Risky investment — not the first — embezzlement! (10)
I believe the answer is:
peculation
'embezzlement' is the definition.
(I know that embezzlement can be written as peculation)
'risky investment not the first' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'not' could be 'o' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'o' is present in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
'first' could be 'i' (I in Roman numerals eg Elizabeth I) and 'i' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for peculation that I've seen before include "Misapplying" , "embezzlement" .)