My understanding is that it's the solicitation that is prohibited. You can raise $1000 each from 50 people if you want, but the SEC won't let you "advertise" th

My understanding is that it's the solicitation that is prohibited. You can raise $1000 each from 50 people if you want, but the SEC won't let you "advertise" the offering on the internet. You also get into the whole accreditation mess, but that's sort of a different issue.