Re:Guiding a Venture-Backed Startup to a Felony
by scott00 on Saturday August 20, 2016 @08:22PM
(#12328899)
> Wouldn't that have at least been a real effort and protected them from being charged with fraud?
They were charged with securities fraud, not plain old every day fraud. My guess would be that just their "conservative scenario" of "you get all your money back" would be enough to put them into securities fraud territory. Having read a fair number of securities documents, that claim really leapt off the page at me. Usually offering documents have an extensive list of risks and stay far far away from promising your money back.
That said, I'm not a lawyer, and this was a prosecution under Colorado state securities laws (I'm much more familiar with federal). I would be interested in an expert answer to that question from someone who's familiar with the case law and the typical approach taken by prosecutors in similar cases.
They were charged with securities fraud, not plain old every day fraud. My guess would be that just their "conservative scenario" of "you get all your money back" would be enough to put them into securities fraud territory. Having read a fair number of securities documents, that claim really leapt off the page at me. Usually offering documents have an extensive list of risks and stay far far away from promising your money back.
That said, I'm not a lawyer, and this was a prosecution under Colorado state securities laws (I'm much more familiar with federal). I would be interested in an expert answer to that question from someone who's familiar with the case law and the typical approach taken by prosecutors in similar cases.