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Tag: Darryle Douglas

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Zeek Receiver Moves For Summary Judgment Against Class-Action Clawback Defendants; Kenneth Bell Says Defense Expert Witness Has Found No Evidence That ‘Disproves That The Business As A Whole Operated As A Ponzi Scheme’

Berkeley Research Group, an expert working for the defense in Zeek clawback litigation, has not been able to disprove the presence of a Ponzi scheme. Source: Screen shot of a Berkeley report to Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen Jr. The report is dated May 26, 2016.

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (3RD UPDATE 6:11 P.M. EDT U.S.A.) On virtually the eve of the criminal trial of Paul Burks, receiver Kenneth D. Bell has asked the court presiding over a huge class-action lawsuit against 9,400 alleged Zeek “winners” for a finding the MLM program was a Ponzi scheme.

Such a finding would mandate winners to return nearly $300 million. Bell contended that “[o]f the over $900 million that was paid in to Zeek, only approximately $10 million (1.1%) came from actual retail purchases.”

Retail sales are crucial to the determination of whether an MLM program is legitimate. Bell contends Zeek, which offered a penny auction, was both a Ponzi scheme and a pyramid scheme. Zeek affiliates allegedly believed enormously profitable auctions made Zeek sustainable.

“Two of the primary creators and operators of the ZeekRewards scheme have already admitted it was a Ponzi scheme and pleaded guilty to criminal conduct in connection with the scheme,” Bell argued to Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen in a June 30 motion. “In sum, the evidence that ZeekRewards was a Ponzi scheme is overwhelming. Even the Defendant class’ expert has acknowledged finding no evidence that ‘disproves that the business as a whole operated as a Ponzi scheme.’

“Because Zeek’s net winners ‘won’ (the victims’) money in an unlawful Ponzi scheme, under long settled law those winners are not permitted to keep their winnings and must return the fraudulently transferred funds back to the Receiver for distribution to Zeek’s victims,” Bell argued.

At stake in the civil clawback case is more than $282 million allegedly paid to winners by Zeek. Berkeley Research Group is the expert for the defense. Bell used FTI Consulting Inc. as his expert.

Burks’ criminal trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday (July 5).

What kind of financial environment did Zeek create?

According to FTI, only about 8 percent (75,000 usernames) were winners, while 90 percent (841,000 usernames) were losers. Meanwhile, only 0.3 percent (2,778 usernames) were net neutral, with only 1.6 percent (14,500 usernames) classified as auction bidders only.

Bell sued 9,400 alleged winners who’d received more than $1,000 each. FTI asserted that the net losers lost more than $822 million and the net winners hauled away more than $282 million. The small number of auction bidders suggests that Zeekers by and large joined for the purported money-making venture.

But Zeek, Bell alleged, was insolvent even while paying out large sums of money.

Cocaine Allegation Made By Alleged Insider

During a deposition conducted in April 2016 by an attorney for the receivership, alleged Zeek insider Darryle Douglas made a claim that former Zeek COO Dawn Wright-Olivares was a user of “crack cocaine” who was “asked to leave” Free Store Club, a Zeek predecessor, according to a partial transcript included in Bell’s June 30 motion.

Wright-Olivares also is an alleged Zeek insider and one of two Zeek figures to plead guilty to Ponzi-related criminal charges. (The other is Daniel Olivares, her stepson.) Wright-Olivares and Olivares both are expected to testify against Burks at his criminal trial.

Whether Burks intended to use the cocaine allegation against Wright-Olivares to impeach her credibility as a witness was not immediately clear. But Wright-Olivares and Olivares both lived with Douglas at one time in Lexington, N.C., according to the transcript.

Zeek, as part of Rex Venture Group, was based in Lexington.

While living in Lexington, a “separation” developed between Douglas and Wright-Olivares and a once-strong business relationship between Douglas and Burks became “fractured,” according to the transcript.

