Itria Ventures sues another ex-employee for stealing data. Another example of how alternative lenders do not protect your data.
- Thomas Tramaglini
- Apr 15
- 4 min read
We have written repeatedly in the past about how it is important for alternative lenders to protect their data. One company has had re-occurring issues with internal employees stealing their data and looking for a payday: Itria Ventures.
Back in October of 2024, we wrote about one instance where Itria was going after Eli Gross of MCA Leads Gen for allegedly stealing Itria's data and selling it to MCA brokers. In another recent lawsuit, an employee allegedly stole data and attempted to sell the data for kickbacks and more.
As we previously wrote, little is done other than suing the culprits versus fixing its internal functions of protecting its data.
By Thomas Tramaglini, Chief Operations Officer
Partner, The Center for MCA Research
The Case
The case is straightforward. An ex-employee (Jaideep Kaushik a/k/a Ken Walker) is accused of stealing lead data from their company and trying to sell it for personal profit.
Here is a summary of the case (for detailed accusations, please refer to the lawsuit by following the link below).
Itria considers its customer lists to be highly confidential and takes reasonable steps to keep them secret and not easily accessible, including requiring its representatives to sign confidentiality agreements.
Itria also enforces a workplace policy prohibiting representatives from using personal phones at work, preventing them from stealing trade secrets and selling them to competitors and contracted brokers, like the Defendants, for kickbacks or personal financial gain.
Itria noticed that Walker frequently visited the office locker room during work hours, using his personal cell phone to send texts, which violated Itria’s anti-theft policies.
When confronted by Itria about his suspicious behavior, Walker admitted to stealing Itria’s trade secrets and attempting to sell them to the Defendants, Itria’s competitors and their brokers, for thousands of dollars in kickbacks and personal commissions.
The following are implicated as those on the other side of Walker's actions:
R1 Solutions, Inc.
Raphael Warshower
Harvest Lending, Inc.
Thomas Chillemi
Kamry Fuller
Perlman Syndications LLC dba Black Tie Funding
Mordechai Perlman
Seabrook Funding, Inc.
Pathway Catalyst Partners, LLC
Shimon Louis
This list seems to combine brokers with individuals acting as lead generators or brokers.
Walker has admitted in writing to his wrongdoing and has implicated the Defendants.
Itria is pursuing punitive damages from those who obtained data from Itria through Walker to underscore that such actions are unacceptable.
Again - we ask... What about the Small Business Owner?
The team at Beacon Client Solutions, based in New Jersey, is legally obligated to protect client data with the highest level of seriousness. In New Jersey, the New Jersey Privacy Act (NJPA) mandates our organization to safeguard client data using various methods similar to HIPAA.
Itria Ventures, located in New York, is governed by NY Law (e.g., SHIELD Act, Personal Privacy Protection Law, among others).
Our firm believes that if Walker or anyone from their Itria role misappropriated/stole data from Itria Ventures, they should be held responsible for their actions.
The key question we ask is What about the small business owner?
This lawsuit underscores the necessity for alternative lenders to improve their data protection protocols. In this situation, Walker indiscriminately distributed Itria's data, exposing the personal information of small business owners.
Even though Itria identified the employee, such incidents are recurring in this sector.
We believe Itria should carry out an internal investigation (if not already conducted) to 1) ascertain how the data was leaked, and 2) develop strategies to protect small business owners. Furthermore, as mandated by Federal and nearly all State data protection laws, Itria should inform all their clients, including the over 200,000 funded clients and those who were not funded, about the data breach. The company should also take steps to remedy any harm caused by this incident and detail how they plan to safeguard small business owners in the future.
While Itria is taking legal action against an individual they suspect of stealing their data, this breach raises serious questions. How does an alternative lender have their data stolen without understanding how it ended up with someone who frequently sells lead data to brokers?
Itria, which operates under Biz2Credit http://itriaventures.com, has no information on their website about this data breach or any steps they are taking to resolve the issue. We hope this does not reflect Itria and Biz2Credit's past conduct of misleading small business owners.
Having their data compromised is likely an embarrassing situation for Itria. This complaint depicts Itria as determined in pursuing the individual or company that stole their data. However, the core issue is that Itria failed to sufficiently protect their data, and more importantly, the small business owners they served or did not serve.
In this situation, Itria must also be held accountable.
Dr. Thomas Tramaglini is the Director of Operations and Negotiation for Beacon Client Solutions, a company that supports small businesses on a host of fronts, especially MCA debt. Thomas has been a small business owner for many years, as well as held leadership positions in several organizations and companies. Thomas holds a B.A. in History, as well as Masters and Doctorates in Organizational Leadership from Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey.
Disclaimer: Beacon Client Solutions is not an accountancy, or a law firm. We are business consultants. While Beacon works with outstanding attorneys and accountants, we cannot and do not provide legal or tax advice. All of our work is connected to those who are legally certified to give such advice. Beacon does have a longstanding body of work in MCA resolution and understands what small business owners deal with, specific to MCA. Beacon Client Solutions serves clients in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Canada.
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