Recently, the United States Supreme Court denied the request of the net-winners to have their appeal heard. As such, the sale was permitted to move forward. On December 17, , pursuant to that Order, the sale of these judgments closed pursuant to the terms of the approved purchase agreement as amended. Pursuant to that sale, all rights, title, and interest in the judgments against these net-winners has been transferred from the Receivership Estate to Nationwide Judgment Recovery, Inc. Because the judgment against these net winners was transferred to Nationwide, neither McGuireWoods LLP nor I are able to address any inquiries, settle or otherwise undertake any collections regarding the judgments sold.
Any inquiries regarding any of these sold judgments should be directed to Nationwide and not to me or the Receivership team. Nationwide is located at Katella Avenue, Stanton, California Their telephone number is They can be located online at www. Their email address is zeek nationwidejudgmentrecovery.
All communications regarding any of the sold judgments must be to Nationwide. The Receivership team is no longer able to assist you. There are still approximately U. Net Winners for whom we do not yet have a final judgment amount determined. These pending judgments were not included in the sale, and the Receivership team is working to finalize those remaining judgments in the coming months.
We anticipate selling those judgments in a similar fashion. Since beginning my term as Successor Receiver, I have continued the analysis of how to best monetize the judgements we have obtained to-date in the Net-Winner Class Action. The options were to either 1 sell these judgments in a lump sum to obtain funds to pay to the victims of the Zeek Scheme; or 2 seek to collect the judgments and make a final distribution after such collection efforts have ceased.
After discussions with counsel at numerous debt collection law firms and an external process to seek potential purchasers of the judgments, I ultimately determined that it would be in the best interests of the Receivership Estate and the victims of the ZeekRewards Scheme to sell the judgments. This moves us one step closer to a final distribution to claimants once the remaining litigation matters have concluded. The process of selecting a potential purchaser of the judgments occurred over several months.
After receiving multiple smaller offers, we received an increased offer from Big Sky Research Bureau, Inc. I believe that the sale of the judgments to Big Sky is in the best interests of the Receivership Estate. The agreement does, however, allow other potential purchasers to make higher offers, subject to a right of first refusal by Big Sky.
I will consider any additional offers to purchase the Judgments I receive before the Court enters an Order on the Motion to approve the sale of judgments. In addition, I have requested that the Court allow a day period to pass before entering an Order on the Motion so that interested parties, if any, have a meaningful opportunity to make a higher offer.
If anyone wishes to make a higher offer to purchase the Judgments, they may contact Shawn Fox at sfox mcguirewoods. The relevant filings are available in the Case Documents section of this website, and also at the following links:. Motion to Approve the Sale of Judgments. Notice of Motion to Approve Sale of Judgments.
Bell as a United States District Judge. I would like to congratulate Judge Bell on his confirmation and thank him for his tireless dedication to maximizing the recovery for the victims of the ZeekRewards scheme. Now that the confirmation has occurred, I have begun my term as the Successor Receiver. I have worked as a close advisor to Judge Bell since the beginning of the ZeekRewards Receivership, and I intend to see this Receivership through to its end. There are two main areas of litigation we need to complete before making a final distribution to claimants.
First, we must resolve the disputes with net winners who have challenged the dollar value of the judgments against them. This will involve filing a motion for summary judgment, and potentially litigating some claims in hearings before the Special Master appointed in this matter. Like the previous Receiver, I have considered the possibility of making another partial, interim distribution to claimants prior to the resolution of the litigation, and I have reached the same conclusion that the substantial costs of making such a distribution would reduce the amount ultimately paid out to claimants.
While we hope to be able to file the Final Distribution Plan and make a final distribution before this date, it will depend on the timing of the litigation that I have discussed. We thank you for your continued patience.
The decision of the Court of Appeals means that all judgments of liability against the defendant class members are now final. Based on this decision, I will now move forward to pursue collection of the Judgments or their sale to a third party. This leaves only approximately net winners against whom the Receivership has not yet sought but intends to seek a final Judgment. That effort will proceed this summer, and all net winners who initially challenged the amount of their net winnings in the process for determining the amount of net winnings are encouraged to communicate with the Receivership at NetWinningsResponse zeeknetwinnerclass.
This favorable ruling moves us one step closer to a final distribution to claimants. Those claims must be completed before a final distribution occurs. While I have considered making another partial, interim distribution to claimants prior to the resolution of those claims, the costs of making such a distribution are substantial, and it has been my judgment so far that the costs of making additional distributions prior to the final distribution, which will reduce the amount ultimately paid out to claimants, outweigh the benefits of another small partial distribution.
We appreciate the continued patience of the claimants and will of course continue to work to complete the Receivership as soon as possible. I want to give you a status update concerning the Receivership, including our plans for future distributions to affiliate claimants holding allowed claims and pursuing additional assets.