“And that’s where our separation began,” Douglas said, according to the transcript. “Dawn was a crack cocaine user . . . Dawn used cocaine and was asked to leave the company eventually . . . This was FreeStore Club. She left but came back with the idea for a penny auction, which no one had ever heard of. Because we had a fractured relationship, we created MyBidShack, they created Zeekler. Eventually Paul decided to get rid of MyBidShack and that the company would only go under Zeekler, which made our rift expand. It set up a war that we — that’s when I was no longer allowed to have access codes or key information from accessing the system . . .”

The receiver’s motion, memo and exhibits are available at the receivership website.

Also see “ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE RECEIVER – July, 1, 2016” at the receivership site.

Jul 3, 2016
BULLETIN: Darryle Douglas, Alleged Zeek Insider, Arrested

BULLETIN: (4th update 9:11 p.m. ET U.S.A.) Alleged Zeek Rewards’ insider Darryle Douglas has been arrested in Riverside, Calif.

Court filings docketed March 7 in the SEC’s civil case against Zeek say Douglas, whose age was not listed, was arrested March 2 by the U.S. Marshals Service.

On Dec. 10, 2015, Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen of the Western District of North Carolina ordered marshals to arrest Douglas for civil contempt of court. On Jan. 5, 2016, marshals said they had not located him and that Douglas was the subject of an ongoing investigation.

He is believed to reside in Orange County, Calif., an area close to Riverside in the southern part of the state.

Word of the arrest was received tonight. The warrant issued by Mullen in December specified that Douglas was to be brought to North Carolina. The PP Blog could not immediately determine this evening if a transport had taken place.

Douglas, who allegedly had access to Zeek’s database and did not return it as ordered, may be involved with a nascent scheme known as Auction Attics, the PP Blog reported last year. Others have said Auction Attics was morphing into something called Auction Addicts.

Zeek was a penny-auction fraud that gathered on the order of $900 million, the SEC has said.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Mar 9, 2016
Zeek Figure Darryle Douglas ‘Subject Of Ongoing Investigation’ By U.S. Marshals Service

Auction Attics logo

Darryle Douglas, the alleged Zeek Rewards’ insider whose arrest was ordered last month, is still wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service.

“He is the subject of an ongoing investigation,” a spokesman for the Marshals Service in the Western District of North Carolina told the PP Blog moments ago. “We’re trying to locate him.”

The spokesman declined to say more.

Douglas resides in Orange County, Calif., according to court filings. The Marshals Service has nationwide jurisdiction. Whether Douglas remains in California or is elsewhere is unclear.

Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen of the Western District of North Carolina ordered his arrest on Dec. 10.

Mullen specifically found that Douglas had violated a court order in a civil case and that the Zeek receivership had suffered harm as a result of the conduct of Douglas. Kenneth D. Bell is the receiver.

Douglas may have gravitated to an emerging scheme known as Auction Attics, with the aim of targeting Zeekers all over again. He has not complied with an order to surrender the Zeek database and other information.

Zeek was alleged by the SEC to have been a Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that gathered more than $850 million. Auction Attics has a similar theme.

Jan 5, 2016
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: TelexFree Figure Sann Rodrigues Found In Contempt Of Court

Sann Rodrigues. From INTERPOL.

(4th Update 7:23 p.m. ET U.S.A.) TelexFree, IFreeX and DFRF Enterprises’ figure Sann Rodrigues has been found in contempt of court in the SEC’s Ponzi- and pyramid case against TelexFree and a federal judge in Massachusetts has threatened to jail him.

The SEC alleged Rodrigues, a recidivist securities offender, violated an asset freeze imposed in 2014. U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton today agreed.

Gorton rejected defense arguments that Rodrigues, a Brazilian now accused of visa fraud in the United States, wasn’t skilled at English and didn’t understand the freeze order.

“His arguments are unconvincing,” Gorton ruled. “Rodrigues was subject to a very similar temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in a 2006 civil enforcement action also brought by the SEC. Thus, however complex were the requirements of the orders in this case, they were not unfamiliar.”

