Many companies seeking to raise capital use finders as intermediaries to find investors.  Many business owners seeking to sell the stock of their company use business brokers.  These finders and business brokers of course want to be paid and they are entitled to be paid.  The problem is this: if they are not registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 they are not legally permitted to perform these functions and cannot force the payment of their fees.  Further, the transaction may be overturned.

The need for capital formation, or for liquidity though sales of businesses, is so powerful and fundamental within our economy that for decades unregistered finders and brokers nonetheless have functioned with regularity and often with impunity.  But the window for these activities is closing; the details are available in my article that ran in New England In House this past month, which you can see by hitting this link.

Seems the SEC is too busy with Dodd Frank and JOBS Act regulatory burdens to address the simple issue of permitting finders to function legally, an easy fix that will go a long way towards spurring the economy.