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The short answer is, you can’t. Private placements have no reporting or registration requirements with the SEC or other entities.

Sometimes this can be good for investors who enjoy the discretion. But it can also be a shield for unethical business people who prefer to avoid regulatory oversight.

There is no source for detailed information about private placements unless you personally know a general partner who can describe to you his project, or who comes highly recommended with a lot of references. If an offering seeks to raise over $2 million in the capital in a year’s time, they are obligated under Regulation D to provide audited financial statements to the investors.

Private placements cannot be distributed to the general public – it is a violation of US Security laws. An exception to this rule came about thanks to the JOBS Act of 2012, which says that large offerings can be made via public solicitation and advertisement if only accredited investors are allowed to invest and the private placement firm take due diligence to confirm their accredited investor status.

These advertisements are not subject to the same rules as mutual funds and other investments that are available to non-accredited investors, and, due to court cases that are now used as standards, they are basically able to misrepresent themselves without penalty unless there is any provable intent to defraud investors.

Usually, Private Placement memorandums are numbered and given to you with a number of various disclaimers. You can search the EDGAR database to view all Form D information, which is required for all companies offering private placements under Regulation D.

This really doesn’t give you any important details, however, besides the names of the key people, which you probably already know. If there are unfamiliar names on there, you can do further research. But, again, you won’t be able to find out anything really useful from publicly available information about these arrangements.