California Embezzlement and Forgery Laws: Penalties (2026)

Yes, embezzlement is a crime in California, and whether it is a felony usually depends on how much was taken. Penal Code 503 defines it, and Penal Code 514 punishes it as theft of the same value, except that embezzling public funds is a felony whatever the amount. Forgery (Penal Code 470 and 473) can be a misdemeanor or a felony, with a misdemeanor-only rule, subject to exceptions, for forged checks and similar items worth $950 or less. For other states, see our guide to embezzlement and forgery laws by state.

Information last verified on 2026-10-17. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers California's embezzlement chapter (Penal Code 503 to 515), the public-moneys statute (Penal Code 424), offenses in the forgery and counterfeiting chapter (Penal Code 470 to 483.5) and filing forged instruments (Penal Code 115), with the theft grading rules that embezzlement borrows. It does not cover the full theft value table (see California theft laws), identity theft, scams and victim reporting (see California scam and fraud laws), federal offenses, or civil lawsuits.

What is embezzlement in California?

Embezzlement is the fraudulent misuse of property a person was trusted with. The base definition is one sentence long:

"Embezzlement is the fraudulent appropriation of property by a person to whom it has been intrusted." (Cal. Penal Code 503)

What sets embezzlement apart is that the person already had the property lawfully, through a job, an office or a position of trust. Penal Code 509 adds that "a distinct act of taking is not necessary to constitute embezzlement," so the crime is the fraudulent appropriation, not a physical taking.

California also folds embezzlement into its general theft law. Penal Code 490a provides that wherever any California statute "refers to or mentions larceny, embezzlement, or stealing," it is to be read "as if the word 'theft' were substituted therefor." The theft statute itself, Penal Code 484(a), includes anyone "who shall fraudulently appropriate property which has been entrusted to him or her." That is why embezzlement cases are graded with the same dollar lines as other thefts.

Who can commit embezzlement under Sections 504 to 508

The chapter lists the relationships that create the trust. Most of these sections require a fraudulent appropriation (or secreting the property with a fraudulent intent to appropriate it); the contractor clause of Section 506 does not use the word "fraudulently."

• Public officers and their staff (Section 504). Every officer of the state or of any county, city or other municipal subdivision, and every deputy, clerk or servant of that officer, who fraudulently appropriates property held "by virtue of that trust" to a use not in the due and lawful execution of the trust.
• Officers and agents of organizations (Section 504). Every officer, director, trustee, clerk, servant or agent of any association, society or corporation, public or private, on the same terms.
• Carriers (Section 505). Every carrier or other person holding personal property for transportation for hire who fraudulently appropriates it to a use inconsistent with its safekeeping and transport according to the trust.
• Fiduciaries and contractors (Section 506). Every trustee, banker, merchant, broker, attorney, agent, assignee in trust, executor, administrator or collector, or person otherwise entrusted with property for another's use. The section also covers any contractor who appropriates money paid to him for a purpose other than the one he received it for, and it declares that payment of laborers and materialmen is the purpose to which a contract price must be applied.
• Collectors (Section 506a). A person acting as a collector, or in a business that collects accounts or debts owed by another, who violates Section 506 is treated as an agent or person under Section 506.
• Bailees, tenants and holders of a power of attorney (Section 507). Every person entrusted with property as a bailee, tenant or lodger, or with a power of attorney for its sale or transfer, who fraudulently converts the property or its proceeds to his own use.
• Employees (Section 508). Every clerk, agent or servant who fraudulently appropriates to his own use property of another "which has come into his control or care by virtue of his employment."

When the victim of a felony under this chapter is an elder or dependent person as defined in Penal Code 288, Section 515 makes that fact a circumstance in aggravation when the court imposes a term under Section 1170(b). For the victim side of these cases, see our guide to elder financial fraud.

Is embezzlement a felony in California?

