PatrickPretty.com

Month: September 2009

  • ASD Mainstay Bob Guenther Lectures Federal Prosecutor, Says He’ll Call On ‘Political Connections’ To Embarrass Justice Department; Claims Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio Not Tough Enough On Crime

    Already facing two felony charges in Arizona stemming from what police described in court filings as a repeated pattern of harassment against a gaming company, Bob Guenther now has taken aim at a federal prosecutor involved in the AdSurfDaily case.

    Guenther, 61, who describes himself as a former Marine and Vietnam veteran, forwarded a copy of an email to this Blog early this morning, suggesting the email has or will be sent to Justice Department Senior Trial Attorney William Cowden.

    “Soon, very soon, I am going to call on some political connections, and I am going to share everything I knew then, know now and everything I tried to provide you with,” Guenther said in the email.

    He complained that Cowden had not returned more than 50 emails he had sent. Guenther has a history of citing political connections. At one time, he claimed to have the private phone number of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.

    Earlier this year, Guenther sent the PatrickPretty.com Blog 11 emails on a single day, requesting a receipt for each. He complained when the Blog did not instantly publish a story based on information he had sent, and also threatened the Blog with “war.”

    At the same time, he threatened to use the database of the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA) to send an email that identified PatrickPretty.com as “Possibly a ASD winner!!!”

    PatrickPretty.com and its author are a journalism enterprise. Neither the Blog nor its author were members of ASD or ASDMBA, which has come under fire for accepting money from ASD members in a bid to establish legal representation that would seek the return of money they sent to ASD.

    Neither the PatrickPretty.com Blog nor its author has any stake in the outcome of the ASD litigation or matters that concern ASDMBA. ASDMBA members have complained that Guenther has not provided appropriate accounting for how ASDMBA spent its money. They also have complained that Guenther has engaged in menacing behavior and suggested members who sought answers would have to sue him to get them.

    Guenther also criticized police officers and Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio in his email to Cowden.

    “People go to jail everyday for things as simple as not paying a traffic ticket,” Guenther said. “I am fighting two bogus Class 6 felony charges in Maricopa County, filed by another ‘Andy’ I have exposed.  If I were to lose the case, there is mandatory jail time.

    “MY crime? I purportedly sent two emails to CME’s corporate counsel, thus violating a Workplace Harassment Injuction (sic) filed against me to keep me away from other shareholders,” Guenther continued.

    He complained that authorities were not taking effective action to stop crimes, saying an individual he described as a criminal “is still walking the streets, still taking in millions of investors money, still hiding assets, right there under Sheriff Joe’s nose..”

    Cowden, Guenther implied, could learn a thing or two about law enforcement from Guenther, who has a felony conviction for bank fraud. ASDMBA members complained that Guenther did not disclose the conviction when he was holding conference calls to gather money for the Trust.

    “When are you going to wise up and ask the help of people who can load you up with so much verifiable facts of fraud, you couldn’t possibly follow-up on it all[?]” Guenther lectured Cowden.

    “By the time a Trustee finally gets around to attempting to get restitution from ASD winners, they will have the money spent or hidden so deep, MILLIONS upon Millions will be gone,” Guenther continued. “That of course assumes you win this case.. These ASD people talk and plan strategy daily, they communicate through emails, blogs, forums and conference calls. Do you have people in on every one of these groups, I do..

    “You ever get around to really wanting to put these guys away, you call me,” Guenther lectured.

    In an April 13 letter to readers, PatrickPretty.com shared details about behavior Guenther had directed at this Blog.

    “In recent weeks we have received a number of communications from Guenther we deem threatening — and this while Guenther is facing felony charges in Arizona amid allegations he violated a court order repeatedly and continued to threaten an Arizona company even after being warned not to do so,” the Blog reported at the time.

    “You want a war, there Patrick, you got one..,” Guenther commented here [April 11]. “Print the truth, get off the ASDMBA or start a war.. Your Choice…”

  • A STUDY IN CONTRAST: Arnold Palmer’s Congressional Gold Medal Vs. Andy Bowdoin’s Congressional Medal Of Distinction

    Arnold Palmer: From Wikipedia
    Arnold Palmer: From Wikipedia

    Tomorrow President Obama will present the Congressional Gold Medal to American icon Arnold Palmer.

    The AP wire carried the story today. By coincidence, the Orlando Sentinel simultaneously was reporting that a two-year-old girl was rushed to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, after she was found submerged and unresponsive in a swimming pool.

    Simultaneously Florida Today was reporting that a 13-year-old boy was airlifted to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, after he had been struck by an SUV.

    Arnold Palmer won dozens and dozens of golf tournaments; he represented the United States in international competition. He is an extraordinarily accomplished businessman.

    And today two children have the opportunity to live because Arnold Palmer helped build a specialty pediatric hospital in Florida. The hospital is supported by the Arnold Palmer Medical Center Foundation, an organization that also supports the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies.

    All of this — and so many more acts of human goodness and decency — hails from a man admired internationally for fair play and the exemplary manner in which he has carried himself. People stand when he enters a room. They don’t have to; they just do. Indeed, they view Arnold Palmer, now 80, as that rarest of things: a man who genuinely makes the world a better place.

