Eric,
The devil is in the details, isn’t it? That is why we have as many lawyers as we do doctors (if not more). Once your friend has his money he can do with it what he wants. If he pays you, he pays you, he doesn’t have to name the payment as a finder’s fee for you helping him seal the deal. The payment could reflect other duties you did for him that might have been connected to the sale or totally different. Just because the money he is paying you came from the sale you help set up, don’t mean you can’t touch any of that money. I am sure a good attorney could make that point. He could put the money in a slush fund and add it to your next bit of work you do for him, then any one who would want to balk, cannot form the opinion you got a direct profit off the sale.
Feb 18, 2012