A federal judge Monday handed Paul Burks, founder of ZeekRewards.com, three concurrent prison sentences of 14 years and eight months for his lead role in the Ponzi scheme.
Judge Max Cogburn Jr. agreed with U.S. attorneys’ “fair and generous” sentencing recommendation, a minimum 15 years and eight months and a maximum 19 years and seven months for the 70-year-old Burks. Burks could have been sentenced to up to 59 years under federal sentencing guidelines.
ZeekRewards.com, founded in 2010, was one of the largest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history at $939 million, according to federal regulatory officials and prosecutors.
The Lexington companies, which debuted in January 2011, were shut down and their assets frozen in August 2012. There were more than 800,000 victims worldwide.
Cogburn dropped Burks’ sentencing by a year so that it would be about double the