The Expert Podcast

Alright here we go Again Here's another platform where people have sent tens of millions of dollars for an investment that may be going south or being investigated . The sec the major us government investigative agency the securities and exchange commission . Is looking into Coinbase one of the largest platforms to see if there's any violations And this all comes down to something We see a lot with investigative . efforts for scams and fraud When somebody puts money into something . whether you call it an investment or not whenever you put money in , it has the risk of losing that money . And if there's an opportunity to make money that's an investment That's profit That's fine . And if you have the opportunity to lose money that's part of the risk . The big question is , is it a security ? And a security is a legal definition of a certain type of . Vehicle that allows for an investor to put money into something and make a profit And a security has to have certain requirements has to have certain disclosures and it has to be sold by a registered securities agent , a bunch of other things . Again we're not attorneys We're not giving you legal advice . But . A lot of times when we have a client that comes to us for an investigation that has lost money . The question is . Did the person or company that solicited that money I represent that they had a security even if they didn't call it a security . By definition of the features . is it a security ? And sometimes the companies . Misrepresent something that really is a security and they know it is . And they don't classify it that way to get around disclosures and protections . Sometimes they don't even know there's many companies that don't even know that what they're doing is selling a security without a license . So . If you have any time you're putting money into something . With the opportunity that it's going to go up and the risk of might go down , you have to ask yourself . Does this I qualify as a Def definition of a security . And if it is is it being marketed that way ? Are they licensed ? That's a big red flag If something is a security whether they call it or not . And they're not licensed That's a red flag that if they're doing that wrong what else are they doing wrong ? Again we're not sure You know we don't know if Coinbase is , is what their deal is but they're being investigated There's no . You know definitive answer if it's right or wrong . But even things like that NRIA real estate fiasco . being investigated filed bankruptcy . that was something that . Wasn't a security sometimes . Defined as a security other times . And in many cases an investment company . Can evade securities by calling somebody Qualified investor . Where they have certain amount of financial assets certain amount of income where they don't have to . Abide by securities laws Again , anytime you're putting money into something . That . Is designed to make a profit . But could also take a loss . You have to look at it . Is this something that is under the definition of a security and if it is . Are the presenters of this . Doing all they need to do to make sure they abide by securities laws . This can prevent a lot of losses through these scams and frauds . And if you have the experience of losing money on one of these scams let us know in the comments below or contact us on our website .