RECEIVER: ‘No Comment’ On Report Zeek Rewards’ Figure Darryle Douglas Involved In New Scheme Known As ‘AuctionAttics’

AuctionAttics logo.

UPDATED 10:04 A.M. EDT JULY 18 U.S.A. The Zeek Rewards’ receivership this morning told the PP Blog it had “no comment” on a report that alleged Zeek insider Darryle Douglas was involved in a new scheme known as “AuctionAttics.”

BehindMLM.com reported early yesterday that Douglas, who owes the Zeek estate $2.2 million plus postjudgment interest, was involved in the selling of shares in a purported “profit pool” offered by Auction Attics. The report led to immediate questions about whether Douglas, a Californian, was involved in another cross-border offering fraud and would market it to former Zeek members.

Zeek is alleged by the SEC and federal prosecutors in the Western District of North Carolina to have been a Ponzi scheme that gathered hundreds of millions of dollars. The SEC filed civil charges in August 2012. Prosecutors have filed criminal charges against alleged operator Paul R. Burks and former executives Dawn Wright-Olivares and Daniel Olivares, her stepson.

Wright-Olivares and Olivares entered guilty pleas to the criminal charges in February 2014. The criminal case against Burks is proceeding toward trial. Douglas was identified as a Zeek “insider” in a lawsuit filed by Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell in February 2014.

AuctionAttics appears to be an upstart MLM “program” pitched on social-media sites such as Facebook. The “program” appears to be in prelaunch phase and to have a dotcom website that uses graphics that resemble Post-it brand notes, a trademark owned by 3M.

A spokesperson for 3M did not immediately return a call by the PP Blog for comment on whether the company was concerned its trademark was being infringed by AuctionAttics.

In 2014, Bell raised concerns about some MLMers/network marketers moving from one fraud scheme to another. Bell raised those concerns again in a June 2015 article in Business North Carolina.

A snippet from the Business North Carolina story (italics added):

“Some of these folks had been engaged in this kind of thing before, and frankly, some of our largest winners re-engaged in similar schemes right away.”

Based on a victims’ count on the order of 800,000, Zeek likely is the largest or second-largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history. (In the end, the TelexFree scheme shut down by the SEC and federal prosecutors last year may take the title, but the final numbers are unclear.)

Zeek was a purported “penny auction.” AuctionAttics appears to be using a similar theme, amid suggestions that its customers can be both bidders and sellers who will generate enormous personal profits either way.

The AuctionAttics website appears to be publishing testimonials attributed to people who were big winners, despite the fact the “program” appears not even to have launched.

One of the testimonials quotes “Maria” as saying, “I can earn much more selling on Auction Attics than i [sic] could anywhere else.” The “program” itself claims “Maria didn’t have a store front, she sold reconditioned cell phones exclusively on Auction Attics and earned up to 500% profit.”

Another “program” claim: “Micheal [sic?] and Brenda buys [sic] items, and then sells [sic] them on Auction Attics. They have the potential to earn $1,000’s weekly!”

“Micheal” and Brenda, meanwhile, are quoted as saying, “What a business, we love it.”

The images depicting them appear to be clipart.

An “opportunity” page on the site of AuctionAttics positions the “program” as the next Apple, Instagram and eBay. Namedropping is a common theme in MLM/network-marketing scams.

Among other things, the website of Auction Attics purports to sell “Cover Ads,” explaining them in this fashion:

“Cover ads are so called because they cover more than the original cost of your item even when it was new.”

In July 2014, according to court filings, Zeek’s Burks, Wright-Olivares and Olivares agreed to a $600 million civil consent judgment with the receivership “to be satisfied with substantially all of their assets.”

Burks settled with the SEC in 2012, and Wright-Olivares and Olivares settled in 2013.