Comp 23421
Comp 23421
Comp 23421
COMMISSION,
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
)
vs.
TRUDY R. GILMOND,
Defendant,
Civil Action
No.
)
)
________________________________________)
COMPLAINT
Plaintiff Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission or SEC)
alleges as follows:
SUMMARY OF ALLEGATIONS
1.
perpetrating the fraudulent unregistered offer and sale of securities (in the form of
unregistered investment contracts) through Rex Venture Group, LLC (RVG)
d/b/a www.ZeekRewards.com (ZeekRewards), an internet-based combined
Ponzi and pyramid scheme.
2.
through the internet and over interstate wires to participate in the ZeekRewards
program, a self-described affiliate advertising division for the companion
website, www.zeekler.com (Zeekler), through which RVG operated penny
auctions.
3.
shut down in August 2012, RVG raised more than $850 million from
approximately 1 million investors nationwide and overseas by making unregistered
offers and sales of securities through the ZeekRewards website in the form of
Premium Subscriptions and VIP Bids.
4.
ZeekRewards. From at least September 2011 until ZeekRewards was shut down in
August 2012, Gilmond worked closely with the company founders and served as a
senior field liaison to promote the scheme, persuading scores of unsophisticated
retail investors to buy ZeekRewards securities upon the promise of profit sharing.
Gilmond reaped more than $1.7 million in transaction-based commissions and
bogus profit-sharing for her recruiting efforts.
5.
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and correspondingly the share of purported net profits paid to investors, were
comprised of funds received from new investors rather than legitimate retail sales.
6.
This Court has jurisdiction over this action pursuant to Sections 20(b),
20(d)(l) and 22(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act) [15 U.S.C.
77t(b), 77t(d)(l) & 77v(a)] and Sections 21(d)(l), 21(d)(3)(A), 21(e) and 27 of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) [15 U.S.C. 78u(d)(l),
78u(d)(3)(A), 78u(e) & 78aa]. Gilmond has, directly or indirectly, made use of the
means or instrumentalities of interstate commerce, of the mails in connection with
the transactions, acts, practices, and courses of business alleged in this complaint.
8.
Securities Act [15 U.S.C. 77v(a)] and Section 27 of the Exchange Act, 15 U.S.C.
78aa, because certain of the transactions, acts, practices, and courses of conduct
constituting violations of the federal securities laws occurred within this District.
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Gilmond transacted business, and participated in the offer and sale of the securities
that are the subject of this action, including to investors in this District.
DEFENDANT
9.
relevant times she worked as a field liaison for the ZeekRewards scheme and
operated Team Fired Up to solicit new investors throughout the United States
(including in this District) for ZeekRewards, an internet website
(www.zeekrewards.com) with physical operations in Lexington, North Carolina.
FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS
ORIGINS OF ZEEKREWARDS
10.
website offering items ranging from personal electronics to cash. Penny auctions
required participants to pay a non-refundable fee (typically $.50 to $1.00) to
purchase and place each incremental bid (typically one cent) on merchandise
sold via auction. The penny auctions were not particularly successful until Burks,
through his company, RVG, and with assistance from Dawn Wright-Olivares and
others, launched ZeekRewards in January 2011.
11.
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memberships to affiliates who then recruited new affiliates and bought and gave
away as samples, or sold, packages of bids (e.g., a package of 10,000 bids) for the
penny auction website. In fact, the vast majority of bids used in the penny auctions
were acquired by ZeekRewards affiliates to give away as free samples.
12.
ways to earn money, two of which involve the offer and sale of securities in the
form of investment contracts: the Retail Profit Pool and the Matrix.
15.
numerous MLM programs, operating under the trade name Team Fired Up to
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attract followers and new recruits to join her downline in those MLM programs
(several of which ultimately collapsed in a fashion similar to ZeekRewards). By
January 2011, Gilmond, who was recruited by Wright-Olivares, joined
ZeekRewards as an affiliate and began promoting it to others.
16.
helping her downline recruits to solicit even more investors as customers. She
purchased customer leads, posted advertisements, and distributed business cards to
identify new investors-customers. She also spoke at company events and hosted
live promotional and training conference calls with Wright-Olivares and other
ZeekRewards insiders to pitch the ZeekRewards scheme to prospective investors
and to guide new affiliates in their own recruiting efforts. She helped enroll
investors as affiliates, entitling them to share in the schemes purported profits.
17.
determine if investors in fact had: (1) the financial wherewithal to invest (e.g.,
sufficient income and assets); or (2) experience with complex investments before
offering them the opportunity to invest in ZeekRewards. In fact, thousands of
ZeekRewards investors lacked significant financial resources and were financially
unsophisticated.
18.
