Articles by deBanked Staff
deBanked CONNECT MIAMI Draws 1,100 People, Sets All-Time Record: See Photos Here
February 16, 2026deBanked CONNECT MIAMI 2026 surpassed all expectations and set a small business finance industry all-time record for signups with 1,100 people.
Lightspeed: ‘our largest use of cash will be growing our merchant cash advance business’
February 10, 2026
Lightspeed Capital originated $257M in merchant cash advances in the last 9 months of 2025, up from $207M over the same period in 2024. The company has repeatedly talked up the healthy profit margins earned on MCAs and last quarter called them a “super popular upsell.” Lightspeed operates in the POS and e-commerce space, competing against companies such as Shopify, Square, Toast, and Clover. Lightspeed Capital is its MCA business.
“Aside from potential buybacks, our largest use of cash will be growing our merchant cash advance business,” said Lightspeed CFO Asha Bakshani during the company’s recent quarterly earnings call. “There are currently $106 million in merchant cash advances outstanding, and we intend to continue to grow this high-margin business over time.”
Lightspeed MCAs are typically satisfied by merchants within seven months, but they want to shrink that timeframe even more. “Our goal is to target a shorter remittance time frame, and we are making great progress towards that end,” said Bakshani. The average factor rate is a 1.14.
A Thousand People Expected at deBanked CONNECT MIAMI 2026
February 9, 2026deBanked CONNECT MIAMI 2026 taking place on February 12 at the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach is projected to log more than 1,000 registrations. If you were on the fence about going, this is the event to go to if you work in or with the small business finance industry. Due to capacity, registration could shut off in advance of the event so be sure to have your tickets already. You can REGISTER HERE.
Industry Event Calendar 2026
February 9, 2026February 12, 2026: deBanked CONNECT MIAMI (Miami Beach)
June 1, 2026: Broker Fair (New York City)
October 20-21, 2026: B2B Finance Expo (Las Vegas)
National Alliance of Commercial Loan Brokers LLC Back in Roglieri’s Hands
February 5, 2026The United States Bankruptcy Court ordered the Roglieri Estate return its interest in the National Alliance of Commercial Loan Brokers LLC back to Roglieri himself. The order was dated January 30, 2026. That interest includes all the assets and liabilities attached to the National Alliance of Commercial Loan Brokers LLC. The Trustee’s reasoning was that management over the business had become burdensome to the Roglieri Estate.
Nearly two years ago, Roglieri declared in a bankruptcy filing that National Alliance of Commercial Loan Brokers LLC (often referred to as NACLB) was valued at $1 million.
Roglieri is currently imprisoned at the Rensselaer County Correctional Facility. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy this past November. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 11 and he is facing up to 20 years in prison.
PayPal: > 10% Business Loans Not Current
February 4, 2026PayPal finished 2025 with ~$2.2B in business loan originations, down from $3B the prior year. As of December 31, 2025, only 89.8% of their portfolio was current, down slightly from the prior year.
Charge-offs, however, are up significantly. The percentage excludes “fraud losses.”
PayPal’s CEO was replaced this week after the Board was disappointed by the company’s overall trajectory. Enrique Lores, the former president and CEO of Hewlett Packard, is now in the top spot. The upheaval was enough to prompt commentary from PayPal’s former president of the 2012-2014 era, David Marcus. On PayPal’s lending business specifically, Marcus offered this critique:
“On lending, PayPal missed the opportunity to turn it into a platform weapon. Products like Working Capital were conservative, short-duration, and optimized for loss minimization. Lending never became programmable, never became identity-driven, and never became a reason for merchants or consumers to choose PayPal over something else.”
Several Businesses that Belonged to Kris Roglieri Are Being Returned to Him for Free
January 30, 2026A United States Bankruptcy Court has ordered that the following businesses be released from the bankruptcy estate of Kris Roglieri and returned to Roglieri:
- National Alliance of Commercial Loan Brokers
- Commercial Capital Training Group
- Digital Marketing Training Group
- FUPME, LLC
- Shark Ventures LLC
The order is dated today, 1/30/26. The trustee’s reasoning for release is that the continued retention of these non-debtor interests are burdensome to the estate.
For full disclosure, the parent company of deBanked, Raharney Capital, LLC, had made a bid for two of the above entities and/or assets but withdrew it after the Trustee placed conditions on a sale that it would not agree to. Raharney Capital had also previously won the auction conducted for the Commercial Capital Training Group trademark but the sale was rescinded by the Trustee after claiming it had been auctioned off in error. The trademark (not the business) for National Alliance of Commercial Loan Brokers was apparently successfully sold off to a third party.
Roglieri had claimed in a March 22, 2024 bankruptcy declaration that the National Alliance of Commercial Loan Brokers business was valued at $1 million and that the Commercial Capital Training Group business was valued at $500,000. His interest in those businesses are now being returned to him by the Trustee at no cost.
Roglieri is currently imprisoned at the Rensselaer County Correctional Facility. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy this past November. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 11 and he is facing up to 20 years in prison.
Industry’s Mystery Fraudster Extradited to the United States
January 30, 2026A primary suspect in the small business finance industry’s long running mysterious fraud has been extradited to the United States. Saul Shalev, indicted this past August under seal (and unsealed in October) had eluded authorities for years but was finally arrested in Spain. On January 23, 2026, he was extradited to the United States and appeared before a US Magistrate Judge.
Shalev faces a nine-count indictment.
Between approximately December 2019 and November 2022, Shalev defrauded more than 20 small and medium-sized businesses (“SMBs”). As part of the scheme, Shalev obtained information about commercial loans received by the SMBs and offered the SMBs the opportunity to refinance the loans or to obtain additional financing, either from the original lender or from a new lender. Shalev, using stolen identities and making fraudulent representations, acted as a broker between SMBs and potential lenders. After obtaining new or additional financing for an SMB from a commercial lender, Shalev provided fraudulent payoff instructions to the SMB with respect to a prior loan, causing the SMB to send all or part of the loan proceeds to an account he controlled. Shalev also fraudulently received a commission from the lender.
