Craddock: “BTG180 has been classified a Ponzi”
In what appears to be a direct response to BTG180’s claims of legal action being taken against him yesterday, Robert Craddock has escalated the war he is currently waging against the company.
In a BTGLegal update email, Craddock is now claiming that BTG180 ‘has been classified as a Ponzi Scheme‘.
In the email, sent out by a “Robert H” with the subject line “BTG180 Legal Action Taken” on December 13th, Craddock (right) writes
BTG180 formerly known as Bids That Gives has been classified as a Ponzi Scheme. Over the course of the next 30-60 days thorough investigation of the business model, monies transferred and sent will traced.
If you are an affiliate in BTG or promoting the business you must cease all action to sign anyone up under your affiliate link, if you register anyone in the business knowing that BTG180 is a Ponzi scheme you will also risk facing clawback charges and a possible legal action, this is a formal cease and desist.
If you are currently active in BTG180 or if any members in your downline are paying via ACH/Credit Card you must immediately close your accounts or face clawbacks and chargeback fees.
Reports have been filed and motioned to North Carolina AG where a former company ZeekRewards was shutdown. Since this business model is similar action can be taken to the full extent of the law.
Some of the promoters such as: Scott Lee, Richard Chea, Jeramey Barnett also risk facing clawback charges for heavy promotion of the program.
Not only will we collect the monies transferred to various bank accounts we expect to collect the monies obtained for all bid purchases, money orders, cashiers checks and subscriptions.
Do Not promote BTG180/Bids That Gives Products, services or affiliates program or you may face charges.
On what authority Craddock makes the above claims is wholly unclear. He references a “complaint” which has allegedly been filed with the North Carolina AG, however he then acknowledges that
Since this business model is similar action can be taken to the full extent of the law.
Can be taken? The rest of Craddock’s update is written with such a sense of finality that anyone would think the North Carolina AG had already shut BTG180 down.
Furthermore Craddock’s claim that ‘over the course of the next 30-60 days thorough investigation‘ would appear to be wholly unfounded. US regulators are notorious for keeping their lips sealed until they’re ready to pull the trigger on an MLM opportunity they’ve been investigating.
Yet here we have Craddock openly declaring the inner workings of the NC AG? Based on what, a complaint he filed?
Short of Craddock’s next email informing the world he’s an employee of the North Carolina AG, I’m failing to see exactly how Craddock can be taken seriously here.
Mind you, I wouldn’t put it past him to claim some sort of relationship with the North Carolina AG either. Infact, one might even argue that with statements like:
Not only will we collect the monies transferred to various bank accounts we expect to collect the monies obtained for all bid purchases, money orders, cashiers checks and subscriptions.
That Craddock has already planted the seed he’s working directly with US regulators.
Curiously, in the email update Craddock also includes a set of steps he instructs BTG180 affiliates to follow in order to ‘get your paid commissions back‘.
These include visiting his BTGLegal website and giving Craddock your email address (of course), and then spamming ABC reporter Matt Gutman using the following instructions:
email: (email address removed)
TO tell your side of the story, give details in a written email.
Subject of the email should be: They Took My Money and Used Kids to Lure me In..
Be sure you reference Randy Jeffers, BTG180.com, the website and how false promises were made over and over.
My personal take?
Craddock may or may not have filed a complaint with the North Carolina AG. Through his participation in the $600M Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme, Craddock is undoubtedly now intimately familiar with the Ponzi scheme clawback process.
That said, urging his subscribers to spam reporters with very specific instructions, and the desperate feigned authority with which Craddock seeks to convince readers that the BTG180 is facing regulatory action, reeks of desperation to get a ball rolling.
I’m not buying it. BTG180, modelled on Zeek Rewards, quite obviously is a Ponzi scheme… but I’m not convinced, based solely on Craddock’s information, that the regulators are ready to pull the trigger on it.
I mean really, Craddock issuing a “formal cease and desist” to BTG180 affiliates?
Riiiiiiiiiiight.
Craddock also once tried to trademark the word “scam”. The elevator doesn’t go to the top floor with this guy. Some people are self-effacing, Craddock is self-inflating!
Must be the same type of “cease and desist” he served on my article host. 😛 (Where I wrote my Zeek Rewards investigation)
Regarding the “collection”, that’s probably just him boasting that his lawyer, in responding to BTG’s lawsuit, will seek to subpoena ALL those records as a part of discovery, in hopes of getting BTG to pay him off and withdraw the lawsuit. IMHO, of course.
Couldn’t he get into trouble for issuing his own “cease and desist” order?
Not that anyone really has to pay any attention to it, of course, but I’m reminded of a case where a citizen who was not a lawyer got into trouble for filing phony “felony complaint affidavits” against the FCC and other people he didn’t like.
Only if the recipient injures themselves while laughing hysterically
Oz, please forgive if you’ve covered this.
Robbert Craddock appears recently to have been sued twice for trademark infringement in U.S. District Court in Nevada.
One of the cases is styled “OfferHubb.net, Inc. et al v. Fun Club USA, Inc. et al.”
NOLINK: dockets.justia.com/docket/nevada/nvdce/2:2014cv00190/99500
The other is styled “BTG180, LLC et al v. Fun Club USA, Inc. et al.” Some of the rulings are available free through Justia:
NOLINK: dockets.justia.com/docket/nevada/nvdce/2:2014cv00188/99489
Hard to know what to make of all of this, given the Craddock copyright/trademark claims against K. Chang in 2012 in the run-up to the Zeek action and the recent DMCA action against BehindMLM.com by Faith Sloan.
I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t sell as fiction, though.
The apparent Craddock claim cited in your story above that “Bids That Gives [sic] has been classified as a Ponzi Scheme” seems in stark, stark contrast with the claim in the new Craddock book on Zeek that the government should have modeled a “stimulus program” after Zeek.
Who knows? Maybe the view is that some Ponzis are better than others.
Based on the dates in the BTG180 action, it appears Craddock was quite busy in court just prior to the Sept. 29 publication date of the Zeek book.
Seems very much as though there is no ceiling to the bizarre nature of this particular wing of MLM.
PPBlog
@Pat
I wasn’t aware of the two copyright suits, thanks for that.
Without looking at the legal docs, I think the context is probably similar to Zeek. Craddock runs around pretending to represent and/or work for the latest company he’s joined – and then when the relationship sours shit hits the fan.
He was running around demanding perks when he was Ponzi shopping post-Zeek. Clearly he’s got an inflated image of himself.