zeekrewardsSo far the court-appointed Zeek Receivership has sued the $850 million dollar Ponzi scheme’s top domestic (US) net-winners and their Canadian counterparts.

Now, in a lawsuit filed on the 29th of December, the Receivership is going after Zeek’s top Australian net-winners too.

The worst of the worst of Zeek’s Australian investors, these are the Ponzi thieves who have thus far failed to negotiate a settlement and return the millions they collectively stole from their victims.

Named as defendants in the lawsuit are:

Gert Bjerring ($826,801)

A resident of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Dancon Pty. Ltd. is, upon information and belief, a shell company through which Bjerring was a ZeekRewards “affiliate” and “net winner” of $826,801.73 under one or more usernames, including “globalvision1.”

Since Zeek, Bjerring has laid low but recently he got involved in Staged (“content hijacking” recruitment scheme). He also appears to be a fan of Wenyard (shares-based scam).

Gert-Bjerring-promoting-staged

Bjerring appears to be living quite comfortable and regularly publishes photos of himself and his assets on Facebook:

gert-bjerring-motorcycle-facebook

Gert-Bjerring-house-car-facebook

David Mitchell ($298,802)

A resident of Tyalgum, New South Wales, Australia.

Mitchell is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $298,802.10 under one or more usernames, including “davemitchell.”

Nicola Holloway ($273,009)

A resident of Hope Island, Queensland, Australia.

Holloway is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $273,009.36 under one or more usernames, including “globalnetworks.”

Sam Fawahl ($232,564)

sam-fawahl

A resident of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Fawahl is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $232,564.55 under one or more usernames, including “TeamUnited.”

Back in 2011 Fawahl, along with two co-founders, attempted to launch a MyShoppingGenie teambuild under the name “PreLaunch Australia“.

That never really went anywhere… with Fawahl later ditching the name for The Beehive Strategy.

Fawahl wasn’t happy with our coverage of his various ventures, telling BehindMLM that “the authorities” would “take further action without hesitation” if we didn’t “cease and desist” our reporting.

Whether or not Fawahl was a Zeek investor before or after his failed MLM launch attempts is unclear. Given he pretty much dropped off the radar after The Beehive Strategy also went nowhere, I’d be tipping the latter.

After stealing a couple of hundred thousand from Zeek’s victims, Fawahl went on to join Empower Network ($25+ cash gifting).

Warren Hickey ($159,757)

warren-hickey-zeek-rewards-investor

a resident of Hope Island, Queensland, Australia.

Health and Success Pty. Ltd. is, upon information and belief, a shell company through which Hickey was a ZeekRewards “affiliate” and “net winner” of $159,757.73 under one or more usernames, including “GlobalProfitShare.”

After Zeek, Hickey went on to invest in Bidify. Modelled closely on Zeek Rewards, Bidify sought to clone the “success” of the penny auction Ponzi craze at the time.

After going through numerous relaunches to put off the inevitable Ponzi collapse, Bidify (now MyCenterBid) management expressed their frustration last year at the lack of new investors coming on board.

Other opportunities Hickey has been involved with include Numis Network and Monavie.

warren-hickey-promoting-bidify-numis-network-monavie

About a year before Zeek was shutdown by the SEC, Monavie’s President warned the public that it was “probably a Ponzi” scheme.

Lars Frederiksen ($139,365)

Lars-Frederiksen-zeek-rewards-investor

A resident of Willetton, Western Australia, Australia.

Frederiksen is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $139,365.49 under one or more usernames, including “perth.”

Frederiksen appears to have ditched MLM, going on to launch “Product Agency” in February 2014.

Product Agency is a Business-to-Business platform, promoting only unique products & services, supplied by small to medium sized businesses.

We provide suppliers with an online dedicated product page, showcasing their product or service. In addition suppliers receive SEO, page statistics, videos, and much more.

Paul Mandelt ($128,913)

paul-mandelt-zeek-rewards-investor

A resident of Hillarys, Western Australia, Australia.

Mandelt is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $128,913.02 under one or more usernames, including “sunray.”

After Zeek Rewards Mandelt signed up as an affiliate with Seacret (sea salts autoship focused opportunity).

Kelvian Hansen ($111,799)

A resident of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Hansen is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $111,799.43 under one or more usernames, including “Kellil.”