Sometimes. Penal Code 514 states that "every person guilty of embezzlement is punishable in the manner prescribed for theft of property of the value or kind embezzled." Apart from Section 506b, which separately punishes violations of the Civil Code's real property sales contract rules (Civil Code 2985.3 and 2985.4) by a fine of up to $10,000, up to one year in county jail or a sentence under Section 1170(h), or both, the chapter has no penalty schedule of its own, so the theft lines control:

• $950 or less: petty theft. Penal Code 490.2(a) provides that, notwithstanding Section 487, obtaining property by theft worth no more than $950 "shall be considered petty theft and shall be punished as a misdemeanor," except that a person with one or more listed prior convictions (those in Section 667(e)(2)(C)(iv), or an offense requiring sex-offender registration under Section 290(c)) may instead be punished under Section 1170(h). Petty theft is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to six months in county jail, or both (Penal Code 490).
• Repeat theft convictions (Section 666.1). Since December 18, 2024, Penal Code 666.1, added by Proposition 36, provides that, "notwithstanding any other law," a person with two or more prior convictions for listed offenses (including petty theft, grand theft, theft from an elder or dependent adult, burglary, robbery, receiving stolen property, shoplifting, and identity theft or mail theft) who is convicted of petty theft is punishable by up to one year in county jail or under Section 1170(h). A second or subsequent conviction under Section 666.1 is punishable by up to one year in county jail or by state prison.
• More than $950: grand theft. Penal Code 487(a) makes a theft grand theft when the value taken exceeds $950, except as provided in subdivision (b).
• Employee and agent takings over 12 months. Penal Code 487(b)(3) makes it grand theft where the property "is taken by a servant, agent, or employee from their principal or employer and aggregates nine hundred fifty dollars ($950) or more in any 12 consecutive month period." Section 490.2(a), which applies "notwithstanding Section 487," separately treats theft of property worth $950 or less as petty theft.
• Adding up separate takings. Penal Code 490.3, added by Proposition 36 effective December 18, 2024, provides that in any case involving one or more acts of theft, "the value of property or merchandise stolen may be aggregated into a single count or charge" to determine the degree of theft. Penal Code 487(e), in its version effective January 1, 2025, allows the values from distinct but related acts, including acts against multiple victims or in other counties, to be combined to charge grand theft when the total exceeds $950 and the acts are "motivated by one intention, one general impulse, and one plan."

Grand theft not described in subdivision (a) or (b) of Penal Code 489 is punishable "by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year or pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170" (Section 489(c)(1)). A felony under Section 1170(h) whose term is not specified in the underlying offense carries "a term of imprisonment in a county jail for 16 months, or two or three years," except as provided in Section 1170(h)(3).

An offense punishable either way is a misdemeanor for all purposes in the circumstances listed in Penal Code 17(b). Where an offense prescribes no fine, Penal Code 672 lets the court add a fine of up to $1,000 for a misdemeanor or up to $10,000 for a felony.

When the property embezzled is "an evidence of debt or right of action," Section 514 states that "the sum due upon it or secured to be paid by it must be taken as its value." For the rest of the theft grading rules, including categories of grand theft that do not depend on value, see our page on California theft laws.

Embezzling public funds: Penal Code 514 and 424

Two statutes reach public money, and they overlap.

The last clause of Penal Code 514 sets a fixed rule for public funds:

"if the embezzlement or defalcation is of the public funds of the United States, or of this state, or of any county or municipality within this state, the offense is a felony, and is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison; and the person so convicted is ineligible thereafter to any office of honor, trust, or profit in this state."

Section 514 names state prison but no term. Penal Code 18(a) supplies the default: except where a different punishment is prescribed, a felony is punishable by 16 months, or two or three years in state prison, unless the offense is punishable under Section 1170(h).

Penal Code 424(a) applies to each officer of the state or of any county, city, town or district, "and every other person charged with the receipt, safekeeping, transfer, or disbursement of public moneys," who, among other listed acts, appropriates public moneys to his or her own use or another's without authority of law, loans them, makes a profit out of them, or uses them for any purpose not authorized by law. The penalty is "imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years," and the person "is disqualified from holding any office in this state."

