BULLETIN: The Zeek Rewards MLM “program” that is married to a penny-auction site known as Zeekler and plants the seed that an annualized return in the hundreds of percent is possible has declared that “all” Zeek criticism has been “unprofessional” and based on “false information.”
Some Zeek affiliates have said that Zeek provides a payout that averages about 1.4 percent a day, a figure higher than the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme.
Zeek has preemptively denied it is an investment program or “pyramid scheme.” Regardless, Zeek has a presence on HYIP forums referenced in federal court filings as places from which Ponzi schemes are promoted. The company has used offshore payment processors linked to numerous fraud schemes and employs business model similar to the $110 million AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme.
Zeek, which has members in common with ASD, gathers sums of up to $10,000 from members. Like ASD, it claims it is not offering an investment program. But Zeek now is blasting unspecified “North Carolina Credit Unions” for circulating a purported “internal memo” that allegedly was “at once unfavorable to Zeek Rewards and false.”
The Zeek Blog post was attributed to acting COO Gregory J. Caldwell, who replaced acting COO Dawn Wright-Olivares. While acting COO, Wright-Olivares once suggested that, if Zeek instructed members to change their preference in dispensing toilet paper in their private bathrooms (top-rolling vs. bottom rolling), they should do it.
Wright-Olivares now is Zeek’s “Chief Marketing Officer,” with Caldwell holding her former job, according to the company.
Caldwell, according to the Zeek Blog post, now is warning Zeek members to stick with the company line or face the consequences. The post did not spell out those consequences.
“It’s counter-productive for Affiliates to fan the flames of issues that are the proper responsibility of Zeek Corporate…and it’s a violation of the Zeek Policies and Procedures for which violators will be held responsible,” the post attributed to Caldwell and dated today read in part.
A North Carolina credit union had slandered Zeek, according to the post attributed to Caldwell on the Zeek Blog (italics/bolding added).
Zeek Rewards policy is to act quickly to support the Zeek reputation and the future of your business. Upon learning of the memo slandering Zeek, I called the head of Risk Management to track down the origin of the memo. Upon being discovered, the person responsible admitted he really didn’t know anything about the laws regarding direct selling or how to identify a legitimate network marketing company or opportunity. Like all our critics, he was behaving unprofessionally by acting on false information.
We intervened, shut down the misinformation at its source, and that would have been that…were it not for the inappropriate action of one of our own Affiliates who posted the memo online where it has been picked up and is now being used by our critics.
Prior to being arrested on Dec. 1, 2010, by the U.S. Secret Service amid allegations he was at the helm of an Internet Ponzi scheme that planted the seed affiliates received a return of 1 percent a day but were not making an investment, ASD President Andy Bowdoin also complained about slanderous critics. Bowdoin pleaded guilty in May 2012 to a Ponzi-related charge of wire fraud.
Although Bowdoin posted bond and remained free after the Secret Service brought its case, he is now jailed in the District of Columbia, amid allegations he continued to promote fraud schemes after the Secret Service seized more than $80 million in the ASD Ponzi case in August 2008 and after Bowdoin was arrested on Ponzi charges in December 2010. Federal prosecutors identified those schemes as AdViewGlobal and OneX.
Bowdoin, 77, is scheduled to be formally sentenced in the ASD case on Aug. 29.
Some Zeek members also have promoted OneX, which reportedly used at least one of the same offshore processors as Zeek (SolidTrustPay).
Zeek members also have been linked to a “program” known as JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid and purportedly operated by Frederick Mann, a former ASD pitchman who may have ties to the so-called “sovereign citizens” movement. ASD also had ties to “sovereign citizens,” including the now-jailed Kenneth Wayne Leaming (false liens/harboring fugitives/possessing firearms illegally after prior felony conviction/false uttering) and Curtis Richmond, who once accused the federal judge overseeing the ASD case of “TREASON” and as many as 60 felonies.
JSS/JBP purports to provide a return of 730 percent a year. JSS/JBP uses at least two of the same offshore processors used by Zeek (SolidTrustPay and AlertPay, now Payza).
Meanwhile, Zeek promoters also have been linked to a “program” known as Regenesis 2×2, which came under Secret Service scrutiny in 2009 and also had a presence on the Ponzi boards.
Before the ASD Ponzi raid by the Secret Service in 2008, ASD had moved “several million” dollars into SolidTrustPay, according to court records. AlertPay also is referenced in filings in the ASD Ponzi case. Both firms are referenced in filings in the Pathway to Prosperity HYIP Ponzi case brought in 2010 by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Filings in the Pathway to Prosperity case also reference the TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup forums — forums on which Zeek, JSS/JBP, ASD and the Legisi HYIP Ponzi scheme had a common presence. SolidTrustPay, meanwhile, was mentioned in filings in the Eagle Trades LTD fraud case. Terrance Osberger of Eagle Trades was indicted last month by a federal grand jury in Ohio on one count of wire fraud and 48 counts of money-laundering.
Eagle Trades also had a presence on the Ponzi boards.
The Blog post attributed to Caldwell came on the heels of a report yesterday by BehindMLM.com that the North Carolina State Employee’s Credit Union (NCSECU) had concerns about Zeek. (Link to BehindMLM story below.)
In June, the office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said it had concerns about Zeek. Cooper’s office expressed those concerns after a North Carolina television station suggested Cooper’s office had determined Zeek to be operating legally. Zeek’s Blog linked to the TV station’s report, but the TV station later removed the report. Cooper’s office said that no determination that Zeek was operating lawfully had been made.
Read story on BehindMLM.com.
Read Zeek’s Blog post.
