Ponzi scheme SEC shuts down $600 million

Federal regulators announced fraud charges Friday against a company they said was operating a $600 million Internet Ponzi scheme "on the verge of collapse."

The Securities and Exchange Commission accused ZeekRewards.com, its parent company, Rex Venture Group, and Rex Venture head Paul Burks of luring more than 1 million investors worldwide into the scheme, which began in early 2011.

ZeekRewards is a companion to the penny auction site Zeekler.com. Visitors to the the ZeekRewards site were told that by paying subscription fees and becoming "affiliates," they could share in the company's profits.

In fact, the SEC said, the payouts the firm made came from the funds of new investors, "in classic Ponzi scheme fashion."

"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," the SEC's Stephen Cohen said in a written statement.

The SEC said it has frozen the roughly $225 million in investor funds that remain in the company's bank accounts. So far, the agency said, ZeekRewards has paid out some $375 million to investors, while Burks allegedly siphoned off millions for himself in the process.

Burks has agreed to settle the SEC case without admitting or denying wrongdoing, paying a $4 million penalty and forfeiting his stake in the firm.

The SEC can only pursue civil charges. Burks could still face further charges from subsequent criminal investigations.

Lawyers for Burks and Rex Venture did not immediately return requests for comment.

"Penny auctions" are a controversial kind of online sale in which prospective buyers compete over a set period of time with bids that increase by increments of one cent.

Participants pay a separate, non-refundable fee for each bid they make. An expensive item like an iPad might therefore sell for a seemingly unbelievable list price of $30, even though participants in the auction paid many times more than that in total to place their bids.
The venture group that operates the online penny action website, Zeekler.com and ZeekRewards.com, closed its headquarters on Aug. 16 for the rest of the week for unknown reasons, according to The-Dispatch.com.

Known to most as Zeek, the company has its main office at 803 W. Center St. in Lexington, but shut its doors at around 4 p.m. on Thursday, according to the report. Both Zeek sites were offline by 9 p.m.

The following day, Zeekler.com and its accompanying site displayed the message, "Zeek Rewards is currently unavailable. More information will be available shortly on this website."
According to Fox 8, the company was receiving heat by the North Carolina Attorney General Roy A. Cooper's office "due to dozens of complaints and inquiries filed since February of this year."

ZeekRewardsNews.com stated that more than 200,000 affiliates make use of Zeek Rewards and it auction services. They also noted that an event scheduled for Aug. 22, "Red Carpet Wednesday," has been cancelled.

A source told The-Dispatch that Zeek headquarters closed so that the company can focus on answering pressuring inquiries by the Attorney General's office that administerd a subpoena on the company, suspecting that an individual or the organization may have information in connection with an ongoing investigation.

Viewers first became suspicious of problems within Zeek when the company posted on their news site on Aug. 13 that any training, recruiting or leadership calls for the company will be called off for the next few days.

A user on the site change.org posted a petition this week calling for Attorney General Cooper to "keep Zeek open for business." The disclaimer for the document stated that "ZeekRewards.com and Zeekler.com has helped and maybe saved lives financially. Zeek is a truly great penny auction and program."

Huge explosion targets Israeli tourists in Bulgaria

A bus carrying mostly Israeli youth in a Bulgaria exploded near an airport Wednesday, killing 7 people, according to local media reports, and wounding at least 27 others, police and hospital officials say. Witnesses told Israeli media that the huge blast occurred soon after someone boarded the vehicle.

The incident took place in the Black Sea resort city of Burgas, some 250 miles east of the capital, Sofia. Images shown on Israeli media showed smoke billowing from the scene -- a parking lot at the area's airport where tourists had apparently just landed. T

Burgas Mayor Dimitar Nikolov told Haaretz that explosives were placed in the back of the bus. 

The attack comes on the anniversary of a 1994 attack on a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that killed 85 people. Just this morning, relatives of the victims implored the Argentine government to pressure Iran to turn over seven suspects accused in that attack.

Bulgaria, an eastern European nation, is a popular tourist destination for Israelis.

Although it was not yet certain what caused the blast, Israeli tourists have been targeted in attacks before before, namely in India, Thailand and Azerbaijan. Israel foe Iran is suspected of being behind these assaults.

"We don't know if it was a terror attack," said Paul Hirschson, another spokesman for the ministry. "We do know it was an explosion."

