One of the ProAV industry’s first “national” dealers was MCSi. After buying up more than 20 AV dealerships including Technical Industries of Atlanta, Fairview AFX from Tulsa, OK and DuoCom based in Canada,MCSi racked up sales of $686 million and was even a high-flying with a Fortune Magazine 100-Fastest-Growing-Company ranking in 2000. They had more than 150 offices and 2000 or so employees. MCSi went public on NASDAQ in 2001 garnering over $100 million for the company.

But, according to federal prosecutors who convened in Cincinnati Federal Court Monday, Mike Peppel, then CEO of MCSi, allegedly committed at least 30 crimes including mail fraud, filing false reports with the government, money laundering, wire fraud and securities fraud. Peppel has pleaded not guilty to at least 32 of the charges. However, according to reports, former MCSi chief financial officer, Ira Stanley, who pleaded guilty in federal court back in 2007 to crimes related to the case, will testify in the trial against Peppel.

The MCSi case didn’t just affect the 20 or so integrators who sold their small companies to be part of the MCSi alliance back in the early 2000s. You may remember it all became exposed via the federal case against formerClearOne CEO, Fran Flood, who is currently serving 48 months in federal prison for her involvement in securities fraud, conspiracy and perjury. When investigating the ClearOne case, prosecutors allegedly stumbled upon MCSi and Peppel’s involvement.

According to the Dayton Daily News, Peppel’s trial was expected to start Monday, but Peppel’s defense lawyers “surprised prosecutors” by saying there was “no firm commitment” to enter pleas then. The judge has ordered both sides to return on Wednesday August 11, when it is expected that a plea deal will be reached, or the trail will officially begin. It is still possible Peppel will make a deal with prosecutors and there will be no trial.

To read the latest Dayton Daily News story, go here: http://www.daytondailynews.com/business/possible-plea-deal-involving-ex-mcsi-executive-michael-peppel-on-hold-841021.html

This will be an interesting trial to monitor and rAVe will do just that. Stay tuned.