The candidate had been on a contract for ten months, doing the work of a full-time role the company had never properly filled. When the full-time posting finally went up, they were encouraged to apply — and did.
The loop ran to five interviews. The offer came, and they accepted it.
Then the background check. Whatever it turned up was enough: the accepted offer was withdrawn. The ten months already worked did not enter into the decision, which is the particular shape of this one — being invited to apply for your own job, clearing five rounds to keep it, and failing a gate nobody had applied the first time.
Five interviews, one acceptance, one withdrawal, and a contract that presumably reverted to its original terms the same afternoon.