RECEIVER: Zeek Rewards Was ‘Pig’ To Which MLM Lawyers Attemped To Apply ‘Lipstick’ — While One Of The Lawyers Participated On Massive Ponzi Scheme’s ‘Leadership Calls’

EDITOR’S NOTE: Kevin Grimes, MLM Compliance VT LLC and the Grimes & Reese law firm have argued that the claims against them should be dismissed. Zeek’s receiver argues otherwise, saying a “bogus ‘compliance course'” advanced by Grimes helped dupe the Zeek masses. Zeek affected hundreds of thousands of people, the SEC has said.

Legal malpractice and other claims against MLM attorney Kevin Grimes, his entity MLM Compliance VT LLC and the Grimes & Reese law firm should stand, the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme case said in court filings yesterday.

One of the reasons, receiver Kenneth D. Bell argued in a motion to Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen, is that the defendants “in effect attempted to put lipstick on the ZeekRewards pig.”

Another reason is that Grimes participated in at least three affiliate “leadership calls” with Zeek insiders and “actively assisted the Insiders in promoting and legitimizing the scheme,” Bell said.

“Grimes allowed his name and his firm’s name to be used to promote the scheme,” Bell said.

Mullen should reject bids by the defendants to have the claims dismissed, Bell argued.

Read the receiver’s argument, courtesy of the ASD Updates Blog.

Read the Grimes’ brief in support of his motion to dismiss. Read the Grimes & Reese brief in support of its motions to dismiss.

The SEC has described Zeek as a massive securities fraud that gathered hundreds of millions of dollars in a combined Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.