Craddock begs to be spared jail time
Zeek Rewards figure Robert Craddock plead guilty to unrelated wire fraud back in June.
In exchange for pleading guilty, Craddock and the US Attorney’s Office reached an agreement wherein prosecutors would
recommend to the Court that the defendant receive a two level downward adjustment for acceptance of responsibility.
As per a filing by Craddock dated October 20th, this translates to ‘an advisory sentence between 12 and 18 months.‘
Now Craddock’s attorneys are pushing for an ever lighter sentence which, if granted, will see Craddock serve no jail time at all.
In the filing, Craddock’s attorneys have asked for ‘5 years of probation, restitution, a fine and community service‘.
Five years of probation is a prolonged punishment that reinforces daily the seriousness of the offense and deters any unlawful behavior by MR. CRADDOCK for, should he violate any term of probation, imprisonment follows.
Additionally, requiring that MR. CRADDOCK perform community service and pay a fine and restitution benefits society, promotes respect for the law and compensates the business victim.
MR. CRADDOCK has demonstrated while on supervised release that he will scrupulously adhere to all conditions of release and the Court can confidently conclude that probation poses no threat to the community.
Violins also sound as Craddock (right) shares his failure as a husband and what going to jail might mean for his telecommunications business:
MR. CRADDOCK timely accepted full responsibility for his actions and shows genuine remorse in his letter that acknowledges how his conduct has impacted people who rely on him.
His promise to always be there for his wife of 25 years is in jeopardy due to his behavior and the responsibility he feels toward his wife provides insight that he has learned a valuable lesson.
The evolution of his company that, at times, benefited local communities through donations and contributions of services and ideas has now expanded so that people around the world may one day be able to afford low cost mobile communication.
The company is now beginning to expand is in the field of communication technology, where even a slight delay in the development and marketing of new technology will substantially diminish the likelihood of success.
In his own words, Craddock described his current predicament as follows:
Over these past months I have come to realize the cost of my actions.
My wife and I are celebrating our 25 wedding anniversary on the 19th of this month and I made a promise to always be there, and provide for her.
My actions have caused no only harm to my ability to provide and take care of my wife but also the people that have counted on me for so many years now.
I turn 55 years old this year and my wife will turn 58 in January 2016.
As you can imagine this will not be something that I can recover from, for now on I will be branded as the person that committed a fraud.
I have no one other than myself to blame and have accepted responsibility for my actions.
I recognize that the court will impose a fine and restitution which I’m willing to pay.
I wanted the court to have a complete picture of me and how I’ve conducted myself in previous years.
What follows is a history dating back to 2001, during which Craddock ‘started and operated a low cost dialup internet service‘.
The past couple of years I have been focused on providing a low cost mobile communication app for people around the world, that can’t afford the cost of international calling and my efforts are just now starting to pay off.
The message I want to convey to the court is my life has been focused on and assisting others.
Despite conveying a desire for the court to have “a complete picture” of how Craddock conducted himself these past few years, no mention is made of Zeek Rewards.
Craddock was a key figure inside the $850 million dollar Ponzi scheme, offering logistical support which assisted Zeek Rewards in day-to-day operations.
Craddock hasn’t formally been targeted by the court-appointed Receiver, but litigation against Zeek Rewards insiders continues to be filed.
Also not included in Craddock’s “complete picture” is the scamming he got up to post-Zeek.
Following the SEC shutdown of Zeek Rewards in 2012, Craddock attempted to usher victims into various reload schemes – each offering its own spin on the Ponzi points business model Zeek pioneered.
Craddock sought to profit personally from promoting these schemes to Zeek victims by way of “consulting fees”.
In support of his Sentencing Memorandum, Craddock includes supportive letters from Stephen Carnes of Kryptos Communications, Charles Todd Lynch (a “friend of 20 years”).
Neither declarations mention Craddock’s exploits in the MLM underbelly.
Having covered Craddock through the lens of MLM, it’s difficult to separate his MLM underbelly exploits with an unrelated conviction of wire fraud.
I mean it’s all very well to feel remorse after you’ve been caught. But would Craddock have ceased his escapades had he not have been?
Pending Craddock’s sentencing, stay tuned…
Footnote: Our thanks to Don@ASDUpdates for providing a copy of Robert Craddock’s October 20th “Sentencing Memorandum” filing.
many congratulations to craddock and his wife, but why is the court supposed to help craddock keep his promises to his wife?
the court is not craddocks personal assistant.
does craddock have the money to pay a fine? he could not put up a defense for himself against the law suits filed by bids-that-give and offerhub, probably due to being broke. he made promises to bids-that-give and offerhubb that he did not keep.
it seems craddock runs around making promises to all and sundry, and then expects everyone to help him keep them. i wouldn’t trust him if i was the court.
Even more telling of his alleged character is he tried to trademark the work “Scam”, so no one else could use it.
Link here: trademarkia.com/scam-85543469.html
I also would like to make sure the Judge is aware of Cradduck’s attempts to strong arm, some might call it extortion or threat to people who tried to warn off his victims.
Not only in Zeek but also later in his conduct of the “Zeekler 12”, trying to solicit his personal legal costs from the very victims the instant court action was seeking to make whole.
Any attempt by this man to lay out the whole person he has been the last few years that doesn’t violate his 5th amendment rights on several fronts is like talking about all the good Bernie Madoff did for charity without mentioning the few billion dollars he stole from his victims.
He’s almost like Al Capone in that he got caught, tried and convicted of the least of his many crimes.
He wants probation because if he successfully completes it, his conviction is not public record.
As previously stated, odd that he can make restitution but not hire an attorney for his case and used a public defender.
It was represented in Craddock’s filing that if he was permitted to continue working, that he’d be able to pay off the fines.
The problem with that is, “working” in his case is participating in illegal ponzi schemes and stealing from more victims.
Well, he supposedly has some legal enterprises, like his mailblock biz and something else.
And, I am just informed, he raised over $100,000 from the Zeek victims for a legal fund, and no accounting of where that money went has come to light.