The judge also rejected a contention by Rodrigues that he could not provide an accounting as ordered because providing the requested financial information would violate his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Gorton ruled that Rodrigues already had waived his right in dealings with the SEC

From the Dec. 18 order by Gorton (italics added):

Rodrigues argues that providing a full accounting of his assets and transactions would require him to disclose information that could incriminate him in several potential or actual criminal proceedings. Rodrigues is currently the subject of a criminal prosecution in a separate federal visa fraud case, U.S. V. Rodrigues (15-10227). He reports that he is also being investigated by the Massachusetts Attorney General with respect to another of his business ventures. In addition, he contends that he may still be under investigation for potential criminal charges related to the specific conduct that underlies this civil enforcement action.

Whether defendant has made a sufficient showing to invoke the Fifth Amendment is, however, irrelevant. Rodrigues waived his right against self-incrimination by consenting to the Order. . . . In that proceeding, Rodrigues explicitly agreed to provide the very information he is now claiming to be privileged . . . Defendant was represented by counsel, who negotiated the language of the order with the SEC. In exchange for agreeing to provide the required accountings, Rodrigues received a carve-out of his frozen assets to pay for his bail in the separate criminal visa fraud case.

By Jan. 15, Rodrigues must restore more than $334,000 removed in violation of the asset freeze, Gorton ruled. He also is required to “obtain the reconveyance” of real estate transferred in violation of the freeze or “remit funds equal to the market value thereof or provide the Court with a detailed plan as to how he will otherwise cure his contempt in relation to the transfer of those properties.”

Rodrigues violated the freeze by “removing cash from accounts or selling cars,” the judge found.

The penalty for not meeting the conditions of the order is bail revocation, Gorton ruled.

Rodrigues has become at least the second figure associated with a Ponzi-board “program” to be found in contempt this month.

Darryle Douglas, an alleged Zeek Rewards’ insider, was ordered arrested on Dec. 10. That order was issued by Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen of the Western District of North Carolina. Whether Douglas has been taken into custody is unclear.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Dec 21, 2015
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Judge Orders U.S. Marshals To Arrest Zeek Figure Darryle Douglas

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (3rd Update 6:25 p.m. ET U.S..) Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen of the Western District of North Carolina has ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to arrest alleged Zeek Rewards’ insider Darryle Douglas for civil contempt of court.

The order was issued yesterday and included a directive for marshals to execute an arrest warrant and jail Douglas, a Californian. It was not immediately clear whether he has been taken into custody.

As the PP Blog reported on July 13, Douglas may be associated with an emerging scheme known as Auction Attics. Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell initially declined to comment on the nascent “program,” which almost certainly was aimed at former Zeekers and others.

But Bell did reference Auction Attics in an Aug. 24 court filing, according to BehindMLM.com.

After Mullen ordered Douglas to appear at a Dec. 3 hearing in North Carolina, Douglas failed to show, according to the order.

At the same time, Douglas has not complied with a Sept. 15 order that directed him to turn over the Zeek Rewards’ database, to produce certain financial records and to submit to a deposition by Bell, according to the order.

And, according to the order, Douglas has been obstructing the receiver. From the order (italics added):

Mr. Douglas failed to appear for the show-cause hearing. The Court took evidence at the hearing from the Receiver and from counsel for Mr. Douglas and is satisfied that Mr. Douglas received notice of the hearing well in advance of the hearing date. The Court finds that Mr. Douglas received notice of the September 15 Order and has violated that Order. In addition, the Court finds that the Receivership has suffered and will continue to suffer harm because of Mr. Douglas’ violation of the Order. Mr. Douglas was previously found liable for more than $2 million to the Receivership in the form of fraudulent transfers and prejudgment interest, and under the Agreed Order in this matter, these are Receivership Assets belonging to the Receivership Estate.

Mr. Douglas’s failure to return the database and these Receivership Assets not only harm the Receivership, but they also violate the Agreed Order in obstructing the Receiver’s efforts.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Dec 11, 2015
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.

Jul 13, 2015
BULLETIN: Zeek Receiver Moves For Default Against AdSurfDaily Figure Todd Disner

BULLETIN: (UPDATED 9:55 A.M. EDT, JULY 3, U.S.A.) The court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid case has moved for default against alleged Zeek winner Todd Disner. Disner, of Miami, also was a pitchman for the 2008 AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, a $119 million fraud that put ASD operator Andy Bowdoin in federal prison.

