Is this a legal use of the 1031?

[JD Martin]

@Dave Foster because I know he'll have some insight, but I'm curious to see what others think as well.

On another forum (not BP), someone posted that they were able to do a 1031 in reverse by:

1. Purchasing a property that would qualify under normal circumstances;

2. Putting the property into the name of an LLC (with themselves as the officers);

3. Selling the original property and then 'purchasing' the new property from the LLC.

I heard that and it sounds like a slick strategy but also sounds like it could be illegal, i.e. a clever but against-the-law way of sidestepping the IRS rules & laws on 1031s. They said they used it because they weren't sure they could identify another suitable property in 45 days based on their local market. 

So what say you?