    He rewards them involuntarily with his humility, and it only makes them admire him more. Arnold Palmer reminds them of the way things ought to be.

    The first Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to Gen. George Washington in 1776. Other recipients include John Paul Jones; Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson; Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant; The Wright Brothers; Thomas Edison; Charles Lindbergh; George M. Cohan; Irving Berlin; Robert Frost; Bob Hope; Douglas MacArthur, General of the Army, Walt Disney; Sir Winston Churchill; Roberto Clemente; Robert F. Kennedy; The American Red Cross; Simon Wiesenthal; Danny Thomas; President Harry S. Truman, Gen. Colin Powell; Mother Teresa; Rosa Parks; Mary Lasker; President Nelson Mandela; Pope John Paul II; President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan; Prime Minister Tony Blair; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King; Neil Armstrong; Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr.; Michael Collins; John Glenn; Elie Wiesel; and other remarkable human beings.

    It literally takes an Act of Congress for the medal to be awarded. The legislation that resulted in Arnold Palmer’s award was known as “The Arnold Palmer Gold Medal Act.” The President must sign the legislation.

    Now, compare the Congressional Gold Medal to the Congressional Medal of Distinction, as touted by Andy Bowdoin and members of AdSurfDaily.

    No act of Congress is required for the Medal of Distinction. What’s required is a check to a campaign committee that provisions tickets to a political function. The Medal of Distinction is not an award from the White House or, really, even Congress. It is an award from the National Republican Congressional Committee for being a party loyalist.

    It’s good that loyalty is rewarded with a symbol. But it is not good that the Congressional Medal of Distinction gets paraded around as though it represents valor or unique business acumen or exceptional personal achievement.

    Outtakes

    Here are two outtakes from the final paragraphs of letters to others who received the Medal of Distinction in 2006, two years before Bowdoin and ASD made a huge fuss about the award. Note the remarkable similarity in the closing paragraphs: (Emphasis added to titles.)

    1.) “Commenting on [Name Deleted] selection, Congressman Reynolds said, “[Name Deleted] has served as an Honorary Chairman of the Business Advisory Council and has provided much needed support. This award could not have gone to a more deserving candidate.”

    2.) “Commenting on [Name Deleted] selection, Congressman Reynolds said, “[Name Deleted] has served as an Honorary Chairman of the Physicians’ Advisory Board and has provided much needed support. This award could not have gone to a more deserving candidate.”

    Now, here are two outtakes from the opening paragraphs:

    1.) “NRCC Chairman Tom Reynolds and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) announced today that [Name Deleted] has been chosen as a 2006 Congressional Medal of Distinction winner.”

    2.) NRCC Chairman Tom Reynolds and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) announced today that [Name Deleted] has been chosen as a 2006 Congressional Medal of Distinction winner.

    The opening paragraphs are identical, except for the names of the individuals. The names simply were plugged in from a template. The second and third paragraphs of the four- paragraph letter also are identical, except for where a name was inserted.

    In 2008, the year Bowdoin was awarded the medal, it also was awarded to a city councilman from a small town in Ohio. The councilman, however, had resigned his position, owing to his arrest on cocaine and marijuana charges. A judge placed him on probation, and he was permitted to attend the function in Washington as long as he checked in with his probation officer.

    “There are a number of people in each state who receive this award for their continued support for the Republican Party and the NRCC,” the red-faced committee told the Washington Post in June 2008.

    Two months later, the committee was embarrassed again with the seizure of tens of millions of dollars from Bowdoin’s bank accounts, amid wire-fraud, money-laundering and Ponzi scheme allegations.

    (Both major political parties in the United States sponsor banquets, including star-studded ones, along with functions at which the President appears. It would be unfair to say the Republican Party has cornered the fund-raising market. Democrats are at least equally good at selling tickets to functions and raising funds, and also have been embarrassed by the actions of fund-raisers and attendees.)

    Bowdoin took his medal with him during the summer — prior to the seizure — to show it off. ASD members trumpeted it far and wide as a special award from the President of the United States for Bowdoin’s lifetime of business achievement. It helped ASD generate business, and witnesses told the Secret Service that they were impressed by the medal and considered it when evaluating the ASD program, according to court documents.

    About six months prior to the banquet, Bowdoin shared these words of wisdom with a silent partner in ASD, “[I]f we change the site and the marketing plan before [the regulators] attack, everyone will be safe,” federal prosecutors said.

    It was boiler-room talk. ASD later introduced a fraudulent “Legality Statement” to sanitize the opportunity, prosecutors said.

    Prior to the seizure, Bowdoin gifted 100,000 ASD ad-packs to a charity, passing the cost of funding the ad-packs and their accompanying rebates to ASD’s rank-and-file membership.

    Bowdoin, prosecutors said, also gifted favored individuals into the program, and even paid an employee to surf for his son, so the son could qualify for rebates paid for by ASD’s rank-and-file. Multiple thefts by other individuals were reported to Bowdoin, but he never filed a police report.

