Zeek Receiver sues net-winners in New Zealand & BVI
One of the long-standing commitments of the court-appointed Zeek Rewards Receiver has been to go after net-winners who reside outside of the US.
In addition to having already sued net-winners in Canada and Australia, the Receiver is now targeting those who stole from Zeek’s victims in New Zealand and the British Virgin Islands.
Filed on the 11th of February 2015, the New Zealand complaint names three defendants: Hamish Brownie ($507,413), Praveen Kumar ($115,152) and David Ian MacGregor Fraser ($89,722).
In a boiler-plate bio Brownie uses to market himself online, he’s described as
a professional network marketer with 15 years experience working from home.
MLM opportunities other than Zeek Brownie is/has been involved in include Wow Mobile (Liberty Freedom Network) and BidForMyMeds,
Praveeen Kumar uses the domain “networkmarketingwealthmastery.com” to recruit people into various MLM opportunities he’s in.
Income opportunities that feature on Kumar’s Network Marketing Wealth Mastery website include KB Gold (“one investment that will make you ultra rich”), Viral Angels (“over 300% profit in 6 months!”), Banners Broker (advertising-based Ponzi scheme), Penny Matrix (matrix recruitment), Pinnoy Recruiters (run by a fellow Zeek Rewards investor hiding out in the Philippines), Smart Media Technologies (pyramid scheme recently targeted in Bangalore), Bonofa Cube7 (social network based Ponzi scheme), Rippln (pyramid scheme that turned into a complete disaster), MyFunLife (recruitment) and Rocket Cash Cycler (matrix-based pyramid scheme).
Currently Kumar is heavily promoting Dubli on his Facebook profile. No doubt he was attracted to the large commissions paid out on the recruitment of new Dubli affiliates.
David Ian MacGregor Fraser meanwhile seems to have gone quiet on the MLM front since investing in Zeek.
Over in the British Virgin Islands complaint, four defendants are named: Agnita Solomon ($2.05 million), Marguerite D. Hodge ($115,776), Susan Forbes ($603,288), Marcus Drigo ($70,262) and Patrice Harewood ($59,940).
Stealing over $2 million dollars puts Agnita Solomon right up there with Zeek’s top Ponzi investors.
Solomon was a major player in Zeek Rewards, with Zeek’s owner Paul Burks mentioning her in a communication to COO Dawn Wright-Olivares back in 2011:
“This allows us to defer to some of our major people like Agnita Solomon who manage dozens of accounts so that they don’e [sic] have to place so many ads every day.”
Evidently Solomon was involved in directly profiting from Zeek’s affiliates, by charging them a fee to automate the spam requirement to collect their daily ROI.
Having made so much in Zeek Rewards, Solomon appears to have laid low since it was shut down. On her LinkedIn profile, Solomon credits herself as the Managing Director at Fidelity Corporate Services Ltd.
Fidelity Corporate Services Ltd is a professional offshore incorporation services firm.
We are located in the British Virgin Islands and we specialize in BVI Business Companies – probably the world’s most popular type of offshore company.
Nothing on the MLM front came up for Marguerite D. Hodge, although she does appear to be connected to a “Chase Manhattan Bank”. Chase Manhattan Bank appear to operate out of a PO Box in the BVI, with an email address bearing Hodge’s name cited as the contact.
Nothing of particular interest came up for Marcus Drigo and Patrice Harewood.
As with clawback litigation filed against other net-winners, the named defendants in each complaint will now be given a chance to respond.
Should they fail to respond, the Receiver will then enter a motion requesting default judgement (the amount they stole plus interest).
In related news, default judgement was recently entered in against twelve of the twenty-five Canadian net-winners sued back in November 2014.
Six of the Canadian net-winners had default judgment recorded against them last month.
Sandra Gavel, one of the named investors, responded to the Receiver’s litigation by filing a letter with the court that read:
Your offer to contract is hereby rejected as unacceptable.
I do NOT consent to the jurisdiction of any United States Magistrate, or the jurisdiction of any United States Article III Judge in the United States District Court Western District of North Carolina.
Gavel stole $89,000 from Zeek’s victims and appears to have no intention of returning any of it.
To that end, the Receiver has filed a Motion asking the court to clarify Gavel’s status. The letter above was filed by Gavel herself, with the Receiver unsure if the court will deem it a Motion to Dismiss or classify it a failure to respond to the complaint (as per court rules).
If it’s deemed a Motion to Dismiss, the Receiver has moved to dismiss the motion itself. If it’s classified a failure to respond, default judgement against Gavel will be pending.
No word on the remaining six Canadian defendants. The lack of court documents filed in relation to them though suggests they might have settled with the Receiver.
Stay tuned…
Footnote: Our thanks to Don@ASDUpdates for providing a copy of the Receiver’s litigation against New Zealand & BVI net-winners and the request for clarification of Sandra Gavel’s status in the case against her.
Update 15th May 2015 – On May 14th the Receiver filed an amended complaint, listing an additional ten BVI residents as defendants:
- Vernon Lettsome – $2,036,742
- Trevor Potter – $293,221
- Simon Potter – $230,570
- Esther Potter – $187,990
- Elcina Frett – $148,000
- Hercules Fraser – $67, 201
- Kishma Reefe – $55,149
- Ruth Matthew – $136,277
- Wesley Legair – $117,079
- Sophia Richards – $96,238
It appears additional information must have come to light regarding the above investors, after the original complaint was filed back in February.
The individuals added to the clawback lawsuit now face the prospect of being forced to return the funds they stole from Zeek Rewards victims.
To that end, the Receiver has filed a Motion asking the court to clarify Gavel’s status—oz
i cant find this motion. kindly help.
Doc 78 in 3:14-cv-444 Kenn Bell vs. Canadian Zeek scammers
She may be one of the “Sweet 16” members, one of the “founding members”. They joined in late 2010, a few months before ZeekRewards was launched in January 2011. They paid a one time membership fee of $999 to become “Diamond”.
thanks oz, doc 78 got uploaded to asdupdates just 20 minutes or so ago. thanks don ryan.
gavel, in her letter to the court clerk, has merely ‘Rejected’ bells claims, without any ‘reason’ or ‘defense’. she has not Clearly Defined herself as FMOTL, but merely hinted at it, so this is not a clear defense either.
i’m saying, judge mullen, will regard this as ‘failure to answer or defend’, and not treat it as a ‘motion to dismiss’.
gavel is getting her default judgment.
Her net winnings may be related to “other types of services”, e.g. to Fidelity Corporate Services Limited and Fidelity Management Services Ltd.
You don’t need to personally recruit many people if you can find more than enough recruiters among your own clients.
Article updated with news of an amended complaint filed by the Receiver, listing an additional ten BVI residents as defendants.