this is not new -- in the 1980s I recall the story of a sales agent who figured out that radio station license renewal or sale was subject to strict conditions as part of protecting market areas. So when a radio station was approaching FCC license deadline, this sales agent discovered that pre-bidding on the license before the legal renewal started, and then pre-selling that license to interested parties as if they had control of it, was very profitable; rinse, repeat. A sales-boiler room was setup in Florida and stations across the USA got the treatment. Everyone gets paid.

When sleepy enforcement caught up, the guy terminated all his willing sales guys with some cash to be quiet, and literally hid in his sister-in-law's basement for more than two years, with lots of money to pay bills.