    One of the purported thefts involved $1 million. “Russian” hackers, he said.

    “Neither Mr. Bowdoin, nor any other operator of ASD, ever alerted authorities to criminal activity targeted at ASD. ASD did not want any law enforcement scrutiny,” prosecutors said.

    Illegal proceeds from ASD were used to retire multiple mortgages, including mortgages linked to Bowdoin and family members, prosecutors said.

    There never has been a greater need for the Arnold Palmers of the world and what they symbolize, and Congressional dignitaries and the President of the United States will stand for Mr. Palmer tomorrow.

    You’ve come a long way from Latrobe, Mr. Palmer, and the American people have been been proud to watch you soar within the surly bonds of earth.

    A high flight indeed.

  • OBSTRUCTION? ASD Spokeswoman Whose Name Appeared In Secret Service Filing Says She Instructed Members NOT To Fill Out Government Form; Now Appears To Be Advising Members To Clam Up If Contacted By Agents

    Andy Bowdoin’s recent court filings are “delusional,” federal prosecutors said yesterday.

    And now a woman who apparently is AdSurfDaily’s new spokesperson purportedly has sent an email in which she said she advised members after the seizure of tens of millions of dollars from Bowdoin’s bank accounts last year not to fill out the government form for victims.

    Sara Mattoon, whose name is listed in a court document filed by the Secret Service yesterday, also appears to be trying to influence members who filled out the form not to cooperate if contacted by the agency.

    “Soon after the ASD shutdown, the DOJ (Dept of Justice) set up a website for people to file a claim for the money they had in ASD,” Mattoon said in the email. “As soon as I heard about it, I told everyone not to do it because I could see what the Government was trying to do, but some people didn’t realize what it was and afterwards they regretted doing so.”

    Mattoon referenced an email sent out by ASD mainstay Robert Fava over the weekend. The email was distributed after the ASD case took a dramatic turn Friday, with filings by prosecutors that suggested ASD President Andy Bowdoin was trying to lie his way back into the civil forfeiture case with the aid of an attorney who was engaging in “fantasy.”

    Here is content from the email distributed by Fava, who was relating the experience of a fellow ASD member who apparently was contacted by the Secret Service recently.

    “I got this email today (see below) and called the guy,” the email said. “He is special task force with secret service. Calling because I submitted a claim for the funds I had put into ASD — I think it was a lady in Michigan who suggested at one time that I do the claim form. Later I wished I had not submitted it.

    “I asked what type of questions he wanted to ask and if he would email them to me so that I could review them with my attorney before answering them,” the email continued. “I told him the government was the only one who created victims by seizing the money illegally and shutting down ASD.”

    Quoting the agent, the email continued.

    “He said it sounds like I had an adversarial role with the government, and he could not send them. He said they were trying to talk to folks who had lost money in ASD, before arranging a personal visit with them. It sounds like they are wanting testimony to build a case for the government’s side.

    “I do not want to contribute to that effort, so thanked him and we ended the call,” the email concluded.

    In introducing the email, Fava said:

    “I wanted to share the following item which happened today to a gentleman in the ASD group.

    “Are any of you aware of this happening to others yet?

    “I assume the government is now trying to find people to speak out against ASD, especially since Andy’s recorded call.

    “This is the reason why I never encouraged filling out a government form . . . it’s just ammunition for them to use against ASD,” Fava continued.

    “Feel free to share this with your groups and mainly those that you know of that might have submitted a claim form on the government site thinking it was an innocent submission,” Fava’s email concluded.

    Fava was a constant presence on ASD training calls, members said. He once claimed he was making $1,000 a day through ASD.

    Mattoon’s email, combined with Fava’s and the remarks of the other ASD member, may raise serious questions about obstruction of justice.

    In her email, Mattoon did not mention recent filings by the prosecution. Nor did she mention the fact her name was included in a filing by the Secret Service yesterday — the transcript of a Bowdoin recording last week.

    Although Mattoon claimed in the email that “[t]he government does not seem to have the intention of giving the [seized] money back,” the record of the case plainly states otherwise in multiple places.

    Although it is clear that the government believes serious felonies have occurred and that Bowdoin is not entitled to benefit from his participation in crimes, prosecutors have pointed out that the government seeks to establish a restitution program for crime victims. Meanwhile, Judge Rosemary Collyer also has referenced the prosecution’s claims about the establishment of a program.

    Apart from court filings, the government even had advertised the existence of the prospective restitution program and has updated the information as the situation warranted.

    Regardless, Mattoon suggested the government planned to keep all the money, despite court filings and website updates that reinforce its desire to compensate crime victims.

    “[P]erhaps they were just looking for people they could try to identify as being victimized by ASD,” Mattoon said in the email, referencing the email from Fava.

    “If you get contacted, this is how this one ASD member handled it. It may be useful for you,” she said.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Prosecutors Go Back To Court, Provide Judge Copy Of Transcript From Bowdoin’s Call Last Week

    UPDATED 8:12 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Federal prosecutors have filed a supplemental brief in the civil forfeiture case against ASD President Andy Bowdoin that calls Bowdoin’s recent court filings “delusional.”

