EDITORIAL: Cancel Their Ponzi Ticket, Sen. Leahy

Sen. Leahy, in oline chat with eighth-graders.

Sen. Leahy, in online chat with eighth-graders.

Four more U.S. banks failed yesterday. Three failed on the previous Friday. Thirteen have failed year-to-date. To say this is unsettling is to grossly understate the severity of the banking problem and the drag on the U.S. and world economies.

Stories about Ponzi schemes and mortgage fraud are in the news daily. The obvious fear among regulators is that more Bernard Madoffs and Arthur Nadels will emerge. The situation is ripe for Ponzi schemes to be exposed because people need cash and actually fear Ponzi fraud now, meaning they’re predisposed to request redemptions just in case. Ponzi operators won’t be able to fund the redemptions, and the fraud will be exposed at the revulsion of the world.

And yet some members of the Surf’s Up forum, which is associated with the AdSurfDaily Ponzi operation, are writing incredibly brazen letters to Sen. Patrick Leahy. These letters are a bid to get the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate the prosecutors who prevented the ASD Ponzi from mushrooming. Sen. Leahy is committee chairman.

Make no mistake about it, Sen. Leahy: ASD is a $100 million Ponzi scheme and every bit as dangerous as the Madoff and Nadel schemes. ASD thrived for months and collected tens of millions of dollars — now subject to forfeiture because of quick action by the U.S. Secret Service, the IRS and the Justice Department — and tried to cover its tracks by drafting investors into a contract that provided no consumer protections at all. The contract was nothing more than an inartful, cynical bid to legalize Ponzi schemes and skirt securities laws by calling an investment program an “advertising” program.

Members of the Judiciary Committee should pay close attention to the ASD contract, which appears starting on P. 68 of this document, an Aug. 5 forfeiture complaint against assets tied to ASD. The Justice Department filed a second forfeiture complaint on Dec. 19, outlining even more ASD abuses and highlighted by a claim that “Russian” hackers stole $1 million from ASD.

ASD President Andy Bowdoin did not even file a police report, which raises even more questions — questions such as “Why not?” and “Did a theft actually even occur?”

Members of the Judiciary Committee also should know that Bowdoin already has surrendered claims to money and property seized in the August forfeiture complaint.

At the same time, members of the committee should seek to determine if the Robert Garner mentioned beginning on P. 160 of this Senate document pertaining to a 2001 money-laundering investigation is the same Robert Garner mentioned in the ASD forfeiture complaint.

The Surf’s Up members’ bid to misinform the Judiciary Committee and sanitize Ponzi schemes is reprehensible, an insult to hard-working and underfunded law-enforcement agencies, the highly capable men and women who staff the agencies, and dedicated prosecutors at all levels of government.

And it is a slap in the face to hard-working Americans who are living through lean times, struggling to make ends meet and are stunned beyond words at the devastation wrought by the Ponzi economy.

We call on Sen. Leahy, a former prosecutor, and the Judiciary Committee to fully investigate so-called “autosurf” Ponzi fraud and propose legislation that will help federal and state prosecutors combat it. A law that specifically codifies the crime and spells out penalties would be a good first step.

We suggest that Sen. Leahy and members of the Judiciary Committee work closely with Attorney General Holder and SEC Chairman Schapiro in crafting legislation that specifically addresses autosurf and HYIP Ponzi fraud.

This insidious business is sucking wealth out of the economy and creating an environment in which criminals and even terrorists can thrive. Mini-Madoffs exist far and wide across the autosurf landscape. They are engaging in the sale of unregistered securities, wire fraud, money-laundering, mail fraud and racketeering, and they are being aided by people who are doing everything in their power to change the subject and sanitize what amounts to organized theft on a global scale.

Cancel their Ponzi ticket, Sen. Leahy.

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7 Responses to “EDITORIAL: Cancel Their Ponzi Ticket, Sen. Leahy”

  1. I believe that you are correct about the Robert Garner being the same one for ASD. I will check into it further and let you know for sure.

  2. Jack,

    The Robert Garner cited in the Senate report is identified as an attorney. But more than one attorney is named Robert Garner.

    The Senate document, however, suggests that the Robert Garner it cites has ties to North Carolina. The Robert Garner named in the ASD forfeiture complaints is a North Carolina attorney. The issue in the Senate report and the ASD case is money-laundering.

    This doesn’t necessarily mean the two Robert Garners are one in the same. So, please cite your source if you return to this post.

    At a minimum, the Senate Judiciary Committee needs to know that it is being fed a load of crap from Surf’s Up members — not that it won’t instantly realize that upon receipt of the letters.

    Patrick

  3. Patrick: WHAT A FIND! ASD’s Robert Garner is Robert F. Garner; See page l73 for reference to Robert F. Garner in the Money Laundering Report. Does anyone have any idea how and when Garner and Bowdoin first met? Do you think this is part of the evidence they showed Bowdoin that caused him to relinquish his claim to the funds?

    Robert Garner is first mentioned on page l30 as the registered agent of BTCB (then mentioned next on page l60). On page l30 the address of the company is 444 Brickell Ave. A Robert F. Garner had two Florida business registered at the same address:

    FEC FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, INC.
    Registered Agent Name & Address
    GARNER, ROBERT F
    444 BRICKELL AVE
    SUITE P-6
    MIAMI FL 33131

    and:

    FIRST EQUITY PROPERTIES, INC.
    Registered Agent Name & Address
    GARNER, ROBERT F
    444 BRICKELL AVE.
    STE P-6
    MIAMI FL 33131

    Robert F. Garner’s Nevada Corporate listings:
    Logan Rock LLC Revoked on 9/1/2007
    TURNING WHEELS INTERNATIONAL Revoked on 11/1/2006
    TSUNAMI HOLDINGS, LTD Default on 9/1/2007
    NEXTWAVEMUSIC, INC. Default on 9/1/2007
    ADSURFDAILY, INC. Active until??? 1/1/2009

  4. Hi Marci,

    I’m not inside the prosecutors’ minds. Nor am I inside the minds of the private attorneys who brought the RICO lawsuit.

    But the private attorneys ARE advancing a theory that ASD was a racketeering enterprise as defined under federal law. And the prosecution’s December forfeiture complaint provided the beginnings of an inside look at the ASD operation.

    The Senate document is potentially deadly for ASD and any associate. This case has been screaming racketeering since August, and new pebbles get placed on the pile every day.

    Patrick

  5. The members of the “Surfs’ Up” forum who are supposedly currently bombarding Senator Leahy with their ill informed protests are paying the price for the overt censoring which has bedevilled the “official” ASD information site since its’ inception.

    It seems many (understandably) irate victims of the Bowdoin scam still believe the “facts” presented by the pseudo Professor, Moriarty, without realising that any opposing views or factual evidence to the contrary were quickly removed from the forum. As, in fact, were a great many of the good “Professors” prognostications.

    It is obvious to veteran observers that a great deal of what’s followed the demise of ASD/Bowdoin is being deliberately engineered by the professional vultures who inevitably follow these HYIP ponzi “games.”

    However, one gets the impression that more than a few of the outraged “victims” have allowed themselves to be lead into being victims once more and are genuine in their beliefs.

    The “Judas Goat” scenario comes strongly to mind at times such as this.

  6. […] Surf’s up posters have led various campaigns to discredit the prosecution. […]

  7. […] letter-writing campaign to Sen. Leahy by ASD figure “Professor” Patrick Moriarty. See follow-up editorial by PP Blog. Read May 2009 “Poof Penalty” story. Click here to read a Congressional Record PDF that […]