zeekrewardsBefore he became one of the prominent faces of the Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme, before he solicited thousands of dollars from victims and then disappeared with the money, before he attempted to profit further by writing a book about his Ponzi scamming, before he attempted to sell those who invested under him in Zeek to the highest bidder, before he ran campaigns of untruths and vicious accusations against those who called him out…

Before all of this… who was Robert Craddock?

Turns out he was a fraudster who attempted to fleece over $100,000 from a disaster relief fund.

robert-craddockIn the wake of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion back in 2010, BP set up a fund to compensate victims of the subsequent oil spill.

At the front of the queue was Robert Craddock (right), who wasted no time putting his hand up for a hand out.

Craddock put in a claim for $135,153, which was allegedly ‘lost earnings purportedly related to the impact of the oil spill on his businesses‘.

These businesses were

695online and its sister companies, Direct Pop.net Corp. and Mail-Block.com Corp.’, (which Craddock operated) from an office on South Clyde Morris Boulevard in Port Orange.

The problem?

The invoices Craddock submitted with his claim were made up.

As part of the scheme, Craddock crafted fictitious invoices to support the amount of lost earnings that he claimed.

When suspicion arose is unclear, but at some point Craddock’s claim attracted the attention of the Secret Service, who launched an investigation.

That investigation lead to charges of wire fraud against Craddock, with a federal indictment handed down late last week.

Craddock surrendered to U.S. Marshals following the indictment, and is now

free on $25,000 bail. (He) was (also ) ordered to surrender his passport and private pilot’s license.

An arraignment has been set for March 26th.

In addition to having to pay back the $135,000 he stole, if convicted, Craddock faces ‘a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison‘.

And at 54, needless to say if Craddock is sentenced to even 10 to 15 years, he can expect to spent most of his twilight years behind bars.

According to property records, Craddock had only just bought ‘a home complete with aircraft hangar that backs up to a runway in Spruce Creek Fly-In‘ back in January.

I guess it’s bye-bye to Craddock’s flying career now.

Meanwhile what becomes of Craddock’s retirement plans remains to be seen. Personally I’m tipping they’ll sold off when he’s convicted and ordered to pay back the $135,000.

How fitting that the man who left his mark on the MLM industry by running around accusing everyone of shenanigans, from MLM lawyers, to bloggers, to the government, to affiliates and MLM companies, was himself neck-deep in fraud all along.

Cheers to you Craddock. You’ve definitely been one of the more entertaining MLM characters I’ve had the pleasure of reporting on.