In 1984, the SEC began an experiment with online filings. A decade later, the agency started requiring that all information be submitted in digital form through its Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval system, now universally known as Edgar.
Doing so is surprisingly simple. Applicants fill out an online questionnaire called Form ID and submit a document signed by a notary. The applicant is then granted access codes to Edgar. The entire process usually takes less than 48 hours.
Had the SEC taken more time, it may have had some questions for Lee, the Chicago artist. In his telling, his efforts to sell artworks led him to get in touch with some of the biggest movers and shakers in finance and technology: Bank of America’s chief executive Brian Moynihan, who liked his art, and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who wanted to buy his company.
In one of his first SEC filings, on Oct. 19, Lee said Bank of America bought a stake in his YNoFace Holdings, the investment company associated with his art business, for shares worth $88 billion -- which would rank it between the value of Starbucks Corp. and Nike Inc.
In another filing months later, Lee said that Alphabet acquired YNoFace Holdings in exchange for 4.5 billion of its Class A shares -- more than 10 times the number of shares that are outstanding -- and worth $3.8 trillion currently. Bank of America and Google said the filings and the claims of contact with executives were false.
Both filings remain on the SEC’s website.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.