Articles by deBanked Staff
Update on Maryland Commercial Financing Bill
March 20, 2022Maryland’s commercial financing disclosure bill is continuing to move through the state legislature. After debate with potentially affected parties, some changes were made to the bill’s language. The APR requirement on sales-based financing transactions remains in the bill, however.
The bill passed through the Senate unanimously (47-0) and has been referred to the House. The original version in the House had been withdrawn but that was most likely because the members of that chamber anticipated that substantive edits would take place in the Senate. The House will now resume review and consideration of the Senate’s version going forward.
Planned Auction of “Personal Property” in MJ Capital Case
March 19, 2022An auctioneer is being introduced into the MJ Capital saga to auction off surrendered personal property related to the scheme. Given how large the alleged ponzi was ($200M+), the value of the personal property at stake hardly reaches the same level of excess.
The inventory so far only includes:
- 1 2018 Mercedes Benz CLA 250
- 8 Watches (6 Rolex, 1 Michelle, 1 Gucci)
- 1 Gucci Backpack
- 2 Purses (Luis Vuitton and Christian Dior)
- 1 Louis Vuitton Bag
- 3 rings
- 1 pair of earrings
Additional property could be added, court records indicate. The date, time, and location of the auction has not yet been decided.
deBanked CONNECT MIAMI is SOLD OUT
March 15, 2022
Update: The deBanked events team is now en route to the location.
Tickets to deBanked Connect Miami have officially sold out.
The incredible demand led to more registrations than any previous deBanked CONNECT event in history.
“People want to network in person, they want to learn about what’s going on in the business around them,” said deBanked president Sean Murray. “But this one has surpassed all of our expectations.”
The March 24th event at the JW Marriott Marquis will be deBanked’s 4th time in Miami since 2018. Attendees of the small-business finance-focused event can expect to connect with brokers, lenders, funders, venders, lead generators, collectors, lawyers, investors, software providers, and more.
Tickets and sponsorships are no longer available. If you are already registered and have questions, email events@debanked.com.
PPP Lender Arrested on Fraud Charges Also Allegedly Reversed PPP ACHs, Separate Civil Lawsuit States
March 14, 2022
It’s not just criminal fraud charges that the CEO of MBE Capital Partners is facing. Rafael Martinez, who was arrested two weeks ago for allegedly lying to financial institutions and the government about MBE’s size in order to fraudulently obtain PPP lender status, is also facing a civil suit in New York where more than four dozen co-plaintiffs are suing his company. In it, several of the plaintiffs have alleged that MBE unexpectedly and without notice debited out the full balance of the PPP loans from their accounts weeks or even months after they got funded them in the first place.
“Since a majority of these [Plaintiffs] had already properly used their PPP proceeds at the time of Defendants reclamation reversal, in a majority of instances the funds withdrawn from each account consisted, in whole or in part, of non-PPP funds,” the lawsuit states.
Plaintiffs contend that MBE had taken this step because MBE had wrongly suspected some type of fraud on the part of the borrowers, and that nevertheless did not have the authority to reverse the ACHs even if it were true. MBE in its public reply denied the allegations and filed a counterclaim against a single individual that had purportedly assisted the plaintiffs in filing their PPP applications.
While the government has brought hundreds of claims against PPP borrowers, this is the first known instance of a PPP lender taking a vigilante approach to suspected fraud by just allegedly debiting back the entirety of the PPP funds. Plaintiffs claim that when MBE did so, that they weren’t even under any kind of investigation by the SBA.
The civil suit in New York is unrelated to the fraud that MBE Capital CEO Rafael Martinez was arrested for. Federally, Martinez is accused of using misrepresentations to trick his way into becoming an authorized PPP lender that helped him pocket $71 million in lender fees in the process. With that Martinez reportedly bought a villa in the Dominican Republic, a Ferrari, and private jets.
The civil suit in New York, meanwhile, can be found under Index Number: 652786/2021
Funding Circle’s Originations Have Slowed Dramatically in The US
March 10, 2022
Funding Circle’s US originations fell significantly in 2021 versus the previous two years, the company’s latest year-end report revealed. US originations were only £316M in 2021, of which £224M was PPP funding. That £92M in non-PPP funding was a massive drop from the £619 in 2019, for example.
Funding Circle attributed the reduction in demand to the ending of government stimulus programs.
“The US has a fragmented SME lending market,” the company stated in its full-year report. It estimated that 89% of all SME lending was done through banks and only 10% through specialty finance providers.
Funding Circle’s loans have small margins. The company projects annualized returns of only 5-7% on its US-originated non-PPP loans. Meanwhile, annualized inflation in the US by comparison is currently trending at 7.9%.
Funding Circle also announced its exit from the peer-to-peer lending model. According to the Financial Times, Funding Circle CEO Lisa Jacobs said of it: “There’s been a big shift; the industry has shrunk severely.”
Broker Show Ends in a Cold Call Showdown For The Ages
March 3, 2022
The nearly 1-hour long season finale of Equipping The Dream aired on Thursday, concluding the first reality show to ever capture the business finance industry. The six-episode series which followed four aspiring equipment finance brokers, proved, if nothing else, that cold calling and phone sales are not dead.
The show’s contestants capped off their week of sales training with a calling competition that came down to the wire and an outcome that left viewers shocked. Josh Feinberg, one of the sales trainers in Equipping The Dream, explained it best. “It almost seemed like it was scripted, but it couldn’t have been more real.”
Two episodes were released each week starting on February 15th. The March 3rd airing of the finale means that eager viewers can now binge the entire show on deBanked TV without having to wait for future episodes. (Start With Episode 1 here)
The show captured a real life broker training at the office of Everlasting Capital in Rochester, New Hampshire. deBanked’s Sean Murray served as Executive Producer.
“I really had no idea what we were going to capture by having our camera crew there all week,” Murray said. “But what we got is something everyone doing sales in the industry should watch at least once. It came out that good.”
Connecticut Revives Commercial Financing Disclosure Bill
March 3, 2022The State of Connecticut has resurrected its commercial financing disclosure bill, adding to the pile of states doing the same. Senate Bill 272 is a throwback to earlier versions of legislative drafting in that it contains the term “double dipping.”
The bill was only just reintroduced today, March 3rd, where it has been referred to the Joint Committee on Banking. When it was raised last year, it was met with fierce opposition.
The full text of the bill can be read here.
deBanked Spins Off Crypto News into a Separate New Brand
February 28, 2022
Move over de-banked, one segment of fintech is becoming completely de-cashed as crypto transactions continue to flourish. The universe of bitcoin, ethereum, blockchain, smart transactions, and NFTs only scratch the surface of the innovation and potential that could one day replace the financial system as we know it.
deBanked began reporting on crypto in 2014 in the early days of Bitcoin and since then, through fits and starts, has increased the amount of coverage in that space. After much internal deliberation, our team decided at the end of 2021 to create an off-shoot brand focused entirely on crypto-related news, deCashed.
deCashed will cover everything from crypto-lending to fintech to smart contracts to NFTs. deBanked launched its own NFT smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain last September and deBanked Chief Editor Sean Murray will be speaking at NFT NYC in June 2022.
“Everything with the deBanked brand and business will remain the same,” said Murray. “I’ve been using and following cryptocurrency for eight years at this point. deCashed will finally provide us with the journalistic runway to expand our horizons into a market we already know and one that has so much untapped opportunity.”
As independent media, deCashed is still in its early days. “It’s live already but stay tuned,” Murray said. “We’ve been talking about doing this for a really long time.”