From at least January 2011 until August 2012, when RVG and
ZeekRewards were shut down, RVG raised at least $850 million through the offer
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and sale of securities (via the Retail Profit Pool and the Matrix) to approximately 1
million domestic and international investors.
19.
No registration statement was ever filed or was ever in effect with the
ZeekRewards with the promise of daily profit-share awards distributed through the
Retail Profit Pool, which operated as a Ponzi scheme. Gilmond directed her new
recruits to the ZeekRewards website (through a link identifying Gilmond as the
point of contact) to learn about the offering. According to the website, through the
Retail Profit Pool the company shared up to 50% of the daily net profits with
affiliates who meet certain qualifications (Qualified Affiliates).
21.
four criteria: (i) enroll in a monthly subscription plan requiring payments of $10,
$50, or $99 per month; (ii) enroll new penny auction customers personally, through
the ZeekRewards co-op program, or through third-party businesses endorsed by
ZeekRewards; (iii) sell at retail or purchase and give away as samples a minimum
of ten Zeekler.com bids, earning Profit Points; and (iv) place one free ad daily for
Zeekler.com and submit proof to ZeekRewards.
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22.
and its personnel alone created, updated and operated the websites, handled all
payments, managed the bank accounts and payment service providers, managed
affiliate and customer accounts, managed all affiliate and customer services,
oversaw and disbursed all bids, operated the auctions, created all advertisements,
sponsored recruiting videos and calls, managed the Matrix, and decided the daily
payout percentages for the Retail Profit Pool.
24.
institutions, and were also commingled with ZeekRewards and the penny auction
websites overall revenues from all company operations.
25.
auction bid packages directly to retail customers (Retail Bids), or (b) purchasing
VIP Bids and giving them away as samples to retail customers or to other
personally-sponsored affiliates.
26.
maximum $10,000 investment) and give them away as samples in order to earn
Profit Points. Even then, affiliates did not need to exert any effort in giving away
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the VIP Bids they purchased, because RVG created automated programs, including
the Customer Co-Op and the 5CC, that generated purported customers to
whom the bids could be given automatically without any further effort by affiliates.
27.
one free internet advertisement daily for the company, but that exercise required
little or no effort. Affiliates could merely copy and paste free ads created by
RVG personnel without input from affiliates from a company-sponsored
program, which the ZeekRewards website boasted should take no more than five
minutes per day. Affiliates also could employ a third-party program to generate
ads automatically for them; affiliates simply had to verify that they had placed the
ad by submitting an internet link to ZeekRewards. Placing more or better ads did
not increase a Qualified Affiliates share of profits.
28.
from the Retail Profit Pool in the form of daily awards or dividends on
accumulated Profit Points.
29.
The size of the each Qualified Affiliates daily award was dependent
solely on how many Profit Points that investor had accumulated; it was not based
on rendering any significant service to ZeekRewards. Thus, buying and giving
away more VIP Bids garnered greater Profit Points, hence a larger daily profit
share award, without any additional effort required.
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30.
(typically approximately 1.5% per day) as: (i) a cash payment; (ii) additional Profit
Points; or (iii) a combination of both.
31.
Affiliates who elected to receive the daily award as new Profit Points rather than
cash.
32.
shut down in August 2012, Qualified Affiliates had nearly 3 billion Profit Points
outstanding. Based on an average daily award of 1.5%, the company would have
been obligated to pay out approximately $45 million per day if all Qualified
Affiliates elected to receive their daily award in cash. Such payouts would have
depleted the companys cash reserves in a matter of days.
2. THE M ATRIX
33.
scheme by rewarding investors for recruiting others to join the scheme. The
company placed each newly recruited affiliate into a 2x5 forced-fill matrix,
which was a multi-level marketing pyramid with 63 positions that pooled new
investors money and paid a bonus to affiliates for every downline investor
within each affiliates personal matrix.
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34.
payments of $10, $50, or $99 per month; and (ii) recruited at least two other
Preferred Customers (i.e., investors who have likewise enrolled in a monthly
subscription plan) qualified to earn bonuses through the Matrix.
35.
every paid subscription within her downline 2x5 pyramid, whether or not she
personally recruited everyone within the matrix. Furthermore, affiliates were
rewarded merely for recruiting new investors without regard to any efforts by the
affiliates to sell bids or otherwise support the retail businesses (including the
Zeekler penny auctions).
36.
promoters) profits were derived from the same source: the overall revenues
generated from new investors to the ZeekRewards program (approximately 98% of
the total) and, to a much lesser extent, from the penny auction website
(approximately 2% of the total).
RVGS OPERATION
37.
OF A F RAUDULENT
scheme.
38.
dividend to Qualified Affiliates to sustain the false impression that the business
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earned approximately 125% returns every 90 days; in fact, the companys retail
profits from penny auctions were miniscule and the daily awards could only be
supported by funds received from ever increasing investments by legions of new
affiliate investors.
