(New York City) – Micah Laaker, long a lover of American law, recently took the challenge of local letter writer, R. Konzen. In his letter to Mr. Laaker, asking that he mail a $10 "loan" to the first recipient on his list, Konzen encouraged Mr. Laaker to check Title 18, Section 1302 of the Postal and Lottery Code to see for himself that this letter was legal and not a chain letter.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Mr. Laaker spent several hours researching postal laws. Surprisingly, he found that Konzen might have read the same code differently. Wanting to inform this long lost acquaintance of the obviously mistaken law-breaking, Mr. Laaker promptly replied to Konzen with a letter of his own, kickstarting his own fundraising efforts at www.laaker.com/site/micah/invest/.

Laaker.com sources were able to obtain the letter, provided below.

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September 10, 2000
Micah Laaker
317 East 18th Street
Apt. 4B
New York, NY
10003
R. Konzen
1762 First Avenue
New York, NY
10128
Dear friend,
Good day! And a fine pre-autumn day it is, no less! I am writing you because I recently received a letter from you entitled "NEED A LOAN?" I was quite surprised to receive the letter as I was indeed looking for a loan when your letter arrived! "Need a loan?" Do I ever!
As you know I am currently maintaining quite the enterprise on the Internet. My site, Laaker.com, is currently handling upwards of 10,000 visitors a month now, and my plans for expansion are sadly not mirrored in my funding for the site.
As you also know, Laaker.com is the sometimes introspective, often-times hilarious look into my life. Unfortunately, for my readers, because I have to work during the day, I am unable to post my press releases and original content as often as I would like. My goal is to raise $500,000 in funding to help subsidize my efforts. These funds would ensure my time being spent providing the Internet public with my writings alongside other original content!
I’m sure you can imagine the buzz this new endeavor would generate. (I know I’m barely able to contain my excitement!) I guess that’s why I’m sending you this letter. Because you, as someone who knows me, would obviously be just as excited as I in this venture. And, because you, as an old friend, would obviously want to help subsidize this venture.
To help my friends and family donate (or to use your terminology, make a "loan" without anyone "repaying the money"), I have currently set up a section on my affiliate site to start raising funds. You can visit "invest.laaker.com" and donate (or "loan") using your VISA or MasterCard today!
Hopefully I’ll be seeing your support soon! I can’t promise you the $18,000+ you were able to promise me, but I can promise you that you’ll be making a lot of my other friends and family happy when you help finance our mutual cause. Thanks for the offer!
Sincerely,
Micah Laaker
Founder, Laaker.com
P.S. In the last line of your letter, you stated, "This is not a chain letter. You may wish to refer to Title 18, Section 1302 of the Postal and Lottery Code." Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m always one for a good challenge. So… I actually did check with the United States Postal Service. Surprisingly, their site’s statement doesn’t match with your statement. (See "http://www.usps.com/websites/depart/inspect/chainlet.htm") In fact, when I did check out Section 1302 of the code, I realized your mailing was a federal crime!
Because I am certain you must know me (otherwise you wouldn’t have sent me the letter unsolicited), I have not sent the letter in to the USPS. However, if I were you, I would consider sending in your original letter to the USPS at the address below. Make sure you don’t find yourself serving the possible two years in prison that the law allows for! Cheers!
New York Metro Division
PO Box 555
New York NY 10116-0555
212-330-3844
Fax: 212-330-2720