Theft and embezzlement cases in the Federal system usually involve losses of over $1 million. Embezzlement cases involve employees, usually at large companies, in a trusted position. They oftentimes purchase expensive items such as computers and other electronics, and divert them to an address not associated with them. The employee then sells these items on Ebay and is paid through Paypal. Large companies often don’t miss hundreds of thousands of dollars of items or more being diverted, that is, until there is an audit. In criminal prosecutions, the government subpoenas records from Ebay and Paypal to establish the dollar loss.

Another type of theft case involves a professional theft ring. The individual at the top of the ring will hire professional shoplifters (called “boosters”) and provide them with a “shopping list” of items to steal. These items are usually higher end items sold at pharmacies such as Walgreens or CVS, home improvement stores such as Home Depot or Lowe’s and department stores such as Target or WalMart. The booster will often travel the country in rental cars hitting multiple retail locations in each city. They may have keys to open razor blade cabinets and other higher priced items kept under lock and key. Oftentimes they will have large purses lined with aluminum to defeat alarm systems. They will then ship the merchandise to a location designated by the ringleader. The ringleader will store these goods in a rental storage facility, and then sell the items to wholesalers or on internet sites such as Ebay.

Mr. Kuniansky has handled both types of these theft and embezzlement cases, as well as numerous other theft and embezzlement schemes.