    Meanwhile, prosecutors have provided U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer a copy of a transcript from a recording posted online last week by Bowdoin, calling the recording evidence that “this con man cannot manage to keep his stories straight.”

    Prosecutors said Bowdoin was addressing “former” ASD members, a possible reference to the firm’s decision not to display ads, even though ASD was permitted to show ads after the seizure of Bowdoin’s assets last year.

    In effect, prosecutors argued today that Bowdoin had told Collyer one story in his recent court filings and members another to explain events.

    “To this Court, Bowdoin insinuates that he was misled by his former attorney before agreeing to cooperate and to release claims,” prosecutors said.  “To the former members, however, Bowdoin proclaims that ‘after a few months’ of cooperating he became ‘unhappy with [his prior attorneys’] results and decided to stop cooperating because ‘it would not have been beneficial to everyone’ for him to ‘accept a plea  deal[.]’”

    “Remarkably, Bowdoin even suggests to those members participating in the conference call that the money taken from his bank accounts and, supposedly, never constituting an investment, belongs, not to Bowdoin, but to the membership. It is clear that this con man cannot manage to keep his stories straight. It is also clear that the allegation Bowdoin makes in this Renewed Motion, that he released his claims to the defendant property only after he was misled by [former counsel] Mr. [Stephen] Dobson, is delusional,” prosecutors said.

    Included in the transcript were Bowdoin’s puzzling remarks about Cheryl Prewitt, the 1980 Miss America.

    Read the prosecution’s supplemental brief.

    Read a U.S. Secret Service transcript of Bowdoin’s recorded call.

    Read previous story on Bowdoin’s curious reference to Cheryl Prewitt and the Miss America pageant.

    Read previous story about prosecution filings last week.

    Read story about prosecution filing that made a veiled reference to the AdViewGlobal autosurf.

    Sep 28, 2009

  • Ministry Operated By 1980 Miss America Has ‘No Comment’ On Andy Bowdoin’s Audio Recording

    A Christian organization operated by former Miss America Cheryl Prewitt and her husband declined to comment this morning on an audio recording posted online last week by AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin.

    In the recording, Bowdoin used Prewitt’s name, referring to her as “Cheryl Blackwood” and suggesting Prewitt’s perseverance in her five-year quest to become Miss America had inspired him to continue fighting wire-fraud, money-laundering and Ponzi scheme allegations brought by the U.S. Secret Service. 

    Salem Family Ministries of Tulsa, Okla., was established by Prewitt, now known as Cheryl Prewitt Salem, and Harry Salem, her husband.

    “We have no comment,” said a woman who answered the phone this morning at the ministry. She added that she did not recognize Bowdoin’s name and did not rule out the possibility that the ministry would have something to say at a later time.

    Bowdoin is engaged in a battle with federal prosecutors to reassert his claim to tens of millions of dollars seized by the U.S. Secret Service last year in the Ponzi scheme probe. Prosecutors said religion was used in ASD pitches, and Bowdoin cited God in sales presentations, once exhorting a crowd in Las Vegas to internalize the thought of becoming wealthy.

    “We need to have an attitude of gratitude with God,” Bowdoin told an ASD gathering in Las Vegas last year. “And I always say, ‘Thank you, God, for developing me into a money magnet.’ And I see myself as a money magnet in attracting money and, I say, attracting large sums of money.”

    After initially contesting the forfeiture case, Bowdoin surrendered his claims in mid-January. He has been attempting to reassert them since late February, initially as a pro se litigant and now through the aid of an attorney.

    Prosecutors said last week that Bowdoin, who was convicted of felonies in the 1990s in an Alabama securities case, was attempting to lie his way back into the civil-forfeiture case brought against ASD assets in August 2008.

  • EDITORIAL: Google, The White House And Miss America

    Andy Bowdoin, whom federal prosecutors said appropriated the brand of the institution of the Presidency of the United States to make more Ponzi sales, now has turned to the wholesome brand of the Miss America Organization to sanitize the Ponzi business.

    Members of Bowdoin’s autosurf company, AdSurfDaily, also appropriated the brand of Google, claiming the surf firm had a special agreement with the search-engine giant. It proved to be a click-fraud attempt.

    Bowdoin, who suggests he was indicted under seal in May for wire fraud, posted a recording online two days ago in which he shares his version of the inspirational story of “Cheryl Blackwood,” whom he identified as Miss America 1980.

    Bowdoin, 74, positioned himself as a fighter with the perseverance of “Cheryl Blackwood,” whom Bowdoin said suffered one disappointment after another in her five-year quest to become Miss America — before finally winning the crown in 1980.

    The message: Miss America never gave up, and neither will Andy Bowdoin.

    We’ve placed a call to the Miss America Organization seeking comment on Bowdoin’s comments in the recording. We’re also seeking to determine if Bowdoin was confusing “Cheryl Blackwood” with Cheryl Prewitt, the 1980 Miss America title-holder. The organization did not immediately return the call.

    Here are a few lines from the inspirational story of Cheryl Prewitt, as told on the Miss America website. 

