According to Zeek receiver Ken Bell, both Grimes and Kaplan should have know that the business model as presented by Zeek cannot possibly to be true based on their own expertise in their own respective areas, yet both allowed their name be used in association with Zeek Rewards and its parent company, Rex Venture Group.
Grimes created a "compliance program" for Zeek affiliates i.e. what can be said and what cannot. One such "certificate of completion" is reproduced below, from court document filed back in 2012 as part of SEC complaint against Zeek.
According to Receiver Bell, Grimes sold the courses for $5 each to Zeek, and allowed Zeek to resell the course for $30 EACH, so that both profited handsomely from this course designed simply to prop up Zeek's image ("They are serious about compliance with the law! They can't be a scam!")
Furthermore, Receiver Bell stated that Grimes himself have received many questions, addressed to him personally from affiliates, asking questions about how legal is Zeek Rewards and how to explain it's not a Ponzi scheme. Grimes, instead, asked then COO Dawn Wright-Olivares, "“Do you want me to forward these types of communications to you or anyone else, or would you prefer that I simply discard them? I get several of these each week.”
Grimes, apparently has no concern regarding the actual question, according to receiver.
Howard Kaplan, a renowned tax expert, was brought in by Zeek and claimed that income received through Zeek Rewards can be claimed as business income and have "business expenses" deducted when it is clearly an investment income. He even appeared at one or more Zeek held events and stated as such.
Receiver Bell alleged that Kaplan should have known that the income claimed are impossible and he is negligent in not inquiring further and/or allowing his name to be used.
You can see both proposed lawsuits at sites.google.com/a/asdupdates.com/files-website/home which is operated by Don Ryan of ASDUpdates.com. They are at the left side column at the bottom.
Commentary
So far, there are no mention of lawsuits against other "consultants" to Zeek, such as Gerald Nehra and Richard Waak of Nehra & Waak LLC, as well as Keith Laggos, but it would not surprised the MLM Skeptic that such lawsuits are forthcoming, now that the judge overseeing the receiver agreed that such lawsuits are permissible. Nehra / Waak definitely also have fiduciary relations with Zeek like Grimes. The relation between Laggos and Zeek however is a bit murkier.
Incidentally, according to news, Nehra has hired a lawyer to defend himself for his role in the TelexFree ponzi scheme.
No comments:
Post a Comment