Disner received more than $1.875 million through Zeek, receiver Kenneth D. Bell alleged. Zeek launched after the U.S. Secret Service exposed the ASD Ponzi scheme. ASD was a 1-percent-a-day scam. Zeek, according to court filings, sucked in participants with claims payouts averaged more than 1.4 percent a day over the course of a week.

Bell said in court filings today that Disner was among a number of Zeek winners who have failed to plead or otherwise defend against the clawback lawsuits filed against them in February. June 30 was the deadline for filing responsive pleadings.

The receiver also is seeking default against alleged Zeek winner and clawback defendant Michael Van Leeuwen, also known as “Coach Van,” of Fayetteville, N.C., and David Sorrells of Scottsdale, Az. Van Leeuwen allegedly received more than $1.4 million through Zeek, and Sorrells allegedly received more than $1 million.

Meanwhile, Bell also is seeking default against alleged Zeek insider Darryle Douglas of Orange, Calif.

Douglas received more than $1.975 million from Zeek, Bell said in court filings in February.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Jul 2, 2014
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Zeek Receiver Sues Alleged Insiders, Winners; Emails, Skype Chats Helped Expose Fraud; ‘We’ve Already Attracted A Great Many Big Fishes,’ Wright-Olivares ‘Excitedly’ Told Paul Burks Early In Scheme, Kenneth D. Bell Alleges

Dawn Wright-Olivares

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (8th Update 2:40 p.m. ET March 4, U.S.A.) The court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme case has sued alleged insiders and net winners, including members of the 2008 AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme.

Parts of the complaint read like a re-living of the ASD scheme, with Zeek Receiver Kenneth D. Bell alleging Zeek’s penny-auction arm (Zeekler) was in trouble early on and that Zeek operator Paul Burks borrowed money from another insider to keep things going. The fraud later expanded massively, Bell alleged.

At one point, according to Bell, former Zeek COO Dawn Wright-Olivares “excitedly” told Burks, “I think we can blow this OUT together — we’ve already attracted a great many big fishes.”

But the insiders “were aware that the payouts to Affiliates would be funded by new participants rather than retail profits from the penny auctions,” Bell alleged.

Named defendant “insiders” were Burks of Lexington, N.C.; Wright-Olivares of Clarksville, Ark.; Daniel Olivares of Clarksville, Ark.; the estate of the late Roger Anthony Plyler of Charlotte; Alexandre “Alex” de Brantes, the husband of Wright-Olivares and a resident of Clarksville, Ark.; and Darryle Douglas of Orange, Calif.

Burks, the receiver alleged, received “in excess” of $10 million from Zeek; Wright-Olivares received more than $7.8 million; Daniel Olivares received more than $3.1 million; Plyler, who once lent money to Burks, received more than $2.3 million; Douglas received more than $1.975 million. An amount was not listed for de Brantes.

Named winners were former AdSurfDaily member Todd Disner of Miami (more than $1.875 million); former ASD member Jerry Napier of Owosso, Mich. (more than $1.745 million); Trudy Gilmond of St. Albans, Vt. (more than $1.75 million); Durant Brockett of Las Vegas (more than $1.72 million); Darren Miller of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho (more than $1.635 million); Rhonda Gates of Nashville (more than $1.425 million); Michael Van Leeuwen, also known as “Coach Van” of Fayetteville, N.C. (more than $1.4 million); David Sorrells of Scottsdale, Az. (more than $1 million); T. Le Mont Silver Sr. of Orlando, Fla. (more than $773,000 under at least two user names, and more than $943,000 through a Florida shell entity known as Global Internet Formula Inc. with one or more Zeek user names).

One of Silver’s usernames was “mentor,” Bell alleged.