    “A horrifying automobile accident, a scarred face, a body cast and a wheelchair did not add up to disaster for this little girl. When Cheryl Prewitt was only a young girl of eleven, this accident forced her to decide whether to trust God or just give up and accept the prognosis . . . Doctors promised that she would be scarred, they claimed that she would not walk again, they insisted that bearing children would be impossible for her . . . they were wrong.”

    Here are a few lines from Bowdoin’s version:  

    “ASD did not have a victim until the government stepped in and crushed the company. And I’ve spent over a million dollars on legal fees to get your money back and to stay out of prison.

    “And  it reminds me of this person back in Mississippi: Cheryl Blackwood. She was Miss America 1980.

    “When she was five years old, a milkman told her that some day she was going to be Miss America. And she said that planted a seed in her mind. And she entered her first pageant when she was 18; it was a Miss America preliminary: Miss Choctaw County in Mississippi. She lost.”

    Bowdoin went on to relate how “Cheryl Blackwood” lost again and again, but did not adandon her quest. She finally won the Miss America title in her fifth attempt.

    We find the story as told on the Miss America website — Prewitt’s recovery from a horrifying automobile accident — much more inspirational than the Bowdoin version, an old coach’s  chestnut that focused on recovering from the disappointment of losing and returning  to do battle another day.

    Andy Bowdoin apparently wants ASD members to believe all battles are equally noble.

    Cheryl Prewitt was trying to walk again; Bowdoin just wants to climb back on the saddle so he can continue to run a Ponzi scheme.

    Prosecutors now say Bowdoin is trying to lie his way back into a civil-forfeiture case in which he surrendered his claims to tens of millions of dollars seized last year in an international wire-fraud and money-laundering investigation.

    Bowdoin also has been named a defendant in a racketeering lawsuit filed by members of his Florida-based company. Meanwhile, he has been sued by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum for operating a massive Pyramid scheme.

    In the 1990s, Bowdoin was both sued and arrested in Alabama for fleecing customers in a securities scheme. He pleaded guilty to felonies and was ordered to make restitution. In August 2008, Bowdoin sent a check for $100 to his Alabama victims. A month prior, in July 2008, he provided the funds to purchase a $50,000 Lincoln for himself and his wife.

    The Miss America Organization is famous for inspirational stories and its beauty pageant, of course. It also is the world’s largest provider of scholarship assistance to young women. The organization says it distributed $45 million in cash and scholarship assistance last year.

    And now Andy Bowdoin is using the organization’s name — and apparently the name of the 1980 title-holder — to inspire his shipwrecked legions to persevere, to remember what “Cheryl Blackwood” would do, and to paint a picture that the U.S. government is evil for stopping a Ponzi scheme in its tracks.

    No Miss America would approve of that message.

  • Government Makes Veiled Reference To AdViewGlobal In Court Filing, Potentially Signaling Deeper Trouble For Bowdoin — And New Trouble For Promoters, Shills, Unnamed Attorneys And Advisers

    UPDATED 2:25 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) In June, private attorneys representing three AdSurfDaily members who accused Andy Bowdoin of racketeering became the authors of the first public court filing that referenced the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf.

    Some defenders of the surf dismissed the reference as meaningless.

    Today, however, federal prosecutors made a veiled reference to AVG in dramatic court filings in a civil-forfeiture case against Bowdoin. The import of the reference cannot be denied; it clearly was aimed at AVG promoters and people who have been providing cover for Bowdoin, including promoters, shills and attorneys whose names have not surfaced in the case.

    Here, in its entirety, is the reference: (Italics added.)

    “Maybe Bowdoin mistakenly thought that he could con the government into believing that he was just a harmless, foolish old man. Ironically, after telling thousands of investors that he intended to build the world’s preeminent advertising company for them, in order to make them 100,000 millionaires, Bowdoin tries to con this Court, telling it that because he’s 74 and has a heart condition, any incarceration amounts to a death sentence. See Document #132 ¶8. Was he lying then, or now?

    “Or, it may be the case that Bowdoin never intended to plead guilty when he agreed to debrief, and was just buying time while searching for a different exit strategy that failed to materialize. Maybe Bowdoin thought that before the government brought its charges he (like some of his family members) could move to another country and profit from a knock-off autosurf program that Bowdoin funded and helped to start.

    “Or, maybe other attorneys Bowdoin employed, or ASD’s other promoters convinced Bowdoin that if he paid some of the fraud proceeds the government had missed to them (the money laundering as Mr. Murray reports), they could help to circle the wagons or otherwise do a better job than Akerman Senterfitt did when it tried to prove that free advertising was a true profitable sale and not a poorly disguised, and unsustainable, investment opportunity.

    “But what is clear from Bowdoin, himself, is that neither the government, nor Bowdoin’s experienced criminal defense counsel, ever told Bowdoin that it was reasonable for a defendant convicted of operating a $100 million wire fraud scheme to expect probation.”

    See related story from today.

