For those who haven't heard the news, ZeekRewards had been shut down by the SEC as a huge $600 MILLION Ponzi scheme.
I had been tracking the scam since April 2012 (and actually a bit before that), and I wrote this hub.
And while I am glad to have finally been "vindicated", this has been a learning opportunity as well. How much did I get right, and how much did I get wrong? Let's go through my own hub and analysis, and compare it with
the SEC complaint, and see how close did I get without any of the SEC's resources.
1: Introduction and History of Rex Venture Group, Zeekler, and ZeekRewards
Both SEC and I agree that Zeekler started in 2010 and ZeekRewards started in January 2011. This is public info. I have the info that Zeek didn't get NC auctioneer's license until early 2012, but that is not relevant to the SEC investigation.
2: Is ZeekRewards paying out too much money?
I had predicted only tens of millions of VIP points. I was way too conservative. The SEC complaint said the VIP point total is close to three BILLION. I was off by factor of 100.
3: Is ZeekRewards an investment?
As I stated, ZeekRewards is an investment based on the Howey Test, and that is indeed what SEC charged RVG with... multiple violations of the Securities Act.
4. Is ZeekRewards a Ponzi scheme?
SEC does indeed contend that ZeekRewards is a Ponzi scheme, and an emergency asset freeze order was signed by a judge, and Paul Burks agreed to turn over all RVG assets to a court appointed receiver, plus cough up all 4 million that remained of his ill-gotten profits.
So I was mostly right... 3.5 out of 4. And I was guilty of UNDERestimation.