The act of dishonestly withholding assets for the purpose of stealing them, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. It is a type of financial fraud and is usually a premeditated crime performed methodically, with the embezzler taking precautions to conceal his or her activities, because it is occurring without the knowledge or consent of the affected person.

Any matter of fact that a party to a claim or action offers to provide to prove or disprove an issue in the case. The strongest type of evidence is that which provides direct proof of the truth of an assertion. At the other extreme is evidence that is merely consistent with an assertion but does not rule out other, contradictory assertions, and may be viewed as circumstantial evidence.