is not a criminal matter but a civil matter. My legal advisor thinks that it would cost more than to proceed with a civil case than what was taken. Therefore this person can practically steel money and get away with it.

What I want to know is, are there any other ways that I can punish this person or make life more difficult for them.

I must stress that I will not break the law to do this. I am willing to come close to the line but not cross it!

Also I dont need spiritual advice and I am not big enought to turn the other cheek! (I have done that twice already)

Answer 1

It is very difficult to understand why the Police are not going through with a criminal prosecution - it is obviously not a clear cut situation.

Your solicitor has given you very good initial advice, sometimes it is not commercially viable to issue proceedings. Its all very well and good getting a court judgment but then you would need to enforce it and if your former employee has poor financial circumstances or is not working you are unlikely to get any money out of him!

However, you may want to consider to instruct your solicitor to write to your former employee demanding repayment. The solicitor should write two letters - an open letter threatening court proceedings and a second letter marked without prejudice offering to accept payments by instalments and perhaps offering to accept a lower amount to settle the outstanding debt?

Hopefully, your former employee will consider you are being very reasonable and will pay up. If you do accept instalments try to insist these are made by direct debit.

Finally, there is another tatical procedure you could consider - make him bankrupt but again this is expensive. I think that the court fee and costs are around £750.00 to follow this procedure. But again you could ask your solicitor to threaten this in the letter and even send out a statutory demand form.

Answer 2

Yes, it costs more to sue than you're likely to collect. That's true in *every* lawsuit. You're not asking how to profit. You're asking how to punish. Suing the embezzler is how you punish him.

The fact is, a person embezzled from you. It's not the police who decide whether to prosecute criminally, it's the prosecuting attorney.

And if the prosecuting attorney refuses to prosecute, he becomes part of a *conspiracy* to embezzle from you, even if he and the person taking the money have never met.

So what you do is file a *civil* case against BOTH the conspirators, to recover the money that was embezzled. And, of course, this would be an interesting news story, should the television and newspaper learn of it.

But as a matter of courtesy, you probably ought to let the prosecutor know of your intention to sue. He might decide to do his duty after all. Let's see. When is it that he is up for re-election?

Answer 3

depends how much, but perhaps you could go to the small claims court if it is not that much. Isnt that terrible though that someone can steal from you and it not be a criminal offence. Perhaps the police are bent, check it out again with someone else just to be sure.

Or perhaps invoice him for the amount, and then send debt collectors around if he doesnt pay. By the way does he know that the police cant do anything? If he doesnt then dont tell him and say that you will get the police involved if he doesnt pay it back. Call his bluff. Knowledge is power

Answer 4

Well can't you take them to the small claims court after all thats what they are for small amounts of money i'm not 100% sure but i belive they deal with cases dealing with up to £5000

Theft? that is a criminal matter if you would like to explain the case in just a little more deatail even if it is complex (explain how come its a civil case?) or i can't offer any more advice

Answer 5

Turning the other cheek was in fact a massive insult - not an expression of forgiveness, so you might want to consider it after all.

I find it odd that the police won't press charges, but unless you are willing to go through with a civil case I couldn't suggest anything within the boundaries of the law that you could reasonably do.

Outside the law I can think of loads.

Answer 6

You can file your case through civil court, go through all the preliminary motions. It's not that expensive. He may not show up and you could win your money by default. If he does show up the judge usually has both sides arbitrate before trial and if the perp sees you are willing to go forward with your case, he may settle with you and pay you back your money.
If not, I would take it to trial because although it may be more expensive for you than what was stolen, he'll have to hire an attorney also, which he may not want to do. If he choses to represent himself, it's very likely he'll lose. If he sees he's going to lose, very likely he'll settle. You may not get all your money back, but you'll get a good percentage of it. Not to mention the satisfaction.

Answer 7

A big problem is the difference between larceny servant and embezzlement ,i would do what my brother did with an employee of his.He waited for christmas and sacked him just before,for industrial misconduct.You can also willingly give CV,s to prospective future employers of this person ,should anyone contact you.In your case a civil prosecution is the answer.

Answer 8

i suppose there are ways to get this job done without breaking any laws
provided this person is still in your employ
as a set rule if a person does an act as you describe that person will feel confident once he/she has got away with the act and most likely will do it again
set traps just as if you were trying to catch a mouse that was in the cheese
weather it be surveillance or whatever it takes
i guess what it is commonly called a sting operation sting em good

Answer 9

If you're in England, and the amount involved is less than £5,000, use the small claims procedure at the County Court. You can do this on line at https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp
If the individual ignores the summons, you will get judgement by default and he'll have a CCJ hanging round his neck. He'll need to pay you before he can get credit.
If he defends the summons, you will need to go to Court, but the procedure is informal.

Answer 10

If it's a certain professional industry you work in, and have contacts in the same, you could use your links to spread their bad name.
Of course, if you aren't careful, that's just inviting a defamation suit, but a bad word here and there about a person's untrustworthiness can do wonders to ruin their career in that sector. Not to mention you'd be helping to prevent others from having money embezzled.