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SEC shuts down ZeekRewards over $600M scam
US Securities and Exchange Commission suspect popular website perpetrated $600 million Ponzi scheme; about 20,000 Israelis reportedly duped
The US Securities and Exchange Commission announced it had shut down a $600 million online Ponzi scheme on the verge of collapse, over the weekend.
The SEC was also able to obtain a court ordered for emergency asset freeze to protect some of the website's investors, which reportedly number over 1 million.
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According to available data, about 20,000 Israelis reportedly signed up with the website, which offered a Hebrew-language version.
ZeekRewards.com was created in January 2011 by Paul Burks and touted as a "private, invitation only, affiliate advertising division" of penny auction website Zeekler.com, and promised investors up to 50% of "daily net profits" through a system based on rewards points, the SEC said.
The regulator said this created a false impression of "extreme" profitability, when in reality 98 percent of revenue and so-called net profits paid to earlier investors came from newer investors.
US District Judge Graham Mullen in Charlotte, North Carolina issued an emergency freeze on Friday on the $225 million of investor funds that ZeekRewards still holds at 15 US and non-US financial institutions, and which were at "imminent" risk, court records show.
According to the SEC, ZeekRewards took in $162 million last month while investor cash payouts totaled $160 million.
It said that, if more customers chose to receive cash payouts rather than reinvest to boost rewards points, ZeekRewards' cash outflows would eventually exceed total revenue.
"ZeekRewards misused the power of the Internet and lured investors by making them believe they were getting an opportunity to cash in on the next big thing," Stephen Cohen, an associate SEC enforcement director, said in a statement.
"The obligations to investors drastically exceed the company's cash on hand, which is why we need to step in quickly, salvage whatever funds remain and ensure an orderly and fair payout to investors."
