Collection Agency Start-Up Owner May have Shaky Past

by Patrick Lunsford CollectionIndustry.com

In a story run widely in local and collection industry media ? including CollectionIndustry.com ? a start-up debt buyer/collector in Arizona announced the opening of their business next month with the promise of hiring some 1,100 people by the end of 2007. But it turns out that the agency?s owner and CEO has had a prior run-in with business regulators in the state.

Arizona?s Corporation Commission issued a cease and desist order to Lori Moriarty in February of this year to stop “selling unregistered securities,” according to the Arizona Republic. The order was in response to Moriarty?s packaging of consumer debt for resell to investors under a different company.

Moriarty told the Republic that she is not trying to run from the mistake. In fact, she promised to link to the order when the web site for her new company is up and running. She admits to making a mistake. “I was just absolutely stupid. I didn’t ask an attorney trained in securities if this was OK,” Moriarty told the Republic. “No one lost any money. It just caused quite a bit of embarrassment.”