ZEEK: Part Of The Backstory — In Pictures
UPDATED 4:20 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Unsolved mysteries remain in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme case. Among the unanswered questions are these:
- How many members did Zeek have in common with AdSurfDaily, a predecessor 1-percent-a-day scam to the Zeek scheme?
- Why do some Zeek “defenders” appear to be engaged in bizarre bids to harass and menace Zeek critics?
- Why did Zeek list certain ASD members or story figures as employees on its website — and why does some of the employee information published on Zeek’s website in June appear to be at odds with employee information contained in court filings by Zeek last week?
- How much connectivity did Zeek have with scams such as NarcThatCar, AdViewGlobal, OneX and JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid, a “program” that may have ties to the “sovereign citizens” movement?
On June 7, the PP Blog reported that a Zeek Rewards MLM “program” website was listing the names of 16 Zeek “employees,” including the name of Terralynn Hoy, a mainstay in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme story. Also included was the name of OH Brown, an executive at a company (USHBB Inc.) that produced ads for the NarcThatCar pyramid scheme. This information is reflected in screen shots Nos. 1 and 2. Notes by the PP Blog also are included.
Hoy participated in at least one conference call for Zeek, as did Brown. Zeek’s 1-percent-a-day-plus business model was very similar to the business model of ASD, which the U.S. Secret Service described in 2008 as a massive online Ponzi scheme that had gathered tens of millions of dollars. Zeek launched after the collapse of ASD and had members and/or figures in common with ASD and AdViewGlobal, a collapsed 1-percent-a-day “program” federal prosecutors linked in April 2012 to ASD.
1.
2.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: T. LeMont Silver, identified by Zeek in June as an employee, also was a pitchman for “OneX.” In April, federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia described OneX as a “fraudulent scheme” and “pyramid” that was recycling money in AdSurfDaily-like fashion. ASD was a $119 million Ponzi scheme operated by the now-jailed Andy Bowdoin, who also was a OneX pitchman.
Among Silver’s OneX claims was that OneX positions being given away were worth $5,000. Bowdoin declared OneX an excellent “program” for college students.
Even though Zeek claimed Silver, Hoy, Catherine Parker, Brown, Trudy Gilmond and Marie Young Cain as “employees” in June, they are not referenced as “EMPLOYEES, OTHER PERSONNEL, ATTORNEYS, ACCOUNTANTS & OTHER AGENTS/CONTRACTORS” in a Sept. 17 court filing by Rex Venture Group LLC/Zeek operator Paul R. Burks.
Also absent from Burks’ Sept. 17 list of Rex/Zeek employees/contractors is Robert Craddock, who identified himself in July as a Rex “consultant.” In July, prior to the SEC’s Ponzi allegations against Zeek, Craddock sought to disable the Hub of Zeek critic “K. Chang” by filing a complaint for purported copyright/trademark infringement and libel with HubPages.com. Craddock was successful briefly, but HubPages eventually restored the “K. Chang” Hub. Craddock later became involved in a purported effort to raise funds to “protect” Zeek affiliates from the SEC and/or the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Ponzi case.
Gilmond once pitched Regenesis2x2, a “program” that became the subject of a U.S. Secret Service investigation in 2009. The Secret Service also is investigating Zeek. The SEC described Zeek last month as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.
Precisely how and when Rex/Zeek hired or replaced/dismissed employees is unclear. The names of a number of individuals listed by Zeek as employees in June do not appear on the list Burks filed in court last week.
NarcThatCar effectively collapsed in 2010, after coming under scrutiny by the Better Business Bureau and investigative reporters. Narc operated from Texas — and yet did part of its banking in North Carolina at one of the banks used by Zeek. Both Narc and Zeek used USHBB Inc. to produce ads for their respective “programs.” Both Narc and Zeek scored “F” grades with the BBB — and when the BBB published negative information about the respective “programs,” some affiliates of the respective “programs” claimed the BBB was a fraud.
