Jim Raeder
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Should Raeder Reveal the Name or Not? 

  by Christopher Menkin 

At the end of this article, we ask readers to give us their opinion as to whether Jim Raeder should reveal the name of the culprit, and his company, who sent several derogatory e-mails to CapitalWerks funders , leasing associations, leasing “on line newspapers,” various print newspapers, and leasing leaders. 

The e-mail addresses came from the funders and leasing association web sites, plus the senders own list.  In addition to these persons receiving the e-mail, it was “passed around” the internet and sent numerous times like a chain letter. Hundreds received the e-mail.

More damaging, the funding sources who do not like controversy, and already are “suspicious” about any lease sent to them, began to think there was truth in what was written. 

Leasing News printed the New York Times story, various responses, the Better Business Bureau reports, various responses.  In addition, we spoke to many of the “vendors” named, many of the funding sources, and did other investigations over a period of 30 days which concluded that the accusations were false.

Leasing News has also publicly stated that any complaints against CapitalWekrs have been resolved to both parties satisfaction.

Leasing News for four years has been in contact with both leaders of CapitalWerks/Preferred Leasing, Jim Raeder and Mark McQuitty, who have never refused a telephone call or to investigate any complaint against them or their company. 

For the record: Kit Menkin has never done business with CapitalWerks/Preferred Leasing nor have they advertised on Leasing News (whether they did or did not would not affect our viewpoint, but for the record, they have never advertised here.) I personally have only met them once, maybe Jim Raeder twice. 

Through this time period all the funders during these four years have told me about their high “approval to signed” lease ratio, their “due diligence,” the quality of their “paper,” even when a “structured deal.”  Many of these funders were banks. In the course of their former company, buying portfolio's, and other companies, such as Preferred Lease, the banks had nothing but good comments about the way things were handled. A “Meet the Newsmaker” forum and two workshops at a United Association of Equipment Leasing Conference were also held for those in attendance to ask questions. 

During this time I have seen Jim Raeder and Mark McQuitty re-build their company that was originally sold to Sierra Cities.  They both have grown. You may not know this, but both only recently started to draw a salary: minimal.  All the money goes back into building CapitalWerks.  Outside their own families, it is the most important event in their lives.  They work long hours, push themselves, push others, and would not jeopardy their investment of money, time, and energy to play games with a source of capital. 

McQuitty is one of the most intelligent individuals I have corresponded with, predicting the course of leasing and the economy in writing accurately for over ten years.  Raeder is tenacious, driven, extremely competitive, very bright; a leader.  Yes, they are tough competitors. Yes, they push their salesmen.  Yes, they fire those that don't follow their ethics as Jim Raeder says he doesn't want to ruin a relationship with a funder over one deal.  And yes, they have enemies, mostly ex-salesmen, many who have become brokers and compete against them.  Some have legitimate gripes, they believe.

For years, the internet has been full of rumors, falsehoods, and out right lies about Jim Raeder and Mark McQuitty.  I liken it somewhat to all the “hoaxes” being passed around.  After a while of seeing them, people start to believe them as being “true.” History is full of these, such as Paul Revere never finished his ride to warn about the British coming.  In reality, only one of the three riders made it through.  Day in American History tries to correct these “lies” all the time.

Our mission is to print the truth, to insure not only “legal” but “ethics” are up-held.  Spreading falsehoods, lies, and making derogatory comments about your competitors falls into this category.

These accusations should be faced, and not allowed to be spread around the industry behind the back of the accused.  They should be brought out open. The culprit who sent the e-mails went out of their way to hide their identity. First, they put all the addresses and messages on a disk.  They then went to Kinko's, used their computer to obtain a free yahoo address, and sent the e-mails out.

They thought if traced, it would go back to the Kinko's store and end there. What they did not realize is that Kinko's videotapes their store for security purposes and other legal liability purposes.  With the use of the video, Jim Raeder and Mark McQuitty could not only see the person, but watch them use their credit card, and then see the difficulty the person had with using the disk in the computer.  The clerk, after seeing the video, remembered the incident. They then were able to obtain access to the hard drive of the computer used, plus obtain a physical copy of the credit transaction.

Now at this point, Jim Raeder is having second thoughts.  The old Jim Raeder would have hung the person to dry, taking every dollar, enjoying every morsel.  The new Jim Raeder, now a father of four children, given a second chance to build a leasing company, has reservations.  In fact, he has a completely different viewpoint. Please read his statement as he does believe it is good for the industry to identify the person and their company: 

“ Over the past few years your internet tabloid (Leasing News) has been informative and entertaining for your readers.  You have provoked standardization of lease language, mediated disputes, provided excellent coverage on mergers and acquisitions, and been on top of industry change.  Most of your news has been unbiased and positive for the industry.  

“Recently we have been the target of an underhanded libelous and slanderous attack from a competitor.  We have identified the individual responsible for these attacks as a competitor by obtaining the video tape from Kinko's where the information was sent from.  After careful consideration we do not intend to publicly reveal our findings at this time as it compromises settlement discussions.  I also believe publishing anonymous inaccurate letters and emails is destructive to the industry as a whole.   The publishing of false information without well documented support is damaging not only to the organizations profiled, but to the entire leasing business.  As evidenced by the damages resulting from recent issues surrounding Dan Rather, fabricated lies have a negative impact on the Presidency as a whole and the intended results backfired.  

“I recognize your readership swells with controversial issues, but the overall reduction in participating lenders and capital markets interested in profiting from our industry has been reduced considerably over the past few years.  We need to encourage more banks and lenders to participate in our business and not convince them to find alternatives.”

      Jim Raeder

It is Leasing News position that snakes who hide beneath a rock be exposed.   The name should be divulged. The person should be held accountable to the leasing community.  Should Raeder reveal the name or not?  Please let us learn your opinion.