Investment Fraud Lawyer Blog

The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), an organization comprised of the 50 state securities regulators, believes that the crowd funding provisions of the so-called JOBS Act are just another “Regulation D-like rip-off,” according to InvestmentNews (“Crowd funding draws scorn from NASAA,” by Mark Schoff Jr.). Regulation D provides a registration exemption for certain investments that are privately offered – i.e., not offered by means of a general solicitation to the public at large.

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Congress recently passed the “Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (“JOBS”), which contains provisions that will change the securities laws to allow what is known as crowdfunding. Crowdfunding provides a way for small businesses to raise money by pitching their stories to thousands of small-dollar investors using social media web sites with little or no disclosure. Proponents say it will result in more jobs. Critics are concerned about some unintended, but foreseeable, consequences.

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CFO.com, a publication geared specifically for finance executives, says that the JOBS Act may not be all it’s cracked up to be, as there are both more new regulations and less incentives for start-ups to go public than has previously been reported in some financial publications (“JOBS Act Turns Spotlight on Crowdfunding,” by Sarah Johnson, CFO.com, April 5, 2012).

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The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged an Illinois-based advisor with selling fictitious securities via social media. Anthony Fields, CPA, doing business as Anthony Fields & Associations and Platinum Securities Brokers offered over $500 billion of phony securities through a variety of social media sites, including using LinkedIn discussions to promote nonexistent “bank guarantees” and “medium-term notes.” Many potential buyers indicated they were interested.

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