Zeek ‘Defender’ Stalks PP Blog, Starts Disinformation Site After HubPages Restores ‘K. Chang’ Site Targeted By Craddock
The PP Blog is reporting today that, after the SEC described Zeek as a $600 million fraud and after HubPages restored the “K. Chang” Hub critical of Zeek and targeted by Craddock, a purported Zeek “defender” used the Internet repeatedly to send harassing communications to the PP Blog. Dated Aug. 28, one such communication was an announcement that the PP Blog and “K. Chang” had been targeted in a retaliation campaign for their respective reporting on Zeek.
3.
4.
The Blog’s stalker created more than a dozen bogus usernames and email addresses to send harassing (and bizarre) communications to the PP Blog.
Here is one from Aug. 31 (italics added):
Watch out for the Romney lover namely KSChang!!!! He was saw holding hands with Mitt, caressing the presidential candidate, while surfing PatrickP’s amazing, smart, funny, and romantic blog.
Mitt Romney is the Republican nominee for President of the United States.
For reasons that remain known only to the PP Blog’s cyberstalker, the individual also sent a one-word harassing communication — “Pussy” — to the thread below this Aug. 29 PP Blog guest column by Gregg Evans. Separately, the cyberstalker sent a communication that planted the seed Evans would get sued for his Aug. 29 PP Blog column.
“Are you willing go toe to toe with a lawyer on your claims and back up this article?” the cyberstalker wrote.
On Aug. 31, the cyberstalker — who’d been banned under multiple identities — sent this harassing communication to the PP Blog:
“What happened to your face dude, looks like you got ran over by an ugly truck.”
I have never found you blog to be “romantic”. Maybe these people who threaten lawsuits should remember that Discovery cuts both ways. True idiots.
Indeed. No one is stopping them from taking Gregg to court…..other than ‘discovery’.
And these conspirators need to get together to get their lies straight……k chang is Patrick………allegedly. lol.
Do you think someone should tell him/her that’s a caricature at the head of the column and not a photograph ???
Nah, let him/her continue to think they’re witty and clever.
I’m fully expecting Patrick to report he/she has added “my dad’s bigger ‘n your dad” to his/her abusive spam postings.
If that’s the Columbus Ohio stalker, he has a whole slew of comments I marked as spam, with similar infantile remarks, links to Republican conspiracy, lame jokes, and URL to unrelated websites. He’s very consistent in posting from the same range of IP addresses though. :)
I double dog dare this guy to sue me. The last internet bully to proclaim he was going to “file the suit today” then went invisible on my, even after I offered to pay his legal fees.
Bring it, tough guy.
And if you are the person mentioned in Ohio, I’m even local. Warren County, tell the clerk I said “Hi!”
I should also mention, I’m not a pensioner living on retirement, I can assure you I have the means to really make you wish you’d never heard of me.
He did “file the suit”
In fact, it’s still there in his wardrobe, right between his shirts and his fluffy PJs
Quick note: Before stalker “Joe” was banned, he described SNR Denton as “unbelievable huge and powerful.”
https://patrickpretty.com/2012/08/27/zeek-fallout-almost-too-strange-to-contemplate/comment-page-1/#comment-33474
He then signaled he was going to go after “K. Chang.”
“Hey, K Chang, I may just start my own website and call your website a scam and make money off of the traffic it generates with your defenders. It’s a game right?”
https://patrickpretty.com/2012/08/27/zeek-fallout-almost-too-strange-to-contemplate/comment-page-1/#comment-33492
He later submitted a “comment” that advised me he’d made good on his threat. The screen shot of that is included in the story above. He was banned.
“Joe” then dialed up the harassment”: There was “Joe2,” “Joe3” and many more.
Patrick
[…] Sept. 23, the PP Blog reported that Craddock’s name did not appear on a Sept. 17 list of “EMPLOYEES, […]
[…] up after the U.S. Secret Service raided ASD in August 2008. Among the Surf’s Up faithful was Terralynn Hoy, who later presided over at least one conference call for Zeek. (See this PP Blog Comments thread […]