They can't really do that his time around, the new guy gets 2% of sales he generates. And his salary will be on the public record, so unless this is some sort of criminal money-laundering enterprise, it's not the case.
And have these guys ever demonstrated to you the skills to run any sort of successful business, legal or illegal?
I think it's possible, likely, even, that the software just isn't panning out in customer tests. I mean, really, how does anyone know it really works as "advertised" or if it does that it's better than anything else out there?