Industry News
Missing Funds in Prime Capital Ventures Case Now Exceed $90 Million
February 20, 2024The case of the missing $50 million in the Prime Capital Ventures deposit scheme case is quickly ballooning to a much larger sum. On Tuesday, the Receiver representing Prime in the recovery efforts informed the Court that the total owed to victims is now almost $91 million and that it has yet to locate and secure anywhere near that amount. The growing number is attributed to the fact that more victim companies are beginning to come forward after news of the receivership and personal bankruptcy of Prime’s principal Kris Roglieri have been made public.
Roglieri’s attorney has asked the Court for the automatic stay of actions afforded to him in his personal bankruptcy be also applied to the other businesses he owns that the Receiver of Prime is suing, including the National Alliance of Commercial Loan Brokers entity. Roglieri is reportedly the 100% owner of the NACLB.
The party that sued Prime into receivership in the first place, a company named Compass-Charlotte 1031, LLC, said in its rebuttal to Roglieri’s request that not only is Prime indisputably insolvent but that there is no evidence that Roglieri’s other businesses at issue are not equally insolvent. Compass-Charlotte and the Receiver have both asked the Court not to extend the bankruptcy stay to these other businesses so that Prime can continue to pursue the assets.
NACLB Conference Founder Files Chapter 11
February 15, 2024Kris Roglieri, founder of the National Alliance of Commercial Loan Brokers (NACLB) conference, filed for Chapter 11 on Thursday as his legal issues continued to accelerate. In addition to his primary business Prime Capital Ventures being placed into receivership, numerous lawsuits, and his home being raided by the FBI, yet another party filed suit this morning to say that it had also been scammed by Roglieri after paying him $6 million as an upfront payment for a loan that he then ghosted on. The Receiver in the case believes that victims lost more than $50 million “in what appears to be a multi-state fraud scheme.” He has not actually been charged criminally at this time.
Roglieri’s bankruptcy election was under subchapter V, meaning the debts listed are business debts. Among them is an unpaid bill for $436,237 to Caesars Entertainment in Las Vegas where the NACLB held its last conference this past September. Other debts include a $709,000 EIDL loan, $600,000 in outstanding state taxes, ~$1 million to law firms, and a $100,000 business line of credit for the Commercial Capital Training Group.
Top Industry Execs Attend Small Business Finance Leaders Summit in Washington DC
January 29, 2024Fifty top C-level executives attended the Small Business Finance Leaders Summit in Washington DC last week to discuss the economy, small business finance, policy issues, regulatory impacts, and industry best practices. Co-hosted by two major trade organizations, the Small Business Finance Association (SBFA) and the Innovative Lending Platform Association (ILPA), it was invite-only and open to members of both.
Speakers included US Senator Roger Marshall, Tom Sullivan from the US Chamber of Commerce, Holly Wade from the National Federation of Independent Business, Aaron Klein from Brookings, Will Tumulty from Rapid Finance, Justin Bakes from Forward Financing, Kirk Chartier from OnDeck, and Steve Allocca from Funding Circle, among others.
“As our industry matures, it’s important to provide industry leaders with an opportunity to connect and engage with high-level thought leaders,” said Steve Denis, Executive Director of the SBFA. “We believe our C-level Summit complements the Broker Fair and other industry conferences like Money 20/20 or Nexus. We hope to expand our Summit in June to bring in some new industry voices and will continue to focus on high-end content that is meaningful and strategic for our members and other top industry leaders.”
The organizations are planning another Summit in early June to build upon the success.
Debanked on SNL
January 28, 2024Saturday Night Live ran an awkward segment last night about debanked. Make sure you watch it until the end.
As a good refresher, the word debanking was ranked one of the top 10 most significant words of 2023 and debank is in the dictionary.
Bluevine Partner Email Circulates
December 1, 2023An e-mail purporting to come from Bluevine’s Partner Notifications account was sent out to about 300 of their resellers yesterday with a plainly stated notice that their Referral Marketing Agreements had been terminated.
A representative from Bluevine confirmed that these notices were legitimate, saying that “we refined our strategy and are moving away from the ISO/reseller model.”
This was followed by the statement that “We will continue to work with a set of select strategic partners to deliver loans to small businesses.”
Bluevine has been making moves as of late. The company relocated its headquarters to Jersey City, NJ earlier this year, launched an Accounts Payable solution in August, and began offering protection of up to $3 million for business banking customers in September.
deBanked Thanksgiving Memes 2023
November 21, 2023It’s Thanksgiving again so you know what that means? Memes! This tradition (which we’ve kept up with as often as possible) started on deBanked in 2012. We hope you have a wonderful holiday and strong end-of-year.
And now, the memes:
See previous year memes:
2022 Thanksgiving Day Memes
2021 Thanksgiving Day Memes
2020 Thanksgiving Day Memes
2019 Thanksgiving Day Memes
2018
2017
2016
2012
Plus, don’t forget to register for deBanked CONNECT MIAMI taking place on January 11 in Miami Beach. This year’s event will feature the first ever Broker Battle!
deBanked CONNECT MIAMI Unveils Inaugural Broker Battle™
November 13, 2023In the span of just a few hours after deBanked CONNECT MIAMI announced BROKER BATTLE, about a dozen brokers entered their names into the contest on the hope that they may be chosen to compete LIVE at the Miami Beach Convention Center on January 11th. Entries will be accepted through December 1st but it may shut off sooner if the broker contestant pool reaches critical mass.
deBanked CONNECT Miami is adding Broker Battle to this year’s lineup of content. The first-of-its-kind event aims to be fun, educational, and serious. The winner of the Battle will earn the distinction of being the Top Broker and win a grand prize of $5,000.
To learn more about Broker Battle and/or enter, CLICK HERE.
To register for the event and make sure you witness history, learn from the experts, and enjoy the extraordinary networking opportunities of deBanked CONNECT MIAMI, CLICK HERE.
Got questions about deBanked CONNECT Miami? Want to sponsor? Email events@debanked.com.
This will be deBanked’s 6th annual event in Miami since 2018. ARE YOU READY?!
BHG Financial Tightening Its Credit Box, Dealing With Tough Environment
November 13, 2023BHG Financial (formerly Bankers Healthcare Group) originated $1 billion in loans in Q3, according to recently filed disclosures about the company. That was down from $1.1B in Q2. BHG mainly provides business loans and unsecured loans to healthcare practitioners. Although the company considered it to be a stronger quarter than anticipated, it predicts that Q4 will not be as strong and that originations will actually drop significantly to between $600M to $800M.
“As we look to the fourth quarter, BHG believes origination volumes will likely be less than Q3 as they continue to shrink their credit box,” said Terry Turner, CEO of Pinnacle Financial Partners, which owns 49% of BHG.
While originations start to slow, loan loss reserves have also increased.
“The decrease in income from BHG during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 as compared to the same periods in the prior year is largely the result of increases in (i) the liability for estimated future inherent losses for the outstanding core portfolio of loans sold to banks through the auction platform that may be subject to future substitution due to payment default or prepayment and (ii) the allowance for loan losses for loans BHG has retained on its balance sheet due to the uncertain economic environment.”
BHG is also exiting its “merchant financing business,” according to Pinnacle CFO Harold Carpenter. Carpenter was referring to NaluPay, BHG’s Point of Sale financing division. NaluPay launched a little over a year ago to great fanfare, claiming it would enable merchants “to offer their customers large credit lines, a suite of promotional and non-promotional financing options, and instant credit decisions within seconds.”
Nevertheless, Pinnacle says that BHG is feeling good about the direction things are heading.”BHG is optimistic about credit at the end of the third quarter,” Turner said.