39.
the companys actual net profits. Instead, Burks unilaterally and arbitrarily
determined the daily dividend rate so that it fluctuated slightly each day but
averaged approximately 1.5% per day, giving investors the false impression that
the business was highly profitable.
40.
Burks and other RVG personnel failed to disclose that, without new
investor deposits in the form of VIP Bid purchases and subscription fees, revenues
would be substantially reduced, as only approximately 2% of daily revenues came
from actual retail sales. Without a constant infusion of capital from new investors,
the scheme would likely collapse.
41.
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purchases) at the time ZeekRewards was shut down could not support such daily
cash payouts.
GILMONDS ROLE IN THE F RAUDULENT SCHEME
42.
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45.
promote the scheme in her role as a senior field liaison, and given her prior
experience with similar MLM programs that ultimately collapsed, Gilmond knew
or should have known that the ZeekRewards schemes outsize returns (averaging
1.5% per day) were too good to be true and could not be sustained.
46.
Nevertheless, Gilmond worked full time for at least a year touting the
regulators the true nature of the ZeekRewards scheme. To that end, Wright-
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Olivares and others directed, and Gilmond helped implement, several superficial or
nominal changes to certain ZeekRewards features. This included removing any
references on the website to the terms investment and ROI; substituting a daily
award percentage that in the aggregate approximated 125% every 90 days rather
than guaranteeing a 125% return; and requiring investors to give away VIP bids
to foster the illusion of contributing efforts to the enterprise.
50.
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ZEEKREWARDS DEMISE
53.
promote and drive traffic to the Zeekler penny auction website, RVG failed to
disclose that few of the VIP Bids given away by Qualified Affiliate investors were
actually used on the penny auction website. Of approximately 10 billion VIP Bids
purchased by or awarded to investors, less than one-quarter of one percent were
actually used in auctions on the Zeekler penny auction website.
54.
Qualified Affiliates through the Retail Profit Pool and the Matrix, by July 2012 the
company had insufficient deposits to satisfy future awards based on outstanding
Profit Points and Matrix commissions and bonuses. Thus, the scheme was nearing
collapse at the time it was shut down in August 2012.
55.
enforcement agencies and that the business was in serious trouble in 2012,
Gilmond and others withdrew substantial sums of money from the scheme before it
was shut down, without advising investors that the scheme was likely to collapse.
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AND
SALE OF SECURITIES
foregoing paragraphs.
57.
been in effect with respect to any of the offerings or sales alleged herein.
59.
unless restrained and enjoined will continue to violate, Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of
the Securities Act [15 U.S.C. 77e(a) and 77e(c)].
SECOND CLAIM FOR RELIEF
F AILURE TO REGISTER
AS A BROKER-DEALER
foregoing paragraphs.
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61.
an entity registered as a broker or dealer, during the course of any of the securities
offerings or sales alleged herein.
63.
unless restrained and enjoined will continue to violate, Section 15(a) of the
Exchange Act [15 U.S.C. 78o(a)].
THIRD CLAIM FOR RELIEF
F RAUD IN THE OFFER
OR SALE OF SECURITIES
foregoing paragraphs.
65.
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unless restrained and enjoined will continue to violate, Section 17(a) of the
Securities Act [15 U.S.C. 77q(a)].
PRAYER FOR RELIEF
WHEREFORE, Plaintiff Securities and Exchange Commission respectfully
requests that the Court:
I.
Issue findings of fact and conclusions of law that Gilmond committed the
alleged violations described hereinabove.
II.
Issue a judgment, in a form consistent with Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(d),
permanently enjoining Gilmond and her agents, servants, employees, and
attorneys, and those persons in active concert or participation with any of them,
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who receive actual notice of the judgment by personal service or otherwise, and
each of them, from violating, directly or indirectly, Sections 5(a), 5(c), and 17(a) of
the Securities Act [15 U.S.C. 77e(a), 77e(c), and 77q(a)], and Section 15(a) of
the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C. 78o].
III.
Order Gilmond to disgorge all ill-gotten gains, with prejudgment interest,
resulting from the illegal acts or courses of conduct alleged in this Complaint.
IV.
Order Gilmond to pay civil penalties pursuant to Section 20(d) of the
Securities Act [15 U.S.C. 77t(d)] and Section 21(d)(3) of the Exchange Act [15
U.S.C. 78u(d)(3)].
V.
Retain jurisdiction of this action in accordance with the principles of equity
and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in order to implement and carry out the
terms of all orders and decrees that may be entered, or to entertain any suitable
application or motion for additional relief within the jurisdiction of this Court.
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VI.
Grant such other and further relief as this Court may determine to be just and
necessary.
Dated: December 4, 2015
Respectfully submitted,
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