Hansen doesn’t appear to have gotten over the Ponzi scheme bug, having gone on to invest in WorldWide Solutionz:

kelvian-hansen-worldwide-solutionz-investor

Anni Thompson ($95,566)

A resident of Yandina Creek, Queensland, Australia.

Thompson is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $95,566.00 under one or more usernames, including “teamliberty.”

Ann Audrey Hickey ($83,487)

A resident of Hope Island, Queensland, Australia.

Hickey is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $83,487.05 under one or more usernames, including “GlobalProvenPattern.”

R&J Thumm Family P/L ($80,130)

As Trustee for Thumm Investment Trust (“R&J”) is a proprietary limited company organized under the laws of Australia.

R&J is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $80,130.26 under one or more usernames, including “GlobalWealthSystems.”

Robert Heinz Thumm (who presumably signed his family up under their trust account), is Managing Director of Thumm Estate Wines.

Nestled in a magnificent majestic valley at the base of the Gold Coast’s Mount Tamborine, Managing Director / Oenologist Robert Thumm continues his family’s three hundred year heritage of viticulture and winemaking.

Maybe there was a downturn in the Queensland wine industry over 2011 and 2012?

David Cane ($77,296)

A resident of Hope Island, Queensland, Australia.

Karanda Holdings Pty. Ltd. is a shell company through which Cane was a ZeekRewards “affiliate” and “net winner” of $77,296.57 under one or more usernames, including “GlobalCashFlow.”

As per the Karanda Holdings website:

Karanda Holdings Pty Ltd is a family owned company started in 1994 to operate family business interests.

From time to time we may list or recommends certain business, opportunities or Affiliate Programs that we have found rewarding or believe they have future potential.

There are currently no MLM related businesses listed on the site.

Donna Walton ($76,730)

A resident of Beaudesert, Queensland, Australia.

Walton is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $76,730.36 under one or more usernames, including “Candyamore.”

Michael Georghiou ($74,968)

Michael-Georghiou-zeek-rewards-investor

a resident of Cheltenham, Victoria, Australia.

Georghiou is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $74,968.93 under one or more usernames, including “4ever.”

Prior to investing in Zeek Georghiou was an affiliate with LifeWave (skin patches recruitment orientated opportunity).

After Zeek Georghiou went on to become a “founding member” of the Auruma International gold-based recruitment scheme:

Michael-Georghiou-auruma-international-founding-member

At the time of publication the Auruma International website was non-responsive.

Thomas von Eitzen ($74,854)

thomas-von-eitzen-zeek-rewards-investor

A resident of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Eitzen is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $74,854.07 under one or more usernames, including “tomve.”

Immediately after the SEC shutdown Zeek, von Eitzen began to promote the reload scam Global One:

thomas-von-eitzen-promoting-global-one

Global One floundered for months, before eventually collapsing.

Shortening his name to just “Tom”, von Eitzen has since gone on to invest in the Ponzi schemes Wenyard and My Advertising Pays (YouTube accounts: “Viral Marketing Tools” and “Tom von Eitzen”).

Here’s how von Eitzen pitches My Advertising Pays:

It’s Impossible NOT To Make Money” – Get PAID EVERY 20mins, 24/7

‘MyAdvertisingPays’….aka ‘M.A.P.’, GUARANTEES to PAY EVERYONE 72 times per day after viewing just 10 Ads Daily, which takes just 5 – 10mins each day.

Every Single person Makes Money – in fact it’s impossible NOT to make money.

Top US Attorney Kevin Thompson on-board.

Register here and start earning 2% Daily

Regards,

Tom von Eitzen
UserName: cash4ads
Email: (removed)
Int Phone: +61-4-6843-0596
Mobile: 0468430596
Skype: tom.voneitzen

Bradley Ferries ($72,325)

a resident of Hope Island, Queensland, Australia.

Ferries is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $72,325.96 under one or more usernames, including “GlobalAdvantage.”

Robin Reid ($61,114)

A resident of Hope Island, Queensland, Australia.

Reid is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $61,114.41 under one or more usernames, including “Globalstar.”

Linda Welch ($60,274)

a resident of Lower Beechmont, Queensland, Australia.

Welch is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $60,274.22 under one or more usernames, including “DailyReward.”

Maureen Fisher ($55,797)

A resident of Dicky Beach, Queensland, Australia.

Fisher is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $55,797.49 under one or more usernames, including “Globalsuper.”

Barry Goodsell ($53,650)

barry-goodsell-zeek-rewards-investor

A resident of Bertram, Western Australia, Australia.

