Sec Interpretation - Use of Electronic Media

Sec Interpretation: Use of Electronic Media
Source: US Treasury

The interpretations are effective on May 4, 2000.

Online Private Offerings under Regulation D

Broad use of the Internet for exempt securities offerings under Regulation D is problematic because of the requirement that these offerings not involve a general solicitation or advertising. When we first considered whether exempt offerings could be conducted over the Internet, we concluded that an issuer's unrestricted, and therefore publicly available, Internet web site would not be consistent with the restriction on general solicitation and advertising. Specifically, the 1995 Release included an example indicating that an issuer's use of an Internet web site in connection with a purported private offering would constitute a "general solicitation" and therefore disqualify the offering as "private."

Subsequently, the Divisions of Corporation Finance and Market Regulation issued interpretive guidance to a registered broker-dealer and its affiliate, IPONET, that planned to invite previously unknown prospective investors to complete a questionnaire posted on the affiliate's Internet web site "as a means of building a customer base and database of accredited and sophisticated investors" for the broker-dealer. A password-restricted web page permitting access to private offerings would become available to a prospective investor only after the affiliated broker-dealer determined that the investor was "accredited" or "sophisticated" within the meaning of Regulation D. Additionally, a prospective investor could purchase securities only in offerings that were posted on the restricted web site after the investor had been qualified by the affiliated broker-dealer as an accredited or sophisticated investor and had opened an account with the broker-dealer. The Divisions' interpretive letter was based on an important and well-known principle established over a decade ago: a general solicitation is not present when there is a pre-existing, substantive relationship between an issuer, or its broker-dealer, and the offerees.

We understand that some entities have engaged in practices that deviate substantially from the facts in the IPONET interpretive letter. Specifically, third-party service providers who are neither registered broker-dealers nor affiliated with registered broker-dealers have established web sites that generally invite prospective investors to qualify as accredited or sophisticated as a prelude to participation, on an access-restricted basis, in limited or private offerings transmitted on those web sites. Moreover, some non-broker-dealer web site operators are not even requiring prospective investors to complete questionnaires providing information needed to form a reasonable belief regarding their accreditation or sophistication. Instead, these web sites permit interested persons to certify themselves as accredited or sophisticated merely by checking a box.

These web sites, particularly those allowing for self-accreditation, raise significant concerns as to whether the offerings that they facilitate involve general solicitations. In these instances, one method of ensuring that a general solicitation is not involved is to establish the existence of a "pre-existing, substantive relationship. Generally, staff interpretations of whether a "pre-existing, substantive relationship" exists have been limited to procedures established by broker-dealers in connection with their customers. This is because traditional broker-dealer relationships require that a broker-dealer deal fairly with, and make suitable recommendations to, customers, and, thus, implies that a substantive relationship exists between the broker-dealer and its customers. We have long stated, however, that the presence or absence of a general solicitation is always dependent on the facts and circumstances of each particular case Thus, there may be facts and circumstances in which a third party, other than a registered broker-dealer, could establish a "pre-existing, substantive relationship" sufficient to avoid a "general solicitation."

Notwithstanding the analysis for purposes of Section 5 of the Securities Act, web site operators need to consider whether the activities that they are undertaking require them to register as broker-dealers. Section 15 of the Exchange Act essentially makes it unlawful for a broker or dealer "to effect any transactions in, or to induce or attempt to induce the purchase or sale of, any security (other than an exempted security or commercial paper, bankers' acceptances, or commercial bills)" unless the broker or dealer is registered with the Commission. The "exempted securities" for which broker-dealer registration is not required under Section 15 are strictly limited. They do not include, for example, securities issued under Regulations A, D or S or privately placed securities that would be "restricted" securities under Securities Act Rule 144. Thus, broker-dealer registration generally is required to effect transactions in securities that are exempt from registration under the Securities Act. In other words, third-party service providers that act as brokers in connection with securities offerings are required to register as broker-dealers, even when the securities are exempt from registration under the Securities Act.