Alliance was a leasing company that devised an opportunity for third-party investors in which the investors paid money to Alliance for the purchase of commercial or kitchen equipment. Alliance then acted as an agent to arrange an equipment lease with the business/lessee that needed the equipment. Alliance entered into a joint venture agreement with the investors to sell them the equipment and to broker a lease between the investor and a lessee. The lease agreement provided for lease payments to be paid by the lessees directly to the investor on a monthly basis over a two-year period, at the end of which a balloon payment (the entire principal) would be due. Alliance represented that the investors would earn a 14 percent rate of return on their investment and that risk was low.