We hold funds sufficient to make another small interim, partial distribution. However, the expense associated with making such a distribution counsels against making it. Instead, I expect to make only one final distribution at the end of the Receivership. This final distribution will be greater if we do not make small interim distributions.
Also, we continue to pursue significant receivership assets through litigation against several parties, most notably the net winner defendant class members, Victoriabank of Moldova and others who supported the scheme. Absent further settlements with the net winners with whom we have not yet settled, we will soon seek to sell the judgments against them to debt collection firms or engage such firms on a contingency basis.
I very much hope that we are able to resolve this remaining litigation during As previously announced, on March 15, , the Receivership Estate made the third partial interim distribution to Affiliates who are holders of Allowed Claims against the Receivership Defendant.
If you previously have received a distribution payment from the Receivership, you will receive another payment in this distribution. Distribution checks are being sent by United States mail and may take a week or more to be delivered to Affiliates in the United States. Delivery of distribution checks to Affiliates that are located outside the United States will take additional time.
I ask your patience in the delivery process. You may request a reissuance of your distribution check if you do not receive it timely. I ask that you wait until at least April 17, to make such a request because addressing reissuance requests will reduce the amount of funds we have to make future distributions.
I thank you for your patience and your continuing support. I am confident that we will make a further distribution in the future. Cogburn, Jr. Judge Cogburn cited the need to balance the harm caused by Mr. There is no parole available under the federal court system. The Court also ordered Mr. Burks essentially all of his assets.
For similar reasons the Court found that Mr. Burks has no ability to pay a fine and declined to enter a fine. The Court allowed Mr. Burks to remain free on bond until instructed to report to a federal prison by the Bureau of Prisons. The process of designation to a federal prison usually takes 30 days.
That amount plus prejudgment interest will then become the amount of the Final Judgment to be entered against the net winner. I intend to pursue collection of these judgments vigorously, and expect the ultimate amount collected, while uncertain, will be a substantial sum. The first step in the process — notifying each Net Winner of the amount of their net winnings — is expected to begin next week.
After notification, each Net Winner is required to provide a response stating whether he or she accepts or disagrees with that amount within 60 days of the notification using a website Net Winnings Determination Response Portal. More information and links to the Response Portal will be sent to the Net Winner Class members in the notification email. If a Net Winner does not receive their notification by February 13, then he or she should email netwinningsresponse zeeknetwinnerclass.
Hundreds of settlements have been negotiated with Net Winners and approved by the Court. The sentencing hearing is open to the public and will be held at the Federal Courthouse at W. Trade Street, Charlotte, NC. Victims of these offenses are entitled to be heard at sentencing. If a victim would like to have a letter describing the impact that ZeekRewards had on them submitted to the Court please send an email to HearingLetter zeekrewardsreceivership.
In particular, the Court would like to hear about any of the below circumstances:. I will be attending the hearings on behalf of all ZeekRewards victims and will present your letters to the Court. I am pleased to announce that we will be making a third partial interim distribution to all Affiliates who hold Allowed Claims on March 15, If you previously have received payment from the Receivership, or receive a payment for the first time during the January 31 distribution, you will be issued another payment on March 15, Their failure to do so has permitted me to release these reserves and to pay the third partial interim distribution to Affiliates that hold Allowed Claims.
Finally, we do not have authority to accept new claims and are not considering further requests to amend previously allowed claims. The time to file claims or to amend claims has passed. I ask you for your patience, and thank you for your continuing support. All claimants who fall into this category received emails on October 1, November 1 and December 1 asking them to complete the process.
They received another email from the Receiver today making a personal appeal for them to sign the forms online. These claimants must follow these steps:. Failure to complete this process by December 31, will result in forfeiture of claim, meaning a distribution check will never be issued.
Those affiliates have already completed the required process. This is not a new opportunity to file a claim. The time to make a claim ended on September 5, by order of the Court. Please do not attempt to file a claim now. The opinion may be viewed by following this link. As I have previously stated, the next step will be for the Receiver and counsel for the Net Winner Class to confer and then ask the Court to approve a process to determine the amount of judgment, or money owed, by each of the class members other than the named defendants who have already been found liable for the full amount of their net winnings to the receivership.
This process is expected to take several months, but the entry of summary judgment is a significant event for the receivership and claimants. How much of that we will be able to collect for distribution to claimants with allowed claims is uncertain at this time.
However, we will pursue collection of these judgments vigorously, and expect the ultimate amount collected will be a substantial sum. A copy of the motion is available at this link. By this Motion, the Receiver requests that the Court enter an order affirming that the Receiver has the authority to deem any claim of a Subject Affiliate who has failed to submit the Required Information by p. More than 41, claimants have a claim recognized by the ZeekRewards Receivership, but have failed to electronically submit an OFAC certification and release.