Elder victims and large losses

Penal Code 368(d) and (e) set their own penalties when theft, embezzlement, forgery or fraud involves the property of an elder or dependent adult. Subdivision (e) applies to a caretaker; subdivision (d) applies to anyone else who "knows or reasonably should know that the victim is an elder or a dependent adult." Above $950, the penalty is up to one year in county jail, a fine of up to $2,500, or both, or two, three or four years under Section 1170(h), a fine of up to $10,000, or both. At $950 or less, it is up to one year in county jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.

Penal Code 186.11, the aggravated white collar crime enhancement, applies on conviction of two or more related felonies in which fraud or embezzlement is a material element, when the pattern of related felony conduct involves a loss of more than $100,000. Above $500,000 the additional state prison term is two, three or five years; from $100,000 to $500,000 it is the term in Section 12022.6(a)(1) or (2). The court may also impose a fine of up to $500,000 or double the value taken, whichever is greater (up to $100,000 or double the value in the lower band). The facts must be charged and admitted or found true.

Penal Code 12022.6, re-enacted by Proposition 36, adds an enhancement when property is taken, damaged or destroyed in a felony: one year for a loss over $50,000, two years over $200,000, three years over $1 million and four years over $3 million, plus one year for each additional $3 million. It must be pled and proved.

Is paying the money back a defense?

California's embezzlement chapter answers this directly, and the answer turns on timing.

"The fact that the accused intended to restore the property embezzled, is no ground of defense or mitigation of punishment, if it has not been restored before an information has been laid before a magistrate, or an indictment found by a grand jury, charging the commission of the offense." (Cal. Penal Code 512)

Penal Code 513 covers what happens when the property is returned earlier. If, before an information or indictment, the accused "voluntarily and actually restores or tenders restoration of the property alleged to have been embezzled, or any part thereof, such fact is not a ground of defense, but it authorizes the court to mitigate punishment, in its discretion."

The chapter contains one defense in its own words. Penal Code 511 states that on an indictment for embezzlement "it is a sufficient defense that the property was appropriated openly and avowedly, and under a claim of title preferred in good faith, even though such claim is untenable." The same section adds that this "does not excuse the unlawful retention of the property of another to offset or pay demands held against him."

What is forgery in California?

Forgery in California covers signing, making, altering, passing and possessing false documents, all under the single name forgery. Every form requires an intent to defraud.

• Signing another's name (Section 470(a)). "Every person who, with the intent to defraud, knowing that he or she has no authority to do so, signs the name of another person or of a fictitious person to any of the items listed in subdivision (d) is guilty of forgery."
• Counterfeiting a seal or handwriting (Section 470(b)), with the intent to defraud.
• Altering official records (Section 470(c)): altering, corrupting or falsifying, with the intent to defraud, the record of a will, codicil, conveyance or other instrument whose record is evidence by law, a court judgment record, or an officer's return on process.
• Making or passing false instruments (Section 470(d)): with the intent to defraud, falsely making, altering, forging or counterfeiting, or uttering, publishing, passing or attempting or offering to pass as genuine, a listed item knowing it is false. The list includes checks, bonds, bank bills and notes, cashier's checks, traveler's checks, money orders, drafts, powers of attorney, and certificates of ownership of a vehicle or undocumented vessel, and the subdivision also covers falsifying a notary public's acknowledgment and a notary who issues an acknowledgment knowing it to be false.
• False entries in records (Section 471): making, forging or altering, with intent to defraud, an entry in any book of records or an instrument purporting to be a record or return specified in Section 470.
• Seals (Section 472): forging or counterfeiting, with intent to defraud, the seal of the state, a public officer, a court of record, a corporation or another public seal, or knowingly possessing and willfully concealing a counterfeit seal, is forgery.
• Possession (Section 475). Possessing or receiving a forged, altered or counterfeit item listed in Section 470(d), knowing it is forged, with the intent to pass it or facilitate its passage with intent to defraud. Section 475(b) also reaches blank or unfinished checks, notes, bank bills, money orders or traveler's checks held with the intention of completing them in order to defraud, and Section 475(c) reaches completed checks, money orders, traveler's checks, warrants or county orders held with intent to pass them in order to defraud.
• Fictitious bank instruments (Section 476): making, passing, uttering or publishing, or possessing with intent to pass, a fictitious or altered bill, note or check of any real or fictitious financial institution, with intent to defraud.

