Crazy decision to have them transferred. Pub must have a good relationship and push some volume, which shouldn't matter. I also do what Eagle mentioned above with my aff's, never ever would I step in the middle here. You fuckered up - don't drag me through your mud. In this case though, I would definitely get a chuckle out of it, and be happy for you to keep the leads that the other dude made for you through his theft.
Can't imagine this happening in my world, where it's all CPS - "Hi, umm, I used someones template and there was some code there, and all my links somehow went to someone elses aff link, thus I just spent 5K and didn't make a sale, can you please transfer all sales and money on xx account over to me?" < You'd get fucking laughed at.
You owe it to the community fam - out them.