PAYZA TO ZEEK RECEIVER: Don’t Blame Us

Payza, an HYIP-friendly payment processor that recently bragged on Twitter about its attendance at an event for the teetering TrafficMonsoon scheme, has advised a federal judge that it is not responsible for millions of dollars that allegedly went missing in the Zeek Rewards’ scheme taken down by the SEC in 2012.

Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell alleged in February that Payza and an outfit known as Payment World “facilitated” the epic cross-border Zeek Ponzi- and pyramid scheme. The PP Blog reported on Feb. 21 that the money at issue — about $13.1 million — may have ended up in one or more collapsed Russian banks after being transferred out of VictoriaBank in Moldova.

Payza acknowledged it was a business partner with Payment World, but maintained the account in Moldova was Payment World’s alone and that it has sued Payment World for more than $20 million because it, too, had been ripped off.

In response to Bell, who is seeking a contempt sanction and to hold Payza jointly liable with Payment World and VictoriaBank for return of the cash, Payza says it never had “dominion and control” over the money and thus should not be held liable.

Payza, which operates out of Canada as part of a company known as MH Pillars of the United Kingdom, further contends with worked cooperatively and proactively with Bell and U.S. authorities tracking the money. The defense filing by Payza was docketed yesterday in the Western District of North Carolina and also claims Payza performed due diligence on Rex Venture Group, the operator of Zeek. The filing contained a declaration by MH Pillars Executive Vice President Firoz Patel.

In a May 15 Twitter post, Payza said Patel was a speaker at a May 15 event in New York for the Traffic Monsoon program.

Come meet #Payza Executive VP @Firoz_Patel_ who will be speaking on Saturday, May 15, at the Traffic Monsoon Event! https://t.co/zdjCB4wr6J

— Payza News (@Payzaofficial) May 13, 2016

The Tweet made no due-dilignce claims about Traffic Monsoon, which reportedly is under investigation by PayPal and has been blocked from a sum totaling on the order of $60 million.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Also see TaraTalks site.