By Dina ElBoghdady
The ads may start coming in the next few months through e-mail, on billboards, even via a passing reference on Facebook — companies looking to give you a chance to invest on the ground floor of a start-up that could hit it big.
The tantalizing offers may be legitimate or pie-in-the-sky schemes, and that’s the messy reality that federal regulators must address as they craft new rules that will fundamentally change how private offers are marketed to potential investors.
