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LETTER TO READERS: Our Choice For The Most Important PP Blog Post Of 2012

Dear Readers, The PP Blog’s choice for the “Most Important” story to appear on the Blog in 2012 is this one, dated July 28: “Site Critical Of Zeek Goes Missing After HubPages Receives Trademark ‘Infringement’ Complaint Attributed To Rex Venture Group LLC — But North Carolina-Based Rex Not Listed As Trademark Owner; Florida Firm That…

Dec 27, 2012
Florida Man Who Hosts Zeek Calls Featuring Robert Craddock Was Winner In Botfly LLC Ponzi Scheme

UPDATED 3:57 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Gregory Baker, a Florida man who hosts calls featuring Robert Craddock in the aftermath of the SEC’s Ponzi-scheme case against Zeek Rewards, is listed as a winner in the Botfly LLC Ponzi scheme case, one of the Sunshine State’s ugliest fraud schemes. Prosecutors said that David Lewalski, Botfly’s now-imprisoned operator,…

Dec 24, 2012
Jose Banks, Purported ‘Sovereign’ Who Escaped From Chicago Jail After Bank-Robbery Conviction, Captured; Manhunt Still Under Way For Second Escapee

EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks to PP Blog reader “Tony” for a heads-up on this: Joseph “Jose” Banks, a purported “sovereign citizen” convicted of bank robbery earlier this month, has been captured after his escape from a federal jail in Chicago on Tuesday, the FBI told the Associated Press. A manhunt for alleged fellow escapee Kenneth Conley…

Dec 21, 2012
Conference Call By Zeek Receiver Under Way [Call Ended At 6:03 P.M.]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post was updated at 2:48 p.m. on Dec. 20 to include this link to a recording of the receiver’s Dec. 17 call. The information below reflects the PP Blog’s original notes from the call on Dec. 17 . . . UPDATED 7:27 A.M. (DEC 18, U.S.A.) A conference call by Kenneth D.…

Dec 20, 2012
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Montana Fines ‘Funky Shark,’ Purported Upstart ‘Penny Auction’ Program; Operator Agrees to Pay $834,000 After Issuance Of Order

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (UPDATED AT 12:49 P.M. ET U.S.A. TO DELETE EARLIER REFERENCE TO ‘CEASE AND DESIST’ ORDER AND TO PROVIDE LINK TO CONSENT AGREEMENT AND FINAL ORDER.) An upstart “penny auction” company known as “Funky Shark” effectively has been shut down after the state of Montana named it in an order and…

Dec 20, 2012
BULLETIN: Zeek Receiver Says ‘Large Sums . . . May Have Been Transferred By Net Winners To Other Entities In Order To Hide Or Shelter Those Assets’

BULLETIN: (UPDATED 2:34 P.M. ET U.S.A.) The court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme case has advised a federal judge that he “has obtained information indicating that large sums of Receivership Assets may have been transferred by net winners to other entities in order to hide or shelter those assets.” The dramatic assertion by…

Dec 20, 2012
BULLETIN: 2 Inmates, Including Purported ‘Sovereign,’ Escape From Chicago Jail; 1 Of The Escapees Got Mention On PP Blog Just Days Ago

BULLETIN: Two inmates escaped from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago earlier today, the FBI said. One of the escapees — Jose Banks — is a purported “sovereign citizen” who got a mention on the PP Blog Dec. 15. Banks, a convicted bank robber, is considered “armed and dangerous,” the FBI said. Also considered…

Dec 18, 2012
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: SEC Files Motion In Zeek Case To Oppose Appointment Of Examiner; In Blistering Memo, Agency Accuses Robert Craddock Of Encouraging Affiliates ‘Not To Cooperate With The Receiver’

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (UPDATED 11:58 A.M. ET (U.S.A.) The SEC has gone to federal court in the Western District of North Carolina to oppose a motion by Zeek “winners” to appoint an “examiner” over all Zeek affiliates. In a blistering, 12-page memo, the agency accused Zeek figure Robert Craddock of encouraging Zeek affiliates…

Dec 18, 2012
BULLETIN: Zeek Receiver Opposes Appointment Of ‘Examiner’; Zeek Cheerleaders, ZTeamBiz Missives Get A Mention; Let Them ‘Employ Counsel At Their Own Expense,’ Bell Urges Judge

“The ZeekRewards scheme has claimed hundreds of thousands of victims who lost hundreds of millions of dollars at the hands of the scheme’s winners who solicited their participation. Now, apparently not appreciating the irony, the lawyer for hundreds of the largest net winners asks the Court to pay him to be an ‘examiner’ or ‘representative…

Dec 17, 2012
Payment Processor For Cybercrime Ring Sentenced To 48 Months In Federal Prison; ‘Operation Trident Tribunal’ Is Ongoing

Mikael Patrick Sallnert has been sentenced to 48 months in federal prison for his role in processing payments for a cybercrime ring, the U.S. Justice Department announced. Sallnert, 37, is a citizen of Sweden. As part of “Operation Trident Tribunal,” Sallnert was arrested in Denmark on Jan. 19, 2012, and extradited to the United States…

Dec 17, 2012
Potential Zeek Clawback Target Pitched Collapsed Regenesis 2X2 Cycler: ‘Giddy Up. Get Involved. [It’ll] Be The Best Decision You Ever Made’

UPDATED 7:55 A.M. ET (DEC. 23, U.S.A.) In May 2009, before the launch of the alleged Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme, a Zeek promoter who has hired famed attorney Ira Lee Sorkin appeared in a check-waving video for an “opportunity” known as Regenesis 2X2. Check-waving is used as a form of “proof” that an “opportunity” that…

Dec 17, 2012