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Jonathan Rosenzweig said a flight from Tel Aviv had landed at a quarter to 5 p.m. and that the blast took place about 40 minutes later. 

The tourists were apparently boarding the bus en route to their hotels.  

The airport in Burgas was closed after the blast. At least 10 fire trucks are battling flames from the explosion, police say.

Witness Gal Malka told Israel's Channel 2 TV that she saw someone board the bus before it exploded. She also noted that the bus was full of Israeli teenagers. 

Officials said Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman had spoken with his Bulgarian counterpart and was being kept abreast of the developments. Bulgarian leaders, including President Rosen Plevneliev were on their way to the site.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/07/18/bulgaria-bus-explosion-kills-3-israeli-tourists/#ixzz20znsiUTD

Speed Up Fund Raising by Republican

Republican presidency candidate Mitt Romney accelerated the fund raising for his election campaign. An equity company Brain and Co. have denoted nearly five million dollars. In views of head and founder of Brain Capital Mitt Romney has better experience of economy than Obama.

Romney has an agenda of growth and jobs for the US. His campaign is also enhanced by the donation of 1.4 million dollars by Goldman and Sachet group.

Some figures are:

1- Elliott Management Corp. 895000 dollars

2- Blackstone Group 650000 dollars

3- High Income donors $40000.

Live Free or Die Breaking Bad Latest Season

The early summer is downright disastrous, it is okay, but it's not a reason to depress. Not for good reason, since it is also on Sunday that will start the season 5 of Breaking Bad! And that if it is not good news, huh ... Especially since it will be the latest season of the series and it may be particularly tough, especially with the end of last season. Or just if you show me just like a cult to Bryan Cranston and you die to find out more about what to expect, then we can say that you are fallen, especially since you'll also be able to discover a little more the last trailer bottom of the series.
In this paper, we shall have to deal with events from previous seasons so far say that it would be better not read on if you have not seen yet.

It is obvious, this fifth season is filling operations something good and it is only natural, since Walter will have to step into the shoes of Gus Fringe and become, in turn, the great mogul drugs. And contrary to what one might think, it's not going to be easy since Walt will have to deal with dangerous associates, cruel rivals, but also take away his brother which approximates More and more of his secret. Not simple, really not easy, especially not with a harpy at home.

And what awaits us in this fifth and final season of work? Quite a lot, in fact, Walter and Jessie should be a little closer, they might even find their "complicity" of the same, but the respite will probably be short-lived. Jess will probably end up learning everything Walter did in previous seasons and something tells me this will not please him. We think especially to his girlfriend, and the fact that Walt had still left to die. Good news, though, this will be the return of Mike. Mike should also join our two friends and support them in their hard work.

The thing a little silly, though, is that season 5 of Breaking Bad will be cut in two: the first eight episodes will air this summer, and it was not until next year to qualify for the last eight episodes. Moreover, for the record, we must know that Bryan Cranston will make the ninth episode and was obviously very excited to see what it's going to give!

And before I forget: AMC will broadcast the first episode on its website directly, at 22:00 local time. So, if you do not want to wait, you know what you have to do.

Celebrations of Bastille Day in the World

Many people of the world don't know more about the Bastille day. It is the national day of french people, it is celebrated on 14 of the July. It is the day that revolved the France in 1789. It is the major event of military parade and jets increase the beauty of the day.

Bastille day reminds me the equity and justice. Because the France got the liberty from the monarchy.

On this 14 July, 2012 the people illuminated the Eiffel tower with fireworks. It remained in my mind as the day of victory of common man of the France.

New South Wales found cruise ships

According to the New South Wales Government the naval base cruise ships are finally found. So, after this announcement the Garden Island can host the cruise ships for next cruise seasons. They are also expanding the no. of berths in the cruise.

The Sydney also expecting that approximately 2500 cruise ships visits. Due to the lower number of cruise ships, they are becoming larger. The Government need more capacity of the berths. It can boost the tourism of Garden Island and the Economy. The contribution of cruise industry to the economy of Australia is $3 billion.

54 years old Michael Clarke Duncan stable from Heart Attack

A representative of the Duncan tells the News that he faced a heart attack and admitted to the hospital. Doctors of the cardiology hospital reported that Micheal Clarke Duncan suffered a severe heart disease. The  paramedics staff of cardiology received a 911 phone call and reached  to his home 2 a.m on Friday. Duncan's girl friend Omarosa took care him until the medical staff arrived there. He will recover soon.