The ZeekRewards Receivership cannot pay a claimant with a recognized claim unless the claimant submits an OFAC certification and release. Failure to submit an OFAC certification and release may result in these claims being forfeited. Once approved by the Court, the funds held in reserve for the forfeited claims will be released from the reserve for payments to claimants with allowed claims in this case.
The Receiver has and will continue to contact all claimants that hold one of these more than 41, claims regarding the forfeiture of their claim. The Court considered their cooperation with the government in the successful prosecution of Paul Burks in handing down the sentences.
I appeared before the Court and argued on behalf of the victims of these crimes, and presented to the Court letters from victims describing the impact that Zeek Rewards had on their lives. The sentencing of Paul Burks has not yet been scheduled. The sentencing hearings are open to the public and will be held at the Federal Courthouse at W.
On August 23, Jaymes Meyer was sentence in federal court in Charlotte, NC to 15 months imprisonment followed by 2 years of supervised release on charges of obstruction of justice. Meyer caused millions of dollars of RVG assets to be transferred to accounts under his personal control.
During the last four years the Receiver Team has traced these funds all over the world and through several overseas shell companies and offshore trusts.
On Thursday July 21, , following a three week trial, a federal jury in the Western District of North Carolina found Paul Burks guilty of mail and wire fraud, and conspiracy.
Burks was allowed by the Court to remain on bond pending sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled. Victims of Mr. We will post the date, time and location of his sentencing hearing when it is scheduled by the Court. The trial is open to the public. We will be monitoring the trial and will keep you updated. The indictment against Mr. Burks can be viewed at this link. Also, yesterday we filed a motion for summary judgment, a memorandum in support of the motion and exhibits in the litigation against named defendants and the defendant class of net winners in the United States.
By this motion we are asking the Court to rule as a matter of law that ZeekRewards operated as a Ponzi and pyramid scheme, and to find that the net winnings received by the net winners must be returned to the receivership for distribution to claimants with recognized claims. The motion, memorandum and exhibits may be viewed at this link. The defendants will have an opportunity to respond to this motion. Thereafter, the Court may schedule a hearing.
If the Court rules in our favor and grants our motion, the liability of the named defendants and class members will be established.
We will then ask the Court to approve a process to determine the amount of judgment, or money owed, by each of the defendants to the receivership. This process will take several months, but the filing of this motion is a significant event for the receivership and claimants. How much of that we will be able to collect for distribution to claimants with recognized claims is uncertain at this time.
Many foreign Affiliates have reported that they are unable to deposit or cash their distribution checks due to local banking fees and regulations.
We filed a motion with the Court seeking a remedy for this problem so that all Affiliates, could receive their distributions. I sought this relief because various foreign Affiliates that were eligible to receive distributions contacted me to alert me to the fact that they were unable to cash the physical checks denominated in US Dollars that they had received. This relief will allow me to pay those foreign Affiliates who complied with the Court mandated process, but were otherwise unable to recover on account of their Allowed Claim because of their location.
If you are eligible to receive your distribution by wire transfer, my team will be sending you an email explaining how you may exercise the option to receive your distribution by wire transfer. However, if you are eligible to receive your distribution by wire transfer and you choose to do so, all of the fees and costs associated with the payment of the wire will be deducted from your Distribution including without limitation the fees and costs associated with the sending of the wire by the estate, the receiving of the wire transfer by your bank, any currency conversion fee associated with converting the wire transfer from US Dollars to your local currency, any bank charges, and any canceled check fees incurred on account of any uncashed check which was previously issued to you.
In addition, you agree to pay any costs associated with canceling uncashed checks previously issued to you. If you request a wire transfer and it is determined that the cost of the transfer will be greater than your Distribution, your Distribution will be sent by check. In order to receive the wire transfer, you must submit all of the requested banking information via the Claim Portal. You must also give the estate a release in regard to any misdirected wire transfer caused by the entry of any incorrect banking information.
Wire payments will follow the same schedule as check Distributions and will not be made until the Release and OFAC have been submitted. This message is directed primarily to foreign, or non-US resident, Affiliates. It is not to announce another round of distributions, but there will be at least one more distribution to all eligible claimants. There are three major sources of funds for future distributions. We remain confident of success in that litigation, and that it will result in the collection of tens of millions of dollars for distribution to qualified claimants.
We expect to be able to ask the Court for an Order in our favor this summer. If the Court grants our request we will begin collecting those funds shortly thereafter. Hopefully that matter will decided this summer as well. Third, we are holding in reserve tens of millions of dollars earmarked for those 41, claimants who would have already received distribution checks if they would simply log into the Claim Portal and electronically sign the Release and OFAC certification.
