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Tag: Zeek claims portal

  • Full Statement From Zeek Receiver On New Information Available Through Claims Portal

    EDITOR’S NOTE: Zeek Rewards receiver Kenneth D. Bell has issued the statement reproduced below. It is dated Nov. 25, 2014. Source: Zeek Rewards Receivership Website.

    ** ________________________________ **

    ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE RECEIVER – November 25, 2014

    Today, new features were added to the claim status portal in response to issues that have arisen in the distribution process. The claim status portal can be accessed by following: https://cert.gardencitygroup.com/zrwdet/fs/home. These updates allow for a claimant who is eligible to receive a distribution to be able to check the status of that distribution by logging on to the claim status portal. In addition to claim status, that portal will now provide those affiliates who are eligible to receive a distribution with: the date on which his/her distribution check was issued; the amount of the distribution check; whether the distribution check has been cashed; and whether the distribution check was returned to us as undeliverable. Second, if your check was returned to us, lost, destroyed, or your check was issued in the wrong name (for example, if you inadvertently provided your Zeek username instead of your real name when you provided your payment information), you will now be able to request a new check be issued to you in the proper name. We hope that these updates will address many of the issues you have been asking us about.

    With these improvements to the claims status portal we will no longer respond to emails and calls that request the status of a claim that can otherwise be answered by logging into the claim portal and checking on the status of your claim. We have been spending a considerable amount of receivership assets responding to affiliate claimants’ inquiries about the status of their claim, all of which can now be answered through self-help. The savings generated by this automated system will allow us to make larger distributions to all affiliate claimants holding allowed claims.

    Among the inquiries to which we will no longer be responding are requests from affiliates who registered on the claims portal but did not complete and finally submit a claim. The claims system was continuously operational and was tested and verified as accurate during the claims period and afterward. If review of your claim status shows that you did not finally submit a claim through the claim portal by the Court ordered deadline of September 5, 2013, I have no authority to accept or permit you to file a claim thereafter, including now. I regret that anyone who could have validly submitted a claim failed to do so.

    If you hold a claim eligible for a distribution, but were not mailed a check on September 30, 2014, I encourage you to login to the claims status portal and accept the letter of determination you were issued (or have any objection you raised to the claim determination resolved) and submit the required Release and OFAC certification so that we may distribute money to you. If you take these steps, you will be mailed a first interim partial distribution at the end of January 2015.

    By the close of business on December 1, 2014, we will have issued Letters of Determination to all affiliate claimants who timely filed claims.

    Finally, we continue to receive many inquiries about tax withholdings from distribution checks. We are trying very hard to get reliable guidance from the Internal Revenue Service. I do not want to withhold taxes from distribution checks, but unless and until I receive assurance that the IRS agrees with me, withholdings will be made. We cannot expose the receivership, and the assets which we have and from which we will make distributions to victims, to potential penalties and fines by the IRS.

    ** ________________________________ **

    Visit the receivership website.

  • Zeek Rewards Claims Portal Is Open

    breakingnews72The claims portal for Zeek Rewards has opened on schedule. It is accessible through a “File a Claim” button on the website of the court-appointed receiver and also has a separate URL. Claims must be filed by 11:59 p.m. (prevailing Eastern time) on Sept. 5, 2013.

    A claims FAQ is accessible here.

    Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen of the Western District of North Carolina approved the Zeek claims process on May 8.

    In a letter to Zeek participants last week, receiver Kenneth D. Bell said there potentially is more than 1 million claimants.

    In August 2012, the SEC described Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud operated by Paul R. Burks and Rex Venture Group LLC of Lexington, N.C. Zeek, the SEC said, was selling unregistered securities and duping investors into believing they were receiving a legitimate return of about 1.5 percent a day.

    Since that time, the SEC has filed an action against a murky HYIP known as Profitable Sunrise that promoted returns that exceeded even Zeek’s purported numbers and appears to have been using a series of offshore bank accounts. The Profitable Sunrise action was filed in April 2013, amid allegations pitchmen may not have known for whom they were working in a bid to glean commissions.

    Reload scams surfaced in the immediate aftermath of the SEC’s Zeek action. The same thing is happening in the aftermath of the Profitable Sunrise action. Various “opportunities” are being pitched as cure-alls for losses in the “programs.” Some of the reload scams appear to be bids to intercept information from Zeek and Profitable Sunrise victims.

    At least 36 U.S. states or provinces in Canada have issued cease-and-desist orders or Investor Alerts against Profitable Sunrise. Notices also have been published by the governments of the United Kingdom, Italy and New Zealand. The state of North Carolina has published at least two warnings about reload scams. Some of the actions by state regulators in the United States have identified alleged Profitable Sunrise pitchmen.

    Despite the warnings, pitchmen for other HYIP schemes have been spamming websites with offers for other “programs” that promise absurd rates of return.

    Bogus “refund” sites have surfaced after the fall of other major Ponzi schemes. Scammers also have been known to discourage participants in “programs” from filing claims, apparently as part of bids to minimize the victims’ count. Some participants in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, for example, planted the extortive seed that they might sue anybody who filed a claim.

  • BULLETIN: Zeek Rewards Claims Portal Scheduled To Open ‘On Or Before’ May 15, Receiver Says

    breakingnews72BULLETIN: The claims portal for the alleged Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme is scheduled to open on or before May 15, the court-appointed receiver has announced.

    “It is with pleasure that I report on May 8, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina granted our motion seeking Court approval of our Claims Process for ZeekRewards,” receiver Kenneth D. Bell wrote in a May 9 letter to Zeek investors published on the receivership website.

    Bell cautioned claimants not to submit claims before the portal opens. And, he noted, most claims will be handled electronically. Special permission must be received from the receiver in writing to submit a claim in any other form.

    The PP Blog reported yesterday that Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen had approved the claims process.

    “Our proposed Claims Process was designed to provide the greatest possible return to the investors and other potential creditors of the Receivership Defendant by minimizing the percentage of Receivership Assets we have to spend to reconcile and determine claims,” Bell wrote.