[dragonwriter]

> Fraud is a criminal offense.

In law, "fraud" is the name of both a civil wrong (tort) and a crime. The same is true of lots of things -- assault, for instance, is likewise the name of both a tort and a crime -- and, while related, the two offenses have different elements (as well as different sanctions, different legal processes, and different parties who can bring actions.)

See, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraud#As_a_civil_wrong

[sologoub]

Sure, but how is this relevant to the point I'm making that for the kickstarter and crowdfunding community, it would be better if this was a criminal fraud prosecution as opposed civil commerce-related proceedings?

[dragonwriter]

Its really hard to say how anything relates to that, since you've presented neither evidence nor argument supporting that point, just a bare assertion accompanied by the false statement of fact about the nature of "fraud".

It certainly seems to me to be worse for kickstarter and that model of crowdfunding in general if backers are denied recourse that is otherwise available both through direct action on government action on behalf of impacted parties through the civil justice system and restricted only to public prosecution through the criminal justice system for wrongs inflicted by firms seeking funding through crowdfunding mechanisms.

Having both civil and criminal remedies available in the same manner as they are for other commercial transactions avoids crowdfunding becoming a specially-protected haven for fraudsters, which would drive out backers, which would be bad for legitimate projects seeking to use the mechanism to fund themselves.

[sologoub]

First of all, I'm expressing an opinion, which you are free to disagree with, and, in fact, your disagreement is just an opinion as well, which you are fully entitled to and I thank you for sharing.

That said, the evidence is that this case sets the following precedents: - Failing a project could lead to substantial liability, even exceeding the amounts collected. (Previously, failing a project led to reputation damage and likely inability to raise more funding.) - Backer funding is being treated as pre-paid goods/services and is essentially a loan. (I'd call it interest-free loan, but there are fees involved in payment processing and refunds.) - Rewards are considered merchandise or goods sold. (Does this open the door for sales/use taxing? There could be other implications here, such as need to register to collect/remit these taxes.)

Crowdfunding started as a way to give ideas and less formal ventures a shot at becoming something. The amount of money now involved is definitely sizable and the fraudster comment you made speaks to that. Unfortunately, the formalization and the precedents here will likely change the spirit of crowdfunding very rapidly and make it a lot less appealing to legitimate projects. Fraudsters will likely find ways to skirt these precedents by establishing corp structures or what not that will shield their personal assets from much of the civil liability.

To me, this is a sad day.