If those claimants do not complete the process to become eligible for a distribution before the end of the Receivership we will ask the court to allow us to distribute those funds to claimants who have.
The bottom line is that we expect additional recovery of tens of millions of dollars for distribution in this year or next. You now know as much as I do. Thank you for your support as we continue to work on your behalf.
On March 16, the U. The settlement arose out of claims the receivership had against NewBridge Bank for its continuing to provide banking services to Rex Venture Group after mid-April , by which time the receivership alleged that the bank and its executives knew or should have known that Paul Burks and RVG were using their accounts to conduct an illegal Ponzi and pyramid scheme.
We hope to bring to a conclusion in our class action against more than 9, net winners, which will be a significant milestone. I have written many times encouraging tens of thousands of claimants with recognized claims who have not yet received a distribution check to log into the claims portal and electronically sign the Court required Release and OFAC Certification.
At some point, I will be required to distribute the funds that have been reserved for these claimants to other Affiliates who have completed the process and, therefore, hold Allowed Claims. For the past 3. Each of the Respondents has had some role in failing to freeze and or return the outstanding Receivership Assets from this payment processing relationship. The Receiver anticipates the Court will set a briefing schedule and hearing date to facilitate the resolution of this Motion on the merits.
Disner, et al. As instructed by the Court, Mr. Edmundson will be communicating with the Net Winner Class primarily through a website and collective emails. At the end of October we will issue approximately 1, distribution checks to claimants who have not already received a distribution because they had not previously submitted the release and OFAC certification required by the Court.
Please note that all distributions are made to affiliates who filed a claim by the Court ordered deadline of September 5, , and have had their claim allowed. I have no authority to allow claims filed after that date. Contrary to misinformation circulating among some affiliates, there are no new claims being accepted. If you are in this group, please log in to the claim portal and provide those documents through the webform available in the claim portal. Doing so will permit me to pay you on account of the money you are owed.
We will send distribution checks to all eligible claimants at the end of the receivership. Many non-US claimants have reported difficulty in cashing or depositing distribution checks. We are considering asking the Court for authority to make distributions to overseas claimants by wire transfer. Also, there would be added expenses to the receivership to solicit, receive, process and maintain required additional information from claimants, as well as additional bank fees and further governmental requirements and disclosures.
It is not clear that such additional expenses are a good and fair use of receivership funds. Many of you have asked when the receivership will end, and when a final distribution will be made. So had his grandsons. And so were more and more people in Lexington, including doctors, lawyers and accountants. Skeptical at first, Myers drove a few blocks to the company's one-story, red-brick office and spotted a line of people circling the building.
She was sold, and plunked down several thousand dollars. But months later, Myers, like hundreds of thousands of others, discovered the truth: ZeekRewards was a scam. Many were recruited by friends and family in Lexington, a quintessential small town where neighbors look out for each other.
But what investors didn't know was that regulators had received nearly a dozen complaints about ZeekRewards and the related site Zeekler. The Securities and Exchange Commission, which closed the operation Aug. The Ponzi scheme was using money from new investors to pay the earlier ones. Investigators say Burks, a former nursing home magician, siphoned millions for his personal use.
But he has not been charged. In his first public comments, Burks told The Associated Press he couldn't discuss details because of lawsuits by victims trying to recoup money. But Cal Cunningham, a former prosecutor representing investors in a lawsuit, slammed Burks — and regulators for taking so long to act. A lot of people were hurt," he said. Burks started Zeekler in early as an online penny auction site.
His business experience included nearly four decades in multilevel marketing programs — such as Amway — including failed attempts to launch similar businesses of his own. In penny auctions, consumers compete to pay pennies on the dollar for name brand products such as iPads.
In January , he incorporated aspects of multilevel marketing into the business when he launched ZeekRewards. The program offered a share of the penny auction's profits to people who invested money, promoted the company on other websites and recruited other participants. Under a complicated formula, investors were issued "profit points" that grew every day.
Some mortgaged homes to raise their investment. At first, ZeekRewards complied when investors sought to cash out. And that became the best ad of all: happy investors with their checks in Facebook photos. Some mortgaged homes to raise their investment. The Securities and Exchange Commission shut down ZeekRewards about 20 months later, calling it a Ponzi scheme on the verge of collapse. Burks' former chief operating officer, Dawn Olivares, and her tech-savvy stepson have made plea deals with prosecutors and are expected to testify against him.
Olivares became friends and worked with Burks on multilevel marketing companies since in the s. He was a former county music disc jockey and performed as a magician in nursing homes in the s and '90s. After Burks' company was shut down, federal investigators found a massive country music memorabilia collection that has since been auctioned off to refund investors. Defense attorneys counter that Burks didn't misrepresent the ZeekRewards program and didn't mastermind a Ponzi or pyramid scheme.
0コメント