Goodsell is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $53,650.26 under one or more usernames, including “barryandsue.”

After Zeek Goodsell signed up as an affiliate with Organo Gold (coffee).

The website Goodsell was marketing on Facebook (circa 2013) was unresponsive at the time of publication.

David Joseph ($52,581)

A resident of Mount Claremont, Western Australia, Australia.

Joseph is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $52,581.70 under one or more usernames, including “dkjoseph.”

Birthe Seaton ($52,477)

a resident of Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia.

Seaton is a former ZeekRewards “affiliate” and was a “net winner” of $52,477.31 under one or more usernames, including “jobiperry.”

The Zeek Rewards affiliates above have thus far failed to repay the funds they stole Zeek Rewards victims.

The Receivership, citing three prayers of relief, has now asked the Western District court of North Carolina to

  1. Enter Judgment against each of the Defendants in the amount of their net winnings from the ZeekRewards scheme
  2. Enter an injunction against the Defendants prohibiting each of them from dissipating their assets pending satisfaction of the Judgment against them and
  3. Award prejudgment and post-judgment interest, costs and such other and further relief against all Defendants as the Receiver is entitled to recover

From here the named defendants above will now have the opportunity to respond to the lawsuit filed against them.

If they fail to file a response, as we’ve seen in both the US and Canadian lawsuits, the Receivership will then likely file for default judgement.

This has been granted by the court in both the US and Canadian cases when requested, and is likely to be granted should any Australian investors fail to respond too.

As for enforcing US judgement against Zeek’s Australian investors in Australia itself, the Attorney-General’s Department writes:

Whether a foreign judgment can be enforced in Australia depends on where the judgment was issued and the type of judgment that was issued.

Currently, the enforcement of foreign judgments in Australia is governed by both statutory regimes and common law principles.

With respect to statutory regimes, the Foreign Judgments Act 1991 and the Foreign Judgments Regulations 1992 provide for the procedure and scope of the judgments that can be enforceable under the statutory regime.

It’s not entirely straight forward, but I believe Ponzi judgements would come under the Foreign Judgement Act.

Australian law firm Clayton Utz offer some further clarification:

A party seeking to enforce a US judgment in Australia must instead rely on the common law principles for recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. The good news is that the common law requirements are at least reasonably settled.

What US judgments can be enforced in Australia?

To be capable of enforcement in Australia, a US judgment must satisfy six requirements:

1. it must be final and conclusive;

2. there must be an identity of the parties;

3. if it is a judgment in personam, it must be for a fixed debt or readily calculable sum; the US court must have exercised jurisdiction in the international sense as recognised by Australian courts;

4. it must not be wholly satisfied; and

5. it must have been obtained within the last 12 years.

Looking at Clayton Utz’s explanation of requirement three, it might post a problem:

To enforce a US judgment in Australia the plaintiff must prove that the US court exercised jurisdiction over the judgment debtor which is recognised by Australian courts. This is often called “jurisdiction in the international sense”.

Under Australian common law rules a US court will be deemed to have exercised the relevant jurisdiction if:

the defendant voluntarily submitted to the court’s jurisdiction; or the defendant was ordinarily resident or present in the US at the time that he or she was served with the originating process.

While these are the two most common grounds for establishing jurisdiction in the international sense, there is an emerging line of authority which says international jurisdiction will be recognised where the defendant was a citizen of the country of the foreign court and the defendant actively used his or her citizenship.

Not sure how that’s going to play out later down the road, as to the best of my knowledge none of Zeek’s Australian investors named above fit that specific criteria.

First things first though, let’s see which of Australia’s top Zeek Rewards Ponzi pimps respond to the Receiver’s lawsuit.

Stay tuned…

 

Footnote: Our thanks to Don @ ASDUpdates for providing a copy of the Zeek Receiver’s December 29th civil action complaint.

 

Update 24th May 2017 – Default Judgement was granted against Gert Bjerring, David Cane (Karanda Holdings), Bradley Ferries, Maureen Fisher, Lars Frederiksen, Barry Goodsell, Kelvian Hansen, Ann Audrey Hickey, Warren Hickey (Health and Success Pty Ltd), Nicola Halloway, David Joseph, Paul Mandelt, R&J Thumm Family P/L, Robin Reid, Anni Thompson, Thomas Von Eitzen, Frank G. Johns, Donna Walton and Linda Welch.