    See June 30 story and comments about the RICO attorneys’ reference to AdViewGlobal.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Prosecution Says Bowdoin Trying To Recontest Forfeiture So He Can Use Case As ‘Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free’ Card; Calls Bowdoin’s Assertions Against His First Lawyer ‘Insidious’ Lies; Says New Lawyer Engaging In ‘Fantasy’

    UPDATED 12:38 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Andy Bowdoin is trying to lie his way back into the civil forfeiture case involving tens of millions of dollars seized from him last year and now has a lawyer engaging in “fantasy” to help his client pull it off, federal prosecutors said this morning.

    Meanwhile, prosecutors made a veiled reference to the AdViewGlobal autosurf, saying “it may be the case that Bowdoin never intended to plead guilty when he agreed to debrief, and was just buying time while searching for a different exit strategy that failed to materialize. Maybe Bowdoin thought that before the government brought its charges he (like some of his family members) could move to another country and profit from a knock-off autosurf program that Bowdoin funded and helped to start.”

    In a blistering memorandum to U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer, prosecutors said Bowdoin’s new attorney, Charles A. Murray, had filed motions at odds with themselves — and even at odds with various statements Bowdoin himself has made in affidavits.

    “This fantasy even Mr. Bowdoin fails to support,” prosecutors said of a recent filing by Murray.

    Prosecutors used italic type to stress their claim.

    “Mr. Murray’s apparent suggestion that Bowdoin made a mistake because he was ‘hoodwinked’ by his prior defense counsel is belied by Bowdoin’s own affidavits,” prosecutors said.

    “Bowdoin says (using more words) that he dismissed his claims in mid-January 2009 because he had decided to cooperate in either late December 2008 or early January 2009, after his attorney met with the government. Bowdoin explains that he understood that he was sitting down with agents in January 2009 in an effort to help himself, that he decided to withdraw his claims in this case as part of that effort, and that he eventually changed his mind,” prosecutors continued.

    “Mr. Murray’s manufactured effort to fault Bowdoin’s prior counsel for Bowdoin’s decision to cooperate and his revised decision to profess ‘my belief in my innocence’ is laughable,” prosecutors said. “Bowdoin knew he should expect no leniency unless he stopped pretending that he honestly earned the millions of dollars that the government recovered from his bank accounts in 2008.”

    Federal filings — and a lack of activity in the state case against Bowdoin in Florida — suggest Bowdoin had fired as many as six attorneys before Murray was retained. Bowdoin also embarked on a pro se litigation strategy in February after surrendering his claims to the seized money in January — and after meeting with what he described as a “group” of members.

    During the same time period, the AdViewGlobal autosurf, which has close ASD ties and now has suspended cashouts, introduced members to Pro Advocate Group. Pro Advocate Group is associated with a convicted felon and purports to offer services for pro se litigants. The company also advertises the formation of “associations” that purportedly help people practice law and medicine without being licensed.

    AdViewGlobal, which purported to be headquartered in Uruguay, then shifted to an “association” structure in which it incongruously claimed its authortity derived from the U.S. Constitution, despite the fact the company said it was based on foreign soil.

    Bowdoin and his attorney were making it up as they went along, prosecutors said.

    “In the release he filed, Bowdoin acknowledged he knew that by withdrawing the claims, he was consenting to a forfeiture judgment in the government’s favor,” prosecutors said. “In his affidavit, Bowdoin acknowledges that, as part of his cooperation, he agreed to withdraw the claims he filed in this case. Clearly, Bowdoin now has decided he no longer wants to cooperate to resolve this matter or his potential criminal liability. Bowdoin can certainly change his mind –but he cannot change facts.

    “Bowdoin’s new attorney spends almost seventeen pages asking the Court not to enforce a supposed settlement agreement that Bowdoin acknowledges did not exist and which, not surprisingly, the government does not seek to enforce. Bowdoin’s new attorney insinuates that Bowdoin was ‘hoodwinked’ or misinformed (presumably by either his prior counsel, or the government, or both). But Bowdoin’s own affidavit proves otherwise.

    “Moreover, most notable is the fact that, nowhere does Bowdoin’s new attorney demonstrate that Bowdoin has even a remote possibility of prevailing against the government in this civil forfeiture case were he permitted to reassert a challenge,” prosecutors said.

    Bowdoin says in his own motions that he alone owns the seized money, prosecutors said, pointing out that large sums of  money were used prior to seizure to support personal purchases for Bowdoin, his wife and others — and that the purchases were made from funds submitted by ASD members.

    Assertions Against Former Counsel ‘Insidious’; Differences Between What Bowdoin Claims And New Attorney Claims ‘Disturbing’  

    “What becomes clear, from Bowdoin’s current motion, is that Bowdoin believes that if he gets back into this case he can try to negotiate a better deal,” prosecutors said.

    “He wants to trade his right to challenge the forfeiture for the get-out-of-jail-free card that, Bowdoin himself acknowledges, the government has never been willing to offer.

    “To achieve that end,” prosecutors continued, “Bowdoin makes a series of remarkable misrepresentations and insidious accusations, primarily against [former defense counsel Stephen Dobson], in an apparent effort to have this Court reject a settlement agreement that everyone agrees never existed.

