I don’t think so. I think he fudged the books for some extra money one month, thinking he could pay it back next month to balance the books and no one would know. Except that didn’t work and he had to fiddle the books to come up with money to hide the first fiddling. He’s already doing small time scams that are SOP in car sales, like screwing people on worthless “trucoat”. And he was never able to get back to break even point, rather the amounts he’s had to embezzle have just grown. So he needs a big score to settle the accounts and clear everything. He comes up with the kidnapping scheme. Then he runs into the parking lot deal, and when his father-in-law’s assistant says it looks good, he’s ecstatic, because that means he won’t have to go through with the kidnapping scheme. But then they say he won’t get the money, just a “finder’s fee”, and that won’t be enough, and so the kidnapping is the only hope.
And of course he’s dumber than brook trout, but people embezzle money all the time, and they get in deeper and deeper until there’s no way to hide the thefts any more. That’s what stupid greedy small-minded people do.