Paul R. Burks

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (12th Update 2:57 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) In what may be a warning shot fired across the bow of payment vendors who hope to profit from Ponzi schemes, Zeek Rewards’ vendor Jaymes Meyer of Preferred Merchants Solutions LLC has pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of obstructing investigators in the Zeek Ponzi- […]

Sentencing for Dawn Wright-Olivares, a former Zeek Rewards’ executive who pleaded guilty in February 2014 to investment-fraud conspiracy and tax-fraud conspiracy, has been postponed, the office of U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose of the Western District of North Carolina said today. Wright-Olivares, whose age was listed as 45 by federal prosecutors at the time of her guilty plea, […]

UPDATED 9:08 A.M. EDT JULY 21 U.S.A. Matthew G. Pruden, an attorney with the Tin Fulton Walker & Owen law firm, is a defense lawyer in the June 2015 criminal case against “Achieve Community” figure Kristine Louise Johnson (Kristi Johnson), according to the docket of the case. North Carolina-based Tin Fulton Walker & Owen also […]

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, […]

UPDATED 10:25 P.M. EDT U.S.A. The trial for accused Ponzi schemer Paul R. Burks of Zeek Rewards now has been set for May 2016. Burks, 67 at the time of his indictment in October 2014 on charges of wire and mail fraud, wire- and mail-fraud conspiracy and tax-fraud conspiracy, argued successfully that he needed more […]

9th UPDATE 9:01 P.M. EDT U.S.A. Indianapolis-based USHBB Inc. and three of its principals — James A. Moore, Robert Mecham and Oscar H. Brown — have been sued by the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme case. Receiver Kenneth D. Bell alleges USHBB, a producer of videos, also did work for the […]

BULLETIN: The court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid case says millions of dollars in Zeek assets were transferred from the United States to the Cook Islands in the South Pacific by a former Zeek vendor known as Preferred Merchants Solutions LLC. At least part of the money allegedly then was used to […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: The MLM “program” known as Wings Network is alleged to have operated through two business entities that used the name “Tropikgadget.” The SEC’s case, announced Friday, is filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. That’s the same venue in which the agency’s epic TelexFree case was filed last year. There […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated at 6:35 a.m. on Feb. 27. **______________________** It happened in the Zeek Rewards pyramid- and Ponzi case in 2012 — and now it has happened in the “Achieve Community” case filed earlier this month. A woman has contacted the court presiding over the Achieve case to solicit help in […]

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (3rd update 9:15 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) Alleged Zeek Rewards operator Paul R. Burks has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Charlotte, N.C., on charges of wire and mail fraud, wire- and mail-fraud conspiracy and tax-fraud conspiracy. Burks, 67, of Lexington, N.C., is the third Zeek figure to be […]

DEVELOPING STORY: (Updated 9:44 a.m. EDT Sept 3, U.S.A.) The court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid case has asked a federal judge for a Temporary Restraining Order he says is necessary to prevent “further dissipation and waste” of certain assets. Receiver Kenneth D. Bell asked that the motion be filed under seal. […]