Hello nadeem,
Samvedan has put things in the right perspective & hit it 'Bull's Eye', so to say.
While agreeing with Samvedan, let me also add that such situations for a 'first-time entrepreneur' is NOT UNCOMMON'--hailing from the middle-class only adds to the woes. But that's a part of the learning process--albeit a costly one.
First & Foremost, pl begin to learn a few things/aspects of conducting your business.
1] You are running a commercial venture--NOT CHARITY. So the very first moment you notice something that's NOT RUNNING as per plans, TAKE ACTION--for which 'Continuous Supervision' becomes primary, the key word being 'Continuous'. In a way, I would blame YOU & your Manager for this situation. Forgive my using these words, but What was your Manager doing till YOU realized about the performance?
2] I wouldn't use the words you used: my employees cheated me. Pl learn to take responsibilities for YOUR ACTIONS. YOUR CHOICE of people was bad, which resulted in such a situation. Just learn from this experience & move on--if you begin to think in terms of 'legal action', etc @ a time when ALL YOUR FOCUS, TIME, ENERGY, EFFORTS & OBVIOUSLY MONEY have to be towards restarting your business & stabilizing FAST, just think if 'legal way' is the right direction to go.
3] Next, it seems as though the Daily/Weekly/Monthly targets weren't properly laid-out for the employees WHEN THEY JOINED. Else such situations could have been caught much earlier & MORE IMPORTANTLY, BEFORE all the employees formed a cartel.
As a general Thumbrule, while it is good to devise plans/rules/policies that PREVENT such situations to arise at all, in the First place, also remember that THEY WOULD STILL CROP-UP from time to time--however much you tune-up your Hiring practices & Reporting structures, you sill still end-up hiring 1 or 2 such characters. So FROM THE MANAGEMENT'S perspective, when refining your policy framework, try to focus MORE on 'how to handle' such situations, IF & WHEN THEY ARISE.
4] As far as possible--UNTIL YOU STABILIZE--try NOT TO HIRE too many people known to you directly [especially relatives] over whom you may not have too much of an official/formal control, @ the working level.
5] Since you haven't mentioned your area of business & what damage your ex-employees did, I wouldn't be able to suggest anything reg that aspect. But just bear in mind, IN GENERAL TERMS, that there will ALWAYS be multiple ways to conduct one's business leading to the same goal. Take it from me--I will bet my last paisa on this. You only need to do some brain-storming to come out with the alternative Plans-of-Action--and put them into practice. THAT'S ALL.
And lastly, pl note that I haven't written these lines on a theoretical basis. They are from personal experience.
All the Best.
Rgds,
TS