By the way where did Barb and Joe go? Sorry, meant to say CORRECTION and Joe.

alasycia: Although I am not doubting it’s legality, I suspect that Syndicate Digital may not be what Donna Rougeau and AVGA are claiming it to be

A bit more on Donna, and I have a theory as to why she is involved with AVG.
From http://www.ryze.com/view.php?who=coachdonna Donna says she is an ” Internet Marketing Specialist”. Those who have seen these sort of things before will probably recognise that as a MLM promoter who is an “expert” at building down lines. (For “expert” read someone who pimps any sort of MLM rubbish).

It appears that before Syndicate Digital, she had another business: ABW Internet Marketing Consulting Inc. I’m not sure if that company still exists. Then on Twitter she is promoting MAI Systems (Masters Alliance International).

There is also a “Donna Rougeau” who was a Personal Development Coach at Compass North Consulting & Coaching. This Donna was the founder of millionairePLUS (http://www.spoke.com/info/p1PmUVu/DonnaRougeau).

What was millionairePLUS? It appears to be a “downline service” (http://www.scamclub.com/reports/Glen-Steagall-5495.html), which appears to have existed in 2002: http://www.agpcommunity.com/archives/issue70.html. The web site is now parked by godaddy, but it appears to have been alive in 2007.

I think Patrick was right when he said that Syndicate Digital got involved with AVG for a list of names. I get the impression that Donna is going to be using AVG as her “downline”, even if those further down the pyramid don’t know it. I think Donna is just the sort of person to get involved with AVG. In fact, I would not be at all surprised if Donna was involved in some way with ASD.

Credit goes to Cathy G. and Don….

Jack Arons also posted the AVG terms of service. My favorite, clause, which is another question for Donna. Article VII, below, grants permission at any time for any reason for Judy Harris to close up shop and keep all of the money. The liabilities piece goes away, because after all, rebates are not guaranteed. Why is that they case, Donna? Looks like permission for Judy to keep everything at any time…

Entertained: Why does the mailing address for AVG, if it is supposed to be this shining light of the internet ad world, resolve to a UPS Store (UPS Store 102 COLLEGE STATION DR #3, BREVARD NC 28712, 828-883-4701)
instead of a real location?”

Nice find.

Maybe it happened for the same reason a 2005 bankruptcy filing by an AVG insider listed an apartment address that also resolved to a UPS Store. The application expressly used the abbreviation “Apt.”

The filer sought to discharge about $1.3 million, claiming assets of about $3,500. In subsequent legal actions against the filer, process servers reported trouble locating him, but eventually did: At an office park where conferencing can be rented by the hour.

One of the companies in the office park — one owned by the person who once claimed to reside in a UPS Store — appears to have attempted to use its wire facility to route transactions to AVG.

But the wire service found out about it, called its lawyers and blocked the back-door transaction routes. A little more than a month later, AVG announced the suspension of its cash-out program.

Patrick

“Why does the mailing address for AVG, if it is supposed to be this shining light of the internet ad world, resolve to a UPS Store (UPS Store 102 COLLEGE STATION DR #3, BREVARD NC 28712, 828-883-4701)
instead of a real location?”

Another question posted by a member…

Sicilian: Cathy,It’s really at 40 days now? That should be a huge red flag. All that money is lost and gone. It’s either tucked away or has been spent.

That’s what Louise posted. I’m betting tucked away.

It’s really at 40 days now? That should be a huge red flag. All that money is lost and gone. It’s either tucked away or has been spent.

Lynndel Edgington: Where did George and Judy Harris get the money to fund AVGA?

AVG members can ask, reasonably, if the AVG capital contributions of Judy and George Harris came from ASD money — either in the form of fictitious profits that were moved from ASD to AVG or in the form of cash that had been hidden.

Why? Because the Secret Service is well-aware that the Harris family effectively had no visible money in August 2008, and the documentation is a matter of public record.

In August, Judy borrowed $5,000 from her aunt, who placed a lien against Judy and George’s 2008 Honda CRV to guarantee repayment. Judy instructed her aunt to place the lien, prosecutors said.

The Secret Service has interviewed Judy’s aunt, who provided a statement to investigators.

The lien held by Judy’s aunt, however, cannot be enforced at this moment in time because the government named the car in the ASD December forfeiture complaint as part of the proceeds of an illegal enterprise.

The car was paid for with ASD Check No. 1337 in the amount of $28.607.67.

Judy Harris is a Bowdoin/Harris family member. Her husband, George, is the son of Edna Faye Bowdoin, Andy’s wife. George paid off the Harris mortgage with more than $157,000 from ASD, according to prosecutors.

Andy identified George as head of ASD’s real-estate division, and Judy as the person who answered Andy’s cell phone. Andy’s identification of Judy and George is documented in an exhibit filed with the August forfeiture complaint.

All of this information was in the public record BEFORE the launch of AVG.

You’ll recall, of course, that AVG did not start out as a “private association.” You’ll also recall that AVG formally launched AFTER Andy Bowdoin had signed a proffer letter and acknowledged ASD was operating illegally — and AFTER Andy had made the decision to submit to the forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars.

Andy didn’t tell the rank-and-file about the proffer letter. Andy didn’t tell the rank-and-file that he acknowledged ASD was illegal. Andy didn’t tell the rank-and-file about his decision to submit to the forfeiture, which was formalized in mid-January — at the same time he was named a defendant in a racketeering lawsuit.

Andy’s submission to the forfeiture and the proffer letter were potentially devastating to a great number of people, including members of his own family.

In late February, weeks after his forfeiture decision, Andy changed course after meeting with what he described as members of a “group.” At the same time, AVG introduced members to Pro Advocate Group, which is associated with a convicted felon and pitches “private associations.”

AVGA later emerged as a sort of awkward hybrid — claiming to be headquartered in Uruguay but also claiming to have derived its power from the U.S. Constitution.

Judy Harris was not an original “Trustee.” She became one after former ASD executive and AVG Chief Executive Officer Gary Talbert suddenly resigned from AVG, amid an announcement from AVG that Gary no longer was leading the company but would continue to have a role in the “accounting” department.

News about Gary’s resignation broke on a Friday. On Monday, AVG announced its bank account had been suspended because too many members had wired transactions in excess of $9,500. AVG blamed the suspension on members, in the very first sentence of its announcement. The date was March 23.

Around the same time, a member of AVG’s “Compliance” department was settling a federal lawsuit that had been filed against him last year. Financial details of the settlement were not disclosed.

In May, AVG announced it had acquired a new wire facility. But a company AVG identified as a facilitator of the wire transfers denied it had any business relationship with AVG. The company that issued the denial said it had discussed business with a Florida company, and that Florida company just happened to be owned by the member of AVG’s “Compliance” department who had settled the federal lawsuit just a month previously for an undisclosed sum.

A final note: During the same time frame in which AVG was announcing the resignation of Talbert and the suspension of its bank account, Andy Bowdoin appeared in a video for a company named “PaperlessAccess.”

Andy said it was a good way for members to get back cash lost in ASD. The PaperlessAccess video went missing after several days, when reporters pointed out that the script PaperlessAccess was using and the language in its pitch was virtually identical to the language ASD had used.

Surf’s Up said Andy asked PaperlessAccess to remove the video because he had been misled by the company. Other people complained about having their ASD membership details transferred to another surfing company, and still others questioned why yet another company appeared to be springing to life to compete against AVG.

Patrick