The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is under yet another charge for embezzlement by many state attorney generals this week. It seems as though the leftist group is faced with another controversy amidst its association.

The organization has been the subject of numerous controversies, including perhaps its most well-known misconduct during last year’s presidential campaign after GOP allegations of falsifying voter registration applicants. Some of its voter registration workers were prosecuted, and some other employees resigned.

ACORN is a collection of community-based organizations in the United States that advocate for low- to moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues. Best known for its efforts to register poor and minority citizens to vote, ACORN has over 400,000 members and more than 1,200 neighborhood chapters across the U.S.

The charges of embezzlement stem from an undercover video showing ACORN employees Shera Williams and Tonja Thompson providing advice to two filmmakers posing as a pimp and prostitute on how to skirt tax laws. The footage — captured in ACORN offices in Baltimore, New York, the Greater Los Angeles area, Washington, D.C. and San Diego — led to the dismissal of four employees, but more importantly it has prompted the IRS and the Census Bureau to sever almost all ties to the organization while Congress voted to cut federal funding (83-7 for cuts in the Senate, and 345-75 for cuts in the House.) Officials estimate the amount embezzled to be around $5 million. This is a huge case for any criminal defense attorney or embezzlement lawyer to handle, and it would be wise to have a criminal defense team of professionals on the defensive side to help in any way.

Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets, usually financial in nature, by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted. It is a kind of financial fraud where the defendant and aggrieved party share a fiduciary relationship and the defendant fraudulently misappropriates the property.

ACORN has fired back with its own set of lawsuits. Defendants include conservative activists James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles who posed as a pimp and prostitute, as well as Breitbart.com and possibly Fox News for distributing the video.

Questions remain regarding how these embezzlement charges will affect the more than 400,000 ACORN members. On September 16, 2009, ACORN suspended advising new clients and began an internal review process, headed by Scott Harshbarger, due to “the indefensible action of a handful of [ACORN] employees.”

For more information, go to: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/06/acorn.press.club/index.html

1. He or she is mentally disabled or suffers from some type of psychological or physiological condition that causes him or her to make bad decisions.
2. He or she has grown up in an environment that has “bread” this type of behavior into their life.
3. He or she is very “normal” law abiding citizen who finds himself or herself in a desperate situation, financial or emotional, and they make a bad choice that is not reflective of his or her typical character.

I think most people fall into category 3, especially when it comes to the white collar crime of embezzlement. A lot of people end up in dire financial situations from credit card debt, school loans, or just monthly bills and think to themselves, “No one will notice if I take some money to pay off my bills. I’ll pay it back! I know I will!” Everyone I talk to who has embezzled finds themselves embarrassed, without a job, and wondering why the **** they decided this was a good idea!!?

Criminal attorneys, or embezzlement lawyers, understand that these theft crimes are not violent crimes or sex crimes where the victim is physically hurt; embezzlement lawyers understand that the accused did not want to hurt anyone, instead the accused just wanted to help himself/herself. Although this is not an acceptable excuse in any way, the real damage done to the victim is a monetary one; and that is easy to fix – just by paying them back.

Embezzlement is a serious crime, but the good news is that the employer usually just wants their money back. A good criminal defense attorney can often help a client avoid criminal charges by working out a solution that can be handled privately (assuming the police are not yet involved). When the police are involved, embezzlement lawyers are still often able to minimize the criminal charges and encourage the court to focus on a financial solution rather than jail or prison time.

I think this really speaks to the way people operate. Our sense of right and wrong can all too often depend on whether we think we’ll be caught or not. It would be great if we all made the right decision every time. None of us do. We all make mistakes, unfortunately some of these mistakes can land a person in jail. The important thing for us all to understand is that what’s in the past is in the past and all we have control over is how we move on from here.