DEVELOPING STORY: Proposed Settlement Agreement With Zeek Receiver May Wipe Out MLM Attorneys And Law Firm

From a court filing dated Dec. 11, 2015. Red highlight by PP Blog.

DEVELOPING STORY: (5th Update 8:18 p.m. ET U.S.A.) MLM attorneys Gerald Nehra and Richard Waak will sign a confession of judgment for a whopping $100 million and acknowledge that Zeek parent Rex Venture Group “in fact operated an unlawful Ponzi and pyramid scheme” under the terms of a settlement agreement with Zeek Rewards’ receiver Kenneth D. Bell, according to new court filings.

The news comes as Nehra and Waak also are being pursued by class-action attorneys for alleged misdeeds involving the TelexFree MLM scheme broken up by the Massachusetts Securities Division, the SEC and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2014.

A judge must approve the settlement proposal with Bell in which the MLM lawyers contend “that they acted in good faith as legal counsel,” but now “acknowledge and agree that, based on their current knowledge, during the period they served as counsel RVG in fact operated an unlawful Ponzi an pyramid scheme involving an unregistered investment contract that caused hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to innocent victims of the scheme,” according to filings from Bell.

In 2008, Nehra argued that AdSurfDaily — a $119 million Ponzi scheme — was not a Ponzi scheme. His own client, Andy Bowdoin, later disagreed. Nehra then became involved in both Zeek, a scheme that allegedly gathered more than $850 million, and TelexFree, which allegedly created more than $3 billion in bogus economic activity.

All three “programs” used similar business models. The cascading fraud totals have been a source of considerable concern.

The settlement proposal with Bell hints the MLM attorneys, who acknowledge no liability to the receiver, already may be wiped out in that it calls for a payment of $100,000, a small sum compared with the confession of judgment for $100 million.

In fact, according to the agreement, the MLM lawyers have submitted a sworn financial statement and the $100,000 figure represents “to the extent that it can be accomplished, the full payment of all the Nehra and Waak’s funds and assets available to satisfy the agreed judgment.”

“The Receiver believes the financial settlement, Confession of Judgment in the amount of $100 million and the acknowledgement of the existence of the Ponzi and pyramid scheme reached as part of the negotiation process is the best outcome for the Receivership and that even with the expenditure of additional funds to obtain a judgment there is not a likelihood of a materially increased recovery for the eventual distribution to the Zeek victims.” Bell wrote.

Bell sued Nehra and Waak in September, alleging that they “encouraged investors to participate in the scheme by knowingly allowing their names to be used in providing a false façade of legality and legitimacy and gave improper legal advice that allowed the scheme to continue far longer than it would have without the Defendants’ support. Nehra and Waak’s improper and negligent actions, which breached their fiduciary duties to RVG and assisted RVG’s Insiders to breach their fiduciary duties, caused significant damage to RVG.”

The PP Blog reported last month that a settlement was possible.

Bell advised Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen today that the proposed settlement sum of $100,000 was “based on the defendants’ financial condition.”

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.