Aug. 6—DAVIDSON COUNTY — Ten years ago an online business operating from a nondescript office in Davidson County offered customers financial returns that seemed too good to be true.
They were.
Zeek Rewards operated what remains the largest scam ever dealt with by the Better Business Bureau of Central and Northwest N.C., said Lechelle Yates, director of communications for the regional branch. In fact, federal officials said it was one of the largest Ponzi schemes ever.
A court-appointed receiver filed a series of actions in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina to try to recover more than $800 million that investors lost.
This past May, the receivership posted its final report before the civil case was closed. The receiver ended up returning $371 million.
Retired Davidson County small business owner and former state legislator Hugh Holliman saw the Zeek Rewards financial frenzy play out front and center. Holliman had numerous friends and business associates who touted Zeek Rewards as an investment, but he found the situation troubling.
Holliman spent 27 years running Speed Printing in Lexington before retiring in 2013. He knew first-hand about the hard work it took to make a respectable profit and was wary of the lavish returns Zeek Rewards promised.
“A lot of people lost money,” Holliman told The High Point Enterprise. “It’s not something they really want to talk about, to be recognized for that.”
Many of the investors, who were called affiliates,…
