BULLETIN: FEDS: Burks Ran Scam Prior To ZeekRewards
BULLETIN: (4th Update 9:13 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) Accused Ponzi schemer Paul Burks ran a “pyramid scheme” known as FollowMe1X2 that was a precursor to ZeekRewards, federal prosecutors say.
A quote about FollowMe1X2 that appears in a prosecution filing today also appears verbatim in a post on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum dated Sept. 4, 2010, by “charlieone.”
From the quote: FollowMe1X2 is “a fast-paced network advertising program that was designed to maximize your ad budget, increase your businesses exposure and your bank account exponentially!”
FollowMe1X2 collapsed and participants were ported into ZeekRewards, prosecutors said.
Zeek also had a presence on MoneyMakerGroup and other boards referenced in federal court filings as places from which Ponzi schemes are promoted.
Today’s prosecution filings against Burks, who faces trial next month on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud. conspiracy to commit both and conspiracy to commit tax fraud, come in the form of a “Notice of Intent to Introduce Evidence and Memorandum of Law in Support of its Admissibility.”
The document is similar to filings against now-convicted Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin of AdSurfDaily, another Ponzi board “program.” In the ASD cases, prosecutors tied Bowdoin to scams both before ASD (DailyProSurf) and after (AdViewGlobal and OneX).
ASD, another Ponzi-board “program,” collapsed in 2008. Like Zeek, ASD used vendors such as SolidTrustPay and AlertPay and purported to have an “advertising” function.
Like Burks, Bowdoin was accused of porting participants from one scam to another.
BehindMLM.com reported today that Burks is seeking to have the tax-fraud conspiracy charge against him dismissed prior to trial, scheduled to begin July 5. Prosecutors have not yet responded to his argument.
But in their notice today, prosecutors argued that the jury should be able to hear evidence that Zeek parent Rex Venture Group LLC had not filed corporate tax returns between 2003 and 2011.
It also should be able to hear evidence about the FollowMe1X2 scheme, prosecutors contended.
NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.