Also named winners were Karen Silver, Silver’s wife (more than $600,000); veteran HYIP pitch team Aaron and Shara Andrews of Lake Worth, Fla. (more than $1 million through a Florida shell entity known as Innovation Marketing); David and Mary Kettner of Peoria, Az. (more than $930,000 via one or more user names and shell companies known as Desert Oasis International Marketing LLC and Kettner & Associates LLC); Lori Jean Weber of Land O’Lakes, Fla. (more than $1.94 million through a shell company known as P.A.W.S. Capital Management LLC).

Bell also sued a “Net Winner Class” of as many as 9,000 U.S. residents or entities who allegedly harvested illicit gains of $1,000 or more from Zeek. Lawsuits against international winners will come later, Bell said.

In December 2013, Wright-Olivares and Olivares were charged criminally. They pleaded guilty last month for their roles in the scheme and are liable for more than $11.4 million in restitution and penalties, the SEC said.

As the SEC previously alleged, Zeek relied on a so-called “80/20” program to sustain the Ponzi deception. Bell today built on that theme. From the complaint against insiders (italics added/spacing modified):

Dawn Wright-Olivares explained and promoted the plan in a Skype chat as follows:

Here’s a scenario here where you could be receiving $3,000 per month RESIDUALLY. Let’s use a 1% daily cash-back figure in this example (Please note: This is only an example and the actual amount will vary day to day).

When you reach 50,000 points in your account, then you could start doing an 80/20 cash-out plan. Pay close attention? When you hit 50,000 points in your account, if the daily cash-back percentage is 1%, ZeekRewards will be awarding you with $500.00 each day. First of all, did you catch that? … you’re making $500 per day … it’s your money! Ok, the 80/20 plan works like this, take 80% of that $500 (or $400) and purchase more VIP bids to give away to new customers as samples to continue growing your points balance.

Then, keep doing what you’ve been doing every day, which primarily consists of giving free bids away as samples and placing one free ad per day for Zeekler.com’s penny auctions and submitting into your ZeekRewards back office. Then, pull out 20% of the $500 (or $100) and request a check weekly. That’s $700 per week, or about $3,000 per month in residual income! And keep in mind, these amounts can continue to grow day after day and month after month.

HYIP schemes, including ASD and Zeek, often implement deceptions such as 80/20 programs as part of a bid to reduce cashout amounts to let the scheme continue to live. Insiders and veteran Ponzi pushers typically know they’re a crock.

Daniel Olivares, Bell said, has a Zeek user name of “dcolive.”

On June 14, 2012, about two months prior to the collapse of Zeek, RealScam.com moderator and PP Blog poster “Glim Dropper” posted a link on the PP Blog that established a tie between Zeek promoters and ASD promoters. ASD was a $119 million Ponzi scheme operated by now-jailed operator Andy Bowdoin.

RealScam.com is an antiscam forum.

The link “Glim Dropper” posted was at a URL styled “dcolive.com.”

From “Glim Dropper’s” observations at the time (italics added):

I’d draw your attention to about five minutes into the call when Dawn recalls a conversation with Jerry Napier. Jerry was quoted as loving ZR and never wanting to have to build another organization with another program and mentioned a previous program and the litigation it was still facing and he mentioned “similarities” between ZR and that previous program.

It is common in the HYIP sphere for promoters to move from one fraud scheme to another.

Napier’s exposure to ASD is unknown. But the Zeek receiver now says Napier received illicit gains of more than $1.745 million. The alleged illicit Zeek gains of former fellow ASD member Todd Disner are even higher: $1.875 million.

Precisely how many ASD members went on to join Zeek is unclear. What is clear is that both firms used similar business models and sweetened the deal for certain members.

Bell alleged today that Zeek had a “Sweet 16” deal in which participants paid $999 to mine even more “passive” gains.

“The Sweet 16 was another means by which [Rex Venture Group] made payments on a passive investment,” Bell alleged. “It did not involve the sale of a product, nor did it require a member to recruit other participants into the program.”

Zeek operated through Rex Venture.

To read the lawsuits, visit the ASD Updates Blog.

Disner once filed suit against the United States, alleging its ASD Ponzi case was a “tissue of lies” and a “house of cards.” A federal judge tossed the lawsuit, after Bowdoin pleaded guilty to wire fraud and admitted ASD was a Ponzi scheme.