Uttering a forged check is therefore not a separately named offense in California; it is part of forgery under Sections 470(d) and 476. If someone forged or altered a check drawn on your account, our guide to mail theft and check washing covers the victim side.

Two related statutes carry their own penalties. Penal Code 470a punishes altering, forging or reproducing a government-issued driver's license or identification card "with the intent that such driver's license or identification card be used to facilitate the commission of any forgery" by up to one year in county jail or under Section 1170(h). Penal Code 470b punishes displaying or possessing such a license or ID card with the same intent, by the same penalty. Penal Code 480 punishes making or knowingly possessing dies, plates or other apparatus used to counterfeit coin, bank notes or bills by two, three or four years under Section 1170(h). Penal Code 115(a) makes it a felony to knowingly procure or offer "any false or forged instrument to be filed, registered, or recorded in any public office within this state" when the instrument, if genuine, might be filed, registered or recorded under state or federal law. Because Section 115 names no term, the default in Section 18(a) applies: 16 months, two or three years in state prison. Each instrument is a separate violation (Section 115(b)), and Section 115(c) bars probation, except in unusual cases, for a repeat conviction under Section 115 or for multiple violations with intent to defraud causing a cumulative loss over $100,000.

Is forgery a felony in California?

Forgery can be punished as either a misdemeanor or a felony. Penal Code 473(a) states: "Forgery is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170."

Section 473(b) limits forgery involving low-value payment instruments. Forgery "relating to a check, bond, bank bill, note, cashier's check, traveler's check, or money order" where the item's value does not exceed $950 is punishable by up to one year in county jail. The exception: a person with one or more listed prior convictions (those in Section 667(e)(2)(C)(iv), or an offense requiring registration under Section 290(c)) may instead be punished under Section 1170(h). The section also states that the $950 rule "shall not be applicable to any person who is convicted both of forgery and of identity theft, as defined in Section 530.5." For that offense, see California identity theft laws.

The $950 limit in Section 473(b) applies only to the instruments it names. Forgery of other items, such as a power of attorney, vehicle ownership document or court record, falls under the general rule in Section 473(a).

California embezzlement and forgery offenses and penalties

Default terms come from the Penal Code's general sentencing sections: Section 18(a) for felonies (16 months, two or three years in state prison unless Section 1170(h) applies), Section 19 for misdemeanors (up to six months in county jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both, except where a different punishment is prescribed), and Section 1170(h)(1) for county-jail felonies. For how California's felony and misdemeanor categories work across the Penal Code, see California felony and misdemeanor classes.

Related offenses and time limits

Bad checks. Penal Code 476a(a) covers a person who, "willfully, with intent to defraud," makes, draws, utters or delivers a check, draft or order knowing there are not sufficient funds or credit to pay it and all other outstanding checks in full on presentation. It is punishable by up to one year in county jail or under Section 1170(h). Under Section 476a(b), when the checks charged total $950 or less, the offense is punishable only by up to one year in county jail, except for people with the listed serious or registrable prior convictions, and that limit does not apply to someone with three or more prior convictions under Sections 470, 475, 476 or 476a.

Time limits for charging. Penal Code 803(c) provides that the limitation period "does not commence to run until the discovery of an offense" described in that subdivision. It applies to an offense punishable by state prison or under Section 1170(h) that has fraud or breach of a fiduciary obligation as a material element, that is the crime of theft or embezzlement upon an elder or dependent adult, or that is based on misconduct in office by a public officer, employee or appointee. For those offenses, Penal Code 801.5 requires prosecution "within four years after discovery of the commission of the offense, or within four years after the completion of the offense, whichever is later." For other deadlines, see the California statute of limitations page.

