It seems like this is a kind of a loophole in the SEC's accredited investor rules. These people aren't accredited investors, yet a private company like Uber is

It seems like this is a kind of a loophole in the SEC's accredited investor rules. These people aren't accredited investors, yet a private company like Uber is able to take an investment from them by giving them options beforehand. Perhaps private companies should be forbidden from allowing the exercise of options for non-liquid stock by non-accredited investors, and then also forbidden from requiring un-exercised options that they have granted to non-accredited investors to be forfeited at the end of an exercise window so as to not be ludicrously unfair to the people holding unexercisable options.