    “Mr. Murray’s new accusations are, in any event, utterly inconsistent with Bowdoin’s own affidavit testimony,” prosecutors said. 

    “Likewise, reports Mr. Murray[,”] prosecutors said, “Bowdoin understood from Dobson that he was obligated to dismiss claims in the civil in rem forfeiture action if he was to receive leniency from the government.’

    “The accusations are also irrelevant to the relief Bowdoin here requests: to reappear into a lawsuit against which he cannot mount a successful defense, solely to leverage a better deal in resolving criminal charges. But, this is not an exercise in horse-trading,” prosecutors said.

    “The difference between what Bowdoin says happened, and what Mr. Murray suggests happened, is disturbing,” prosecutors continued. “In the ‘Renewed Motion to Rescind Release of Claims,’ Mr. Murray sometimes reports, consistent with statements Bowdoin makes in his affidavits, that ‘Bowdoin understood from Dobson that to possibly avoid prison time he had to release claims in the civil forfeiture proceeding and disclose facts concerning the operation of ASD to Government counsel.”

    “In other words,” prosecutors continued, “Bowdoin understood from his attorney, before he started cooperating, that he could help himself if he did cooperate. Sounds like a smart lawyer’s good advice.

    “Bowdoin acknowledges that he started cooperating, voluntarily dismissed his claims in this case as part of his effort to demonstrate his sincerity, and (as he himself acknowledges to this Court) began to provide information about his operation to federal law enforcement authorities.

    “But, almost mysteriously, Mr. Murray’s motion transforms from statements like those quoted above into: ‘Dobson represented that Bowdoin’s cooperation would preclude the possibility of imprisonment following criminal charges.’  

    “Mr. Murray also writes: ‘Bowdoin agreed to release his claims in the civil forfeiture matter believing first that such action would avoid the possibility of imprisonment.’

    “Through these subtle but significant revisions, Mr. Murray suggests, and hopes to convince this Court, that even though Bowdoin was told by his several different prior attorneys that his conduct was criminal, and even though he retained criminal counsel to assist him, and even though Bowdoin says he was told that cooperation might lessen the prison exposure Bowdoin was facing for his criminal conduct, Bowdoin really thought he had resolved the criminal matter in a way that would guarantee him no jail time (as if this were merely a regulatory matter) when Bowdoin released his challenge to the seized money.”

    Read the prosecution’s memo.

  • BREAKING NEWS: AdGateWorld Announces ‘End Of Dream’; Surf Suspends Operations, Blames Members

    The AdGateWorld (AGW) autosurf has gone offline and has issued a statement that blames members for having unrealistic expectations.

    “The original developers of the AdGate network never created false expectations or gave rebates that were not completely justified by revenues,” AGW said. “This honest and legitimate approach using the advertising rebate model apparently did not meet the expectations of the herd mentality.”

    AGW did not explain why it felt the need to defend the purported previous ownership group, while blaming participants for the surf’s fate.

    AGW announced weeks ago that it was selling itself to an unnamed ownership group in the Middle East, although there was no way to confirm a sale had taken place. The announcement of AGW’s demise was equally vague, claiming that the surf had changed hands about 60 days ago, but not identifying either the new owners or the old ones.

    Jack Schrold, a Florida attorney and member of AdSurfDaily, was instrumental in the launch of AGW. Schrold once was suspended from the Florida bar for misconduct, has been prosecuted by the Federal Trade Commission for the actions of his credit-repair firm, and was convicted separately of knowledge of the commission of conspiracy and wire-fraud.

    The adgateworld domain name was registered Aug. 18, 2008, less than two weeks after the formal seizure of ASD’s assets. The adgateworld site at one time included ASD’s name in its Terms of Service. Schrold pitched ASD to members of the military.

    “Our ownership group purchased the AdGateWorld properties approximately 60 days ago,” AGW said in its shutdown announcement. “At that time we knew we were getting involved with a fluid situation and a very unique business model.  Unfortunately, we did not realize that other ‘similar’ sites continued to operate fly by night operations and dangle unreasonable bonuses and returns.”

    AGW appeared to make a veiled reference to AdVentures4U (ADV4U) or perhaps MegaLido — another failed autosurf – in its shutdown announcement.

    “No one cared because some other site was giving a ridiculous 14% a week until they collapsed after their supposedly record weeks!” AGW said.

    AGW did not explain how its model, which featured advertised payouts roughly in line with the 1 percent daily advertised by ASD, whose assets were seized last year by the U.S. government in a wire-fraud, money-laundering and Ponzi scheme probe, was any more legal. Nor did AGW explain how a relatively “low” payout percentage in comparison with other surfs was any more legal than a higher payout rate when the issues are the sale of unregistered securities in a Ponzi scheme environment, with wire fraud and money-laundering also potentially in play.

    Federal prosecutors view the lower payout percentage of some surfs as a bid to sustain the deception for a longer period of time so the “low” percentage surfs can rake in more money and fleece more people.

    AGW also did not explain how its purported offshore location made the surf any more legal when selling “advertisements” to U.S.-based customers when the government plainly views the product as securities sold as investment contracts.