Recent changes

The embezzlement sections themselves are old: Sections 503, 507, 508 and 509 date to 1872, and Section 514 was last amended in 1976 (Stats. 1976, Ch. 1139). The theft line that embezzlement borrows moved more recently. Section 490.2 comes from Proposition 47 (2014) as amended by Proposition 63 (2016), and Section 473(b), the $950 forgery rule, was amended by Proposition 47 on November 4, 2014. Proposition 36, approved November 5, 2024 and effective December 18, 2024, added Section 666.1 (repeat theft convictions) and Section 490.3 (aggregating theft values) and re-enacted the Section 12022.6 enhancement. Section 487, including its related-acts aggregation rule in subdivision (e), was most recently amended by Stats. 2024, Ch. 168 (AB 2943), effective January 1, 2025, and Section 1170 by Stats. 2025, Ch. 225 (SB 551), effective January 1, 2026.

Federal law

Federal law separately reaches embezzlement of federal money and property (18 U.S.C. 641), embezzlement by bank officers and employees (18 U.S.C. 656), theft from organizations receiving federal program funds (18 U.S.C. 666), and wire fraud schemes (18 U.S.C. 1343). The embezzlement and forgery laws hub covers those statutes.

Related pages

• Embezzlement and forgery laws by state
• California theft laws
• California felony and misdemeanor classes
• California identity theft laws
• California statute of limitations

This article is general legal information about California criminal statutes, not legal advice. For a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in California.

Last updated: 2026-10-17.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is embezzlement in California?

Penal Code 503 defines embezzlement as the fraudulent appropriation of property by a person to whom it has been entrusted. Sections 504 to 508 list who can commit it, from public officers and corporate agents to trustees, bailees and employees.

Is embezzlement a felony in California?

It depends on the amount. Under Penal Code 514 it is punished as theft, so $950 or less is generally misdemeanor petty theft (Section 490.2), with exceptions for certain prior convictions (Sections 490.2 and 666.1), and more than $950 is grand theft (Section 487), which can be a misdemeanor or a felony. Embezzling public funds is a felony whatever the amount.

What is the difference between embezzlement and theft in California?

Embezzlement involves property the person was entrusted with (Penal Code 503), and no separate act of taking is needed (Section 509). Penal Code 490a reads every statutory reference to embezzlement as theft, so the two share the same grading.

Is paying back embezzled money a defense in California?

No. Penal Code 512 and 513 state that restoring the property is not a defense, but if it is restored or tendered before an information or indictment charging the offense, the court may mitigate the punishment in its discretion.

What is the penalty for embezzling public funds in California?

Penal Code 514 makes it a felony punishable by state prison, and the person is barred from any office of honor, trust or profit in California afterward. Penal Code 424(a) separately sets two, three or four years in state prison and disqualification from office for officials and others who misuse public moneys.

Is forgery a felony in California?

It can be. Penal Code 473(a) allows up to one year in county jail or a felony sentence under Section 1170(h). Forged checks and similar items worth $950 or less are misdemeanor-only under Section 473(b), with exceptions for listed prior convictions and for people also convicted of identity theft.

Is signing someone else's name on a check forgery in California?

Under Penal Code 470(a), it is forgery when a person signs another's name to a check or other listed item with the intent to defraud, knowing he or she has no authority to do so. Both elements are required.

Is having a forged check a crime in California?

Yes, when done with intent to defraud. Penal Code 475 makes it forgery to possess a forged check knowing it is forged and intending to pass it, and also covers blank or completed checks held to defraud.

How long does California have to charge embezzlement?

For offenses listed in Penal Code 803(c), which include felony-level offenses involving fraud or breach of a fiduciary duty, Section 801.5 allows four years after discovery or four years after completion, whichever is later.