Crime losses are often found long after they happen, so crime forms come in two versions with different triggers.
Discovery form: pays for losses identified during the policy period, even if the loss occurred before the policy's effective date. The trigger is when the loss is found. (Some discovery forms add a retroactive date.) After the policy ends, the ISO discovery form gives a 60-day extended period to discover losses.
Loss sustained form: pays for losses that occur during the policy period and are discovered up to one year after the policy ends. Example: a policy ends December 31, 2025. A theft from October 2025 found in August 2026 is covered; one found in February 2027, more than a year later, is not. (The window ends early if replacement insurance starts.)
The acts of certain persons may be excluded. Crime forms exclude theft by the insured's employees, managers, directors, trustees and authorized representatives, except under Employee Theft, and theft by the insured's own partners. They also exclude loss caused by an employee whose earlier theft or dishonesty the insured or its partners, members, managers, officers, directors or trustees (not in collusion) learned of before the policy period. A conviction is not needed, only knowledge.
Who counts as an employee matters for Employee Theft. A person paid and directed by the insured is an employee. Independent contractors, agents and brokers are not, and a director counts only while doing the usual duties of an employee.