Tag: Series LLC

audience asking questions by raising hands

The Series LLC And Crowdfunding Vehicle: A Legal Explanation And A Funding Portal WSP

On By crowdfundattnyIn Crowdfunding Portals, Crowdfunding Vehicles, Series LLC2 Comments

Lots of people have asked for a legal explanation in response to my previous post about crowdfunding vehicles and the series LLC. Plus, many funding portals will want a Written Supervisory Procedure (WSP) addressing the issue.

Here’s the legal reason why a “series” of a limited liability company can’t serve as a crowdfunding vehicle.

Rule 3a-9(b)(1) (17 CFR §270.3a-9(b)(2)) defines “crowdfunding vehicle” as follows:

Crowdfunding vehicle means an issuer formed by or on behalf of a crowdfunding issuer for the purpose of conducting an offering under section 4(a)(6) of the Securities Act as a co-issuer with the crowdfunding issuer, which offering is controlled by the crowdfunding issuer.

You see the reference to the crowdfunding vehicle as an “issuer” and a “co-issuer.”

Now here’s a C&DI (Compliance & Disclosure Interpretation) issued by the SEC in 2009:

Question 104.01

Question: When a statutory trust registers the offer and sale of beneficial units in multiple series, or a limited partnership registers the offer and sale of limited partnership interests in multiple series, on a single registration statement, should each series be treated as a separate registrant?

Answer: No. Even though a series of beneficial units or limited partnership interests may represent interests in a separate or discrete set of assets – and not in the statutory trust or limited partnership as a whole – unless the series is a separate legal entity, it cannot be a co-registrant for Securities Act or Exchange Act purposes.

Note the conclusion:  “. . . .unless the series is a separate legal entity, it cannot be a co-registrant for Securities Act or Exchange Act purposes.”

A “series” of a limited liability company is not a separate legal entity. Under section 218 of the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act and corresponding provisions of the LLC laws of other states, if you keep accurate records then the assets of one series aren’t subject to the liabilities of another series. That makes a series like a separate entity, at least in one respect, but it doesn’t make the series a separate legal entity. A motorcycle is like a car in some respects but it’s not a car.

That’s the beginning and end of the story:  a crowdfunding vehicle must be an “issuer”; a series of a limited liability company can’t be an “issuer” because it’s not a separate legal entity; therefore a series of a limited liability company can’t be a crowdfunding vehicle.

Maybe someone will challenge the application of the C&DI in court. Until that happens the result is pretty clear.

A couple more things.

First, this same C&DI is the basis of many successful offerings under Regulation A. Suppose, for example, that you’d like to use Regulation A to raise money for real estate projects (or racehorses, or vintage cars, or anything else), but you don’t want to spend the time and money to conduct a Regulation A offering for each project. This same C&DI allows sponsors to treat the “parent” limited liability company as the only “issuer” in the Regulation A offering even while allowing investors to choose which project they’d like to invest in and segregating the projects in separate “series” for liability purposes. If each series were a separate issuer that wouldn’t work.

Second, suppose a funding portal creates a new series for each offering and has conducted 25 offerings (that is, 25 series for 25 crowdfunding vehicles), each with a different type of security (one for each offering). Because we know that only the “parent” can be an issuer:

  • They’ve violated Rule 3a-9(a)(3) because the parent has issued more than one class of securities; and
  • They’ve violated Rule 3a-9(a)(6) because there is no one-to-one correspondence between the securities of the parent and the securities of the crowdfunding issuer.

To quote Simon & Garfunkel, any way you look at this you lose.

If you’re a funding portal, you’ll probably be asked by FINRA to add a WSP dealing with crowdfunding vehicles. Here’s an example.

Questions? Let me know. 

Caution: Don't Use Series LLC As A Crowdfunding Vehicle

FINRA: Don’t Use Series LLC As A Crowdfunding Vehicle

On By crowdfundattnyIn Crowdfunding, FINRA, Series LLC2 Comments

At least one high-volume Crowdfunding portal once used a “series LLC” for each crowdfunding vehicle and used a crowdfunding vehicle for almost every offering. Maybe that portal and others still do.

