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Tag: Zeek winners

  • BOOKMARK FOR ZEEKERS: Lawyer For Alleged Ponzi Winners Now Has Website And Has Posted Documents

    Whether you’re an alleged Zeek “winner” or a “loser” hoping the court will force the return of tens of millions of dollars in gains, this is one to bookmark: http://www.zeeknetwinnerclass.com/index

    It’s the website of J. Kevin Edmundson, the lawyer appointed by the court in essence to defend thousands of alleged Zeek Rewards winners sued by court-appointed receiver Kenneth D. Bell. In a Nov. 5 announcement on the receivership page, Bell himself pointed his litigation opponents to the site.

    “As instructed by the Court, Mr. Edmundson will be communicating with the Net Winner Class primarily through a website and collective emails,” Bell wrote.

    Bell alleges the winnings are Ponzi proceeds and thus must be returned. Any number of Zeekers hope to keep the alleged gains.

    The case is known as Bell v. Disner. Disner is Todd Disner, an alleged pitchman for both Zeek and the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme in 2008. The winner’s site includes an FAQ’s section, copies of court filings and more.

    “Class counsel has established this website as the primary means of communicating with members of the class,” Edmundson notes on the site. “Please check back frequently for updates as new information becomes available.”

    U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen certified the defendant class earlier this year.

    As the PP Blog reported in March (italics added):

    What once was only theoretical in the context of MLM HYIP schemes — that a receiver appointed by a court could simultaneously sue thousands of “winners” from disparate locations for return of funds received from an alleged Ponzi or pyramid scheme — is now a reality.

    This reality was cemented [March 17] by the posting of a “Notice of Certification of Defendant Class Action” by Zeek Rewards receiver Kenneth D. Bell. The four-page document is posted on the receivership website.

    Bell is suing more than 9,000 individuals in the United States alleged to have received more than $1,000 from the “program.”

     

  • ZEEK RECEIVER TO NET WINNERS: ‘The Time For Court Action Is Drawing Closer’

    UPDATED 1:20 P.M. EDT (APRIL 4, U.S.A.) The court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme case has warned net winners that “the time for court action is drawing closer” and that “there is an opportunity for settlement.”

    Receiver Kenneth D. Bell published a letter to winners today on the website of the receivership.

    A snippet from the letter (italics added):

    The time for court action is drawing closer. I am sending this message to make sure that net-winners understand that there is an opportunity for settlement, but that the window for the opportunity is closing. To allow a reasonable time for all those who would like to pursue a settlement to do so, I am going to continue to make my team available to negotiate settlements for at least 60 more days. Therefore, if net winners want to pursue a settlement they should contact us by no later than May 31, 2013. After that date, I will assume that all net-winners that want to avoid the legal process by discussing settlement have done so, and I will move forward with court action, likely in June 2013, against the remaining net-winners.

    breakingnews72In August 2012, the SEC descibed Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme operated by Paul R. Burks through Rex Venture Group LLC. Based on the number of victims, Zeek may be the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history.

    Bell noted in the letter that he already has discussed settlements with a “number of net-winners” and that “we have successfully negotiated payments which will, subject to Court approval, result in the release of the Receiver’s claims against those winners.”

    Some winners have received significant discounts, Bell said. But he noted that settlements depend on circumstances and that not all winners will get the same deal.

    “The settlements take into account the amount of the affiliate’s winnings, the nature of their involvement and their involvement of others, their cooperation, their ability to repay the money (and the time period in which the repayment can reasonably be made) and other individual factors and circumstances,” Bell said in the letter.  “The amounts of the settlements have ranged from approximately 40% to 80% of the affiliate’s net winnings. However, not all net winners have been or will be offered discounted settlements and the amounts of future settlements may vary from this range. The amount of the settlement offered to each net-winner will be based on the affiliate’s particular circumstances and ultimately must – in both my and the Court’s opinion – be in the overall best interests of the victims, considering the costs associated with the legal process.”

    Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen of the Western District of North Carolina is presiding over the Zeek case.

    Mullen’s name also was in the news last week as a result of a different government action that alleged fraud.

    On March 27, the CFTC sought an asset freeze against James Harvey Mason of Graham, N.C., The JHM Forex Only Pool (JHM) and Forex Trading at Home (FTAH).

    Mullen granted the freeze, amid CFTC allegations that Mason fraudulently solicited “at least $1.1 million from at least 60 individuals to participate in off-exchange foreign currency (forex) commodity pools and misappropriat[ed] at least $600,000 of participant funds.”