Visit the receiver’s website.

Mar 3, 2014
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Lawsuits Against Zeek Insiders, Winners Believed Imminent; Paul Burks, Dawn Wright-Olivares, Darryle Douglas Among Alleged Insiders; AdSurfDaily Figures Todd Disner And Jerry Napier Among Alleged Winners; Prospective Defendants’ List Also Includes Legendary HYIP Hucksters T. LeMont Silver And Aaron/Shara

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (UPDATED 5:27 P.M. ET DEC. 16 U.S.A. ) The court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme case has advised a federal judge that he intends to sue Zeek operator Paul R. Burks and five alleged insiders, amid allegations they developed and operated a colossal fraud, breached their fiduciary duties, converted and wasted corporate assets and enriched themselves unjustly.

Included with Burks as alleged insiders are former Zeek COO Dawn Wright-Olivares, Daniel Olivares, Roger Plyler, Darryle Douglas and Alexandre “Alex” De Brantes. De Brantes and Wright-Olivares are husband and wife.

Receiver Kenneth D. Bell suggested the lawsuit could be filed within days and has asked Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen to approve the filing of the complaints.

And in a move that could send shockwaves across the HYIP Ponzi landscape, Bell advised Mullen that he intends to sue alleged net winners Todd Disner and Jerry Napier, both of whom were AdSurfDaily Ponzi pitchmen. Disner, Bell advised the court, is associated with an entity known as Kestrel Spendthrift Trust and will be sued in his individual capacity and in his capacity as trustee for Kestrel.

How a spendthrift trust somehow became involved in Zeek could not immediately be determined. Such trusts typically exist to protect the assets of individuals who may be irresponsible with money.

Also on Bell’s defendants’ list are legendary hucksters T. LeMont Silver, Aaron Andrews and Shara Andrews. The Andrews are known as “Team Aaron Shara.”

Other alleged Zeek winners Bell advised the court he intends to sue include Trudy Gilmond, Trudy Gilmond LLC, Darren Miller, Rhonda Gates, David Sorrells, Innovation Marketing LLC, Global Internet Formula Inc., Karen Silver, Michael Van Leeuwen, Durant Brockett, David Kettner and Mary Kettner.

Lawsuits will not be limited to just these 17 alleged winners, Bell advised the court. The plan, he said, was to sue “those who received at least $1,000 more from ZeekRewards than they paid in.”

Their profits “came from the scheme’s victims,” Bell said, proposing to the judge that they be treated as a “defendant class of the remaining ‘net winners.'”

The final list of defendants is expected to include many names. Bell has asked the court to impose the rules of complex litigation and to order an initial conference to be held as early as Jan. 13.

Gilmond’s clawback exposure may exceed $1.364 million, according to court filings in December 2012. Sorrells’ exposure may exceed $943,000. The Kettners may have exposure that exceeds $1 million.

How much exposure the other prospective defendants have was not immediately clear.

What is clear is that Zeek’s alleged $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that was popularized in part on infamous Ponzi forums could land promoters in court soon.

After the U.S. Secret Service exposed the $119 million ASD Ponzi scheme in 2008, Disner sued the United States — and lost. Disner’s lawsuit was filed even as he was promoting Zeek, a “program” that planted the seed it paid out even more than ASD’s 1 percent a day. Alongside the SEC, the Secret Service also is investigating Zeek.

Among Disner’s contentions when he sued the government over its ASD-related actions was that the Ponzi case was a “house of cards” and a “tissue of lies.”

ASD operator Andy Bowdoin, however, later admitted ASD was a Ponzi scheme and that his company never operated lawfully from its inception in 2006 through its collapse in 2008.

Bowdoin, now 79, was sentenced in August 2012 to 78 months in federal prison. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud in May 2012, after prosecutors produced evidence that Bowdoin had participated in at least two other MLM fraud schemes while out on signature bond and awaiting trial in the ASD Ponzi case.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASDUpdates Blog.

Dec 12, 2013