    Two of the three so-called ASD “clones” — AGW and AdViewGlobal, which had close ties to ASD — now have failed.

    A third so-called clone, BizAdSplash, operated by ASD/Golden Panda Ad Builder figure Clarence Busby, has encountered severe difficulties and is conducting a relaunch, according to videos featuring Busby.

    Busby is a minister. One court document refers to him as “Rev.” at least 120 times.

    “Today may be the end of one dream but all of us will succeed in the exciting projects that will be introduced shortly,” AGW said in its shutdown announcement.

  • Did AdViewGlobal Insiders Know About Purported Bowdoin Indictment In May And Engage In Bizarre Summertime Cover-Up Bid?

    UPDATED 3:53 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The adviewglobal.com domain appears to be back online, with a renewed registration for one year. The domain name had expired Sept. 22, throwing the site offline and triggering questions and confusion from members.

    Here, below, our earlier story . . .

    AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin now suggests he was indicted under seal in May. If true, does the Bowdoin indictment help explain the strange events at AdViewGlobal in May, June, July and August — events that culminated in September with AVG going offline?

    If you’re new to the PatrickPretty.com Blog, perhaps our archives can be of assistance in helping you understand more of the context of the ASD/AVG story.

    Here is a story from April that focuses on the prosecution’s bombshell announcement that Bowdoin had signed a proffer letter in the case.

    Prosecutors had responded to three of the four pro se pleadings by Bowdoin without divulging the existence of the letter. Only in their fourth and final response to the pleadings did they disclose that Bowdoin perhaps was assisting the government in unwinding the ASD mess, before Bowdoin suddenly changed his mind and morphed into a pro se litigant seeking to recast the civil-forfeiture case as a criminal matter and to undo his decision to cede tens of millions of dollars to the government.

    For additional background, see this story from March about apparent cash-flow problems that had developed at AVG, only weeks after its formal launch in February.

    Moving forward, perhaps this May story about AVG’s announcement it had secured a new wire facility to replace one that apparently had been suspended in March will add to your knowledge base.

    AVG made the announcement May 4, only hours after the President of the United States and the U.S. Treasury Department had announced a crackdown on international fraud.

    Three days later, a company AVG identified as a facilitator of the international wire transfers denied it had any business relationship with AVG. The firm suggested it had been targeted in a scam by which AVG would route money to itself by using a shell company.

    AVG ignored the denial, instead saying negotiations it already had announced as completed — up to and including precise wiring instructions for members to purchase “advertising” — had failed.

    An attempt by AVG to launch a new website about two weeks later failed. The website, which featured a Yellow Pages logo and suggested AVG perhaps was entering into even more businesses the government monitors closely, was withdrawn. AVG had announced an “unprecedented” 250 percent match to promote the website, a possible marker of severe cash-flow problems.

    Perhaps to send a signal all was well, the surf paid out higher-than-normal paper profits just prior to the introduction of the 250 percent bonus. An AVG forum run by some of the Mods and members of the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum went on a delete-fest when members began to ask uncomfortable questions.

    By June 1, AVG announced a new suite of products and services, apparently redefining itself only days after the purported indictment against Bowdoin.

    An email AVG sent to announce its new offerings hotlinked to the servers of three publishing companies, including Forbes. This led to questions about whether AVG was trying to create the appearance of legitimacy by piggybacking off the brands of legitimate companies — a practice associated with ASD.

    On June 3, a furious reaction ensued after we published a story on an AVG member’s plan to help prospects with “big bucks” qualify for matching bonuses before the June 5 deadline. The story questioned whether members who took the approach were committing wire fraud.

    Could AVG have been reacting to stress caused by the purported indictment against Bowdoin?

    One of our readers/posters, Entertained, the author of a “Black Box” mathematical method to prove/disprove Ponzi schemes, later composed some questions for AVG. (See story/comments thread.)

    AVG recast the questions. (See story/comments thread.)

    AVG suspended cashouts June 25. It explained that members had cheated the system by taking advantage of a cash button the surf itself had offered. AVG later changed its story, saying $2.7 million had been stolen from the firm.

    It has been very difficult to identify the actual owners of the eWalletPlus payment processor AVG said it owned. No fewer than three companies have claimed to own the payment processor, which now is offline.

    Now AVG itself is offline.

    UPDATE 3:53 P.M. Site appears to be back online, with the domain name renewed.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Census Worker Found Hanged In Kentucky With Word ‘Fed’ Scrawled On Chest, Triggering Extremist Fears

    The Associated Press is reporting that the FBI and Kentucky State Police are investigating the hanging death of a man who worked for the U.S. Census Bureau.

    William “Bill” Sparkman, 51, was found hanging in an isolated section of Daniel Boone National Forest. The word “fed” was scrawled on his chest, the news service reported.

    Authorities are trying to determine if an extremist element played any role in the death, which is being investigated as a homicide.

    Read the AP’s breaking story on the death of Bill Sparkman, a cancer survivor who also worked as a school teacher, in addition to his part-time job with the Census Bureau..