Most states have passed crowdfunding laws. One of the barriers has been the breadth of the federal preemption of interstate securities transactions. To be intra-state, and therefore out of the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the investors and the company doing the fundraising needed to all be in the same state. The problem is … Read more »
Category: Fundraising
506(c) Enforcement Actions
Although I had a lot of hope that the changing of private placement advertising restrictions by the Securities and Exchange Commission would remove potential foot-faults from the fundraising process, the end result proved challenging. Now it appears that the SEC is on the brink of challenging firms that took at advantage of the loosened restrictions. … Read more »
Compliance and the Presidential Candidates
With the New Hampshire primary complete, the field of presidential candidates will continue to become smaller. Some of those dropping out may lower their expectations to Vice President or go back to their day jobs. Registered investment advisers have to worry about those day jobs when it comes to campaign donations. Under SEC Rule 206(4)-5, … Read more »
Another Pay-to-Play Case
There are few among us who think the high cost of getting elected and fundraising that it requires is good for American politics. The SEC took a moral high ground and passed Rule 206(4)-5. That rule effectively prohibits investment managers from making political contributions to politicians who control pension money, other than small token amounts. … Read more »
SEC Takes a Look at the “accredited investor” definition
The Securities and Exchange Commission left a new Report on the Review of the Definition of “Accredited Investor” as an early Christmas present under your compliance tree. [Feel free to replace Christmas with New Years or the year end celebration of your choice.] We will need to keep an eye on what happens with this … Read more »
On line portals for fundraising
As part of the updates on private placements, the Securities and Exchange Commission granted a no-action letter to Citizen VC, an online venture capital firm. The main question was whether the firm was creating “substantive, pre-existing relationships” with prospective investors through its website. The firm wanted to avoid a result that its offers & sales … Read more »
Updates on Private Placements
One of the troubling aspects of private placements is trying to draw the line between public advertising for the business and public advertising for selling securities. This aspect is even more apparent for private equity funds and real estate funds that want to tout their deals without jeopardizing their fundraising. The Securities and Exchange Commission … Read more »
What is a “Voting Equity Security” under the Bad Actor Rule?
When the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted Rule 506(d), it did not define “voting equity securities.” That left many fund managers having to take an aggressive approach on compliance with the “bad actor rule.” The SEC has provided some additional clarity. I have to admit that I did not pay much attention to the recent … Read more »
Massachusetts Adopts Crowdfunding
Add Massachusetts to the growing list of states that are sidestepping the unusable federal crowdfunding alternative. “The Crowdfunding Exemption is designed to foster job creation by helping small and early-stage Massachusetts companies find investors and gain greater access to capital with fewer restrictions. The exemption is also intended to provide necessary investor protections by requiring … Read more »
Real Estate Crowdfunding
Real estate investing has a long history of crowdfunding. Prior to the 1986 changes to the tax code, there was a large syndication business for getting investors into real estate. Although the investment was usually more for the tax breaks involved instead of income and capital appreciation. With the surge of product crowdfunding through sites … Read more »