Dragons Den scandle of investments are in fact loans for stock.

This doesn't sound like a loan to me - it sounds like a contract where the party buying equity is given priority on dividend payments, which as I understand it is reasonably common.<p>Of course, the money not actually appearing is a different matter.

When someone asks if you need a lawyer, it's not actually a question.

These companies are really unlikely to ever get acquired, how, other than with a loan, are the investors meant to get liquidity on their investment?

<i>"Well, you're not going to rip me off are you, because you've got a lot more money than me."</i><p>That's pretty faulty reasoning.