In a post that has yet to be picked up by the Associated Press, this blog once explained why that was a bad idea from a legal liability point of view. Now FINRA has chimed in.

The Series LLC

Some states, notably Delaware, allow a single limited liability company to be divided into “series,” the way an auditorium could be physically divided into cubicles. If operated correctly, Delaware provides that the creditors of one series can’t get at the assets of another series. So if one series of the LLC operates an asbestos plant and is hit with a giant lawsuit, the plaintiffs can’t get at the assets of the real estate owned by a different series of the same LLC.

Why Not to Use a Series LLC

I argued that it would be foolish to use a series LLC as a crowdfunding vehicle because:

  1. The series LLC concept has never been tested in a bankruptcy court, so we’re still not 100% sure the walls between cubicles will hold up.
  2. Some states, like Arizona, don’t even recognize the series LLC concept. So if an Arizona resident invests in a series LLC that goes bad, she can theoretically get to the assets owned by every other series of the same LLC. When you have a high-volume portal using a new series over and over, that could be a nightmare.
  3. Using a series LLC rather than a brand new LLC saves less than $200.

FINRA Chimes In

According to a recent statement by FINRA, a series LLC would not satisfy 17 CFR §270.3a-9(a)(6), which requires a crowdfunding vehicle to “Maintain a one-to-one relationship between the number, denomination, type and rights of crowdfunding issuer securities it owns and the number, denomination, type and rights of its securities outstanding.”

FINRA is saying, in effect, that while one series of an LLC might be protected from the liabilities of a different series under Delaware law, the series is not itself an “issuer.” The “issuer” is the LLC itself, i.e., the “parent” limited liability company formed by the portal. Because the securities of that parent do not reflect a one-to-one correspondence with the securities of any particular company raising money on the platform, it doesn’t qualify as a crowdfunding vehicle – it’s a plain vanilla investment company. And investments companies aren’t allowed to use Reg CF (they’re also subject to a bunch of other rules).

For what it’s worth, FINRA’s position about who can be an “issuer” is consistent with SEC practice.

The Upshot

If FINRA is right, it probably means that every offering that used a series LLC as a crowdfunding vehicle was illegal. 

Some possible ramifications:

  • Any investor who lost money can sue the issuer and the funding portal, and possibly their principals.
  • Every issuer can sue the funding portal.
  • Funding portals might be sanctioned by FINRA.

In short, a bonanza for plaintiffs’ lawyers and a black eye for the Crowdfunding industry.

Questions? Let me know. 

The Series LLC

On By crowdfundattnyIn Crowdfunding, LLCsLeave a comment

Series LLCI bought the iPhone 6 and get a chill using ApplePay. I was one of the earliest adapters of the limited liability company, way back when. I like new, useful things. But I don’t like the “series LLC” all that much.

A series LLC is a regular limited liability company with compartments inside, like a room divided into cubicles. Each compartment is called a “series.” By law, the assets and liabilities of each series stand by themselves, meaning that the creditors of one series cannot get at the assets of a different series. The series LLC was first adopted in Delaware, naturally, but has now been adopted by a handful of other states, including Texas and Nevada.

The series LLC was supposed to make life simpler. For example, a real estate developer with five projects could form just one LLC and divide it into five series, each with different assets, liabilities, and even owners. The developer would pay to form only one entity, pay only one annual registration fee, file only one tax return, etc.

The state tax authorities threw the first wrench into the gears by declaring that each series would be treated as a separate entity for franchise tax purposes.

But the real problem with the series LLC is that nobody knows whether it will work if challenged in court, especially in a bankruptcy court. If one series incurs a liability, will a bankruptcy court respect the state LLC statute saying that creditors can’t get to the assets of another series? A bankruptcy court is supposed to respect state property laws but. . . .the truth is nobody really knows.

Until that critical question is answered by a court, I can’t recommend using a series LLC. They’re convenient, but the convenience comes with too much risk for my taste.

I bought the iPhone 6, not the 6 plus.

Questions? Let me know.