Corporate pickpocketing

Imagine the scene of a common pickpocketing. Agent A approaches a victim as agent B waits events. Agent A steals the wallet from the victims back pocket, say, and passes it immediately to agent B who has timed his pass perfectly. When apprehended, agent A protests his innocence and a search of his person can find no trace of the missing wallet.

Now picture another scene; this time a businessman buys a Company (the victim). He then strips the assets of the company and immediately transfers them to his wife who hides the proceeds in untraceable, numbered bank accounts in a tax haven. The Company is then sold at a bargain price. When later questioned about the subsequent Company failure, the businessman can claim, quite correctly, that he has no knowledge of the whereabouts of the missing money. Now, what is the difference in these two scenarios; in the first example we have the work of crooks and in the second the trade of businessmen?