A new report on employee theft and embezzlement reveals that 2012 had both the largest corporate and municipal embezzlement cases in U.S. history. The 2012 Marquet Report on Embezzlement shows that: The number of major embezzlements increased 11% over 2011; Iowa topped the list of states with highest risk for loss due to embezzlement in 2012, followed by Hawaii, Rhode Island, Montana, Nevada, Wyoming, Illinois, Florida and Vermont; The average loss was about $1.4 million for major embezzlement cases in 2012; and, 58% of all incidents involved female perpetrators in 2012. The study also included a review of 5 years of aggregated data and reported some conclusions Marquet has derived from analysis, such as: Perpetrators typically begin their embezzlement schemes in their early 40s; Major embezzlement schemes span nearly a 5 year period, on average; and By a significant margin, embezzlers are most likely to be individuals who hold financial positions within organizations.
