January 28, 2013
I have worked with thousands of inventors and small start-ups, as well as many folks who invest in private-equity. The current securities system if totally out of reach of 80% of the small businesses, who also cannot get conventional money from banks for RD, etc.
It is critical the equity CF laws are implemented in the second quarter of 2013. Hundreds of businesses and investors geared up for the new laws based on the timeline built into the statute, and are at risk of losing catastrophic amounts of money and credibility.
I fully realize the consumer protection concerns of your agency. I used to do consumer work for our State Attorney General's Office. However, these concerns can be largely appeased through the combination of private-sector solutions that are actively underway(such as impounding, audits, insurance products, due diligence aids, civil class actions suits, etc.), and using regulations to make sharp penalties for abuse.
Our office is working with companies aimed at helping avoid, detect, fix, insure or mitigate losses. On the side of the SEC, perhaps create a fraud account where 0.025% of all CF offerings is dumped into an agency fund to be used in cases of fraud. In any event, there are bundles of available ways to address these concerns and it doesn't require long delays to implement the laws.
I am happy to travel to your department at my expenses from California and meet with any point person to share more specific views. What is important, is getting this implemented very soon. After all, it was essentially the only law passed in 2012 with wide by-partisan support in all three levels of lawmaking. The President, Congress, and the Senate, as well as the people want and need this law. Please contact me if I can help.
Sincerely, Matthew R. Nutting