A North Carolina man accused of being the mastermind of an $850 million Ponzi scheme pleaded not guilty Thursday to multiple federal charges of fraud and conspiracy.
Paul Burks, the founder and CEO of the ZeekRewards penny auction site, was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge David Cayer at the federal courthouse in Charlotte. In late October, a grand jury indicted Burks on charges of wire, mail and tax fraud, and conspiracy.
Burks said nothing during his brief appearance in court. His plea was entered by his attorney, Noell Tin. If convicted on all of the charges he faces, Burks, 67, faced 65 years in prison and a $1 million fine. At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Cayer released Burks on $25,000 bond. No trial date has yet been set. Burks company and its Zeekler.com auction site was shut down by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in August 2012, after the agency concluded it had sold $850 million in unregistered securities.
Prosecutors say Burkes and his conspirators ripped off as many as 1 million investors with promises of big returns and what ultimately turned out to be bogus investments. Burks, who had been accused of pocketing as much as $10 million in investors’ money, agreed to