Steal A Deal, Go To Jail – MCA Broker Takes Fight Over Backdoored Deals To Law Enforcement
A suspicion over stolen deals has led to the arrest of a sales agent, deBanked has learned.
It’s yet another case of a deal slipping out the back door, one that resulted in handcuffs, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. deBanked obtained evidence of the arrest, which happened earlier this month, and confirmed the identity of the individual charged.
A sales agent’s ill-fated meeting with law enforcement began when an MCA brokerage suspected their hard-fought applications were being rerouted to a third party by way of a New York based funding company they usually submit to, according to one source. To confirm these suspicions, they submitted at least one funding application that was tagged with a specially designated phone number that they possessed. The tactic would allow them to do a clean trace on their deal by seeing who called upon that number, multiple sources confirmed.
Sure enough, someone other than the funding company reached back out to them, not knowing it was a trap. Unfortunately, that call wasn’t conclusive enough to connect it to the funder, according to one source. The sales agent attempting to snatch the deal wasn’t employed by the funder and the funder wasn’t sure how the sales agent was getting the deal in the first place. Somehow this guy was getting data he wasn’t supposed to be getting and the funder wanted nothing more than to make sure their integrity remained intact, a source said.
The victimized brokerage set their sights on the rogue sales agent and together with the cooperation of the local police department, apparently staged a sting operation. The rogue agent allegedly attempted to sell the stolen deal data to an undercover cop who was assisting with the case.
The suspect was charged with criminal possession of computer related material, a Class E felony, and released on recognizance three days later, according to arrest records obtained by deBanked. The penalty for such a crime can earn an offender up to 4 years in prison.
The funding company and brokerage are reportedly both relieved to have gotten to the bottom of the issue. Notably, in this case of deals slipping out the back door, it was the alleged recipient of the stolen deals that was charged. The hole that allowed him to get those deals in the first place has apparently resolved itself, sources said.
In the September/October 2015 issue of deBanked Magazine, interviewed MCA brokers agreed that the industry should police itself when it comes to backdooring. One brokerage, although not one that was named in that article, apparently took that advice literally when they enlisted the police to assist them.
All the sources to this story agreed that the arrest should serve as a warning. Backdooring deals has to stop, they concurred.
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The name of the accused and the names of the sources in this story were kept anonymous because it’s an ongoing criminal matter. The suspect is innocent until proven guilty.
Sean Murray is the President and Chief Editor of deBanked and the founder of the Broker Fair Conference. Connect with me on LinkedIn or follow me on twitter. You can view all future deBanked events here.
