BULLETIN: AdSurfDaily Apologists Circulate Plan To ‘Flood’ Judge With Letters Of Support For Jailed Ponzi Schemer Andy Bowdoin; Forwarded Email Includes 2 Ads For Zeek Rewards’ ‘Program’ And Claims ASD Patriarch Was ‘Railroaded’

“Well we have been dealt a setback today…the judge here agreed with the government to transfer us to the District Court in Washington DC… The same judge who railroaded Andy. I will make a motion for her to recuse herself and if she will not (and she will not) I will take an appeal.”Remark attributed to Dwight Owen Schweitzer that is contained within email by former AdSurfDaily spokeswoman Sara Mattoon that discusses plan to “flood” a federal judge with letters of support for jailed ASD Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin, Aug. 13, 2012

Thomas A. "Andy" Bowdoin

Former AdSurfDaily member Dwight Owen Schweitzer — later to join former ASD colleague Todd Disner as a pitchman for the Zeek Rewards 1-percent-a-day-plus MLM scheme — is quoted in an email circulating among ASD members that ASD President Andy Bowdoin was “railroaded” by a federal judge.

The quotation attributed to Schweitzer was contained within an Aug. 13 email forwarded by Disner after being assembled by former ASD spokeswoman Sara Mattoon. Mattoon has a history of packaging communications friendly to ASD, adding her purported insights to the communications and emailing them to members. The Aug. 13 email calls for ASD members to “flood” a federal judge with letters of support for Bowdoin. The ASD patriarch and veteran securities swindler is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 29 in the District of Columbia by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer.

Previous Mattoon emails have quoted Kenneth Wayne Leaming, a purported “sovereign citizen” now jailed near Seattle after a  2011 investigation by an FBI Terrorism Task Force. Leaming was accused of filing false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD Ponzi case, harboring two fugitives wanted in a separate home-business scheme, being a felon in possession of firearms and uttering a bogus “Bonded Promissory Note” for $1 million.

Leaming, who is not an attorney, was said to be performing legal work on behalf of some ASD members.

In May 2012, Bowdoin pleaded guilty to wire fraud in the ASD Ponzi case and acknowledged that ASD was a Ponzi scheme and that his company never operated lawfully from the inception of its 1-percent-a-day (or more) “program” in 2006. Bowdoin, 77, originally remained free on bond after his guilty plea, pending formal sentencing.

But Bowdoin was jailed in June 2012, after prosecutors presented evidence that Bowdoin continued to promote scams after the U.S. Secret Service seized more than $80 million in ASD-related proceeds in 2008 and after Bowdoin was arrested on ASD-related Ponzi charges in 2010. Prosecutors identified those scams as “OneX,” and AdViewGlobal (AVG).

Like ASD, AVG was a 1-percent-a-day “program.” AVG, which launched in February 2009 after the seizure of ASD-related bank accounts in 2008, vanished mysteriously in the summer of 2009 after issuing threats to members and journalists. AVG was referenced in a lawsuit filed by ASD members who accused Bowdoin of racketeering.

Contained within the forwarded email dated Aug. 13 are at least two ads for the Zeek Rewards’ MLM which, like ASD, plants the seed that a return that corresponds to an annualized return in the hundreds of percent is possible. Precisely why the Zeek ads appeared in the email is unclear. They are attributed to a Zeek affiliate known as “Compassion Ministries” and display Zeek videos produced by USHBB Inc., a company that once produced ads for the Narc That Car pyramid scheme that collapsed in 2010 after the Better Business Bureau raised concerns about Narc and investigative reporters began to write about Narc and produce television reports about the “program.”

Even as the Mattoon email solicited support for Bowdoin as his Aug. 29 sentencing date approaches, it cautions ASD members to “be careful” if they write to Bowdoin in jail because “they read his mail.”

Disner and Schweitzer sued the U.S. government in November 2011, claiming the seizure of ASD’s database was unconstitutional. The lawsuit originally was filed in the Southern District of Florida, but a judge there granted a request by the government to transfer the case to the District of Columbia. The case now appears on the docket in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and has been assigned to Collyer.

The Aug. 13 email from Mattoon quotes Schweitzer as saying, “Well we have been dealt a setback today…the judge here agreed with the government to transfer us to the District Court in Washington DC… The same judge who railroaded Andy. I will make a motion for her to recuse herself and if she will not (and she will not) I will take an appeal.”

When suing the United States in November 2011, Disner and Schweitzer relied in part on a purported expert opinion from Keith Laggos that ASD was not a Ponzi scheme. Like Disner and Schweitzer, Laggos also has been linked to the Zeek Rewards’ scheme.

Laggos reportedly was fired as a Zeek “consultant” last month. Details surrounding the reported firing remain unclear.

Zeek is now the subject of an “examination” by North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper.

Zeek’s news Blog published this baffling message yesterday (italics added):

Hello Fine People:

The team wanted to let you know there won’t be any training, recruitment or leadership calls for the next few days while planning is going on.  Standby for some important announcements.  Thank you for your patience!

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11 Responses to “BULLETIN: AdSurfDaily Apologists Circulate Plan To ‘Flood’ Judge With Letters Of Support For Jailed Ponzi Schemer Andy Bowdoin; Forwarded Email Includes 2 Ads For Zeek Rewards’ ‘Program’ And Claims ASD Patriarch Was ‘Railroaded’”

  1. This sort of reminds me a lot of Nazi Germany, in that even after all of the atrocities were brought to light, some still supported Uncle Adolf and thought he got a raw deal.

    Even after Andy pleaded GUILTY, these people say he was railroaded? Are you kidding me??

  2. But you know what they’ll say… he was “forced” to plead guilty. ;)

    Not saying that government would *never* railroad any one, but evidence in this instance was pretty clear cut… except to people who prefer to cost taxpayer dollars in forcing public officials to defend against frivolous lawsuits.

  3. K. Chang: But you know what they’ll say… he was “forced” to plead guilty. ;)

    Yes. But if they DO say that, it would be in conflict with Bowdoin’s signed plea agreement, which contains this language:

    “I have read this Plea Agreement and discussed it with my attorneys, Michael McDonnell, Esq. and Charles Murray, Esq. I fully understand this Plea Agreement and agree to it without reservation. I do this voluntarily and of my own free will, intending to be legally bound. No threats have been made against me nor am I under the influence of anything that could impede my ability to understand this Plea Agreement fully. I am pleading guilty because I am in fact guilty of the offense(s) identified in this Plea Agreement.”

    http://patrickpretty.com/2012/05/19/will-jssjbp-and-onex-members-pay-attention-andy-bowdoins-plea-agreement-bans-him-from-mlm-internet-programs-and-mass-marketing-i-am-pleading-guilty-because-i-am-in-fact-guilty-ads/

    Patrick

  4. After Charles Ponzi’s original program crashed there was a rash of similar schemes up and down the east coast that advertised they were using the genuine Ponzi business model. Things never change.

  5. I doubt if you put all of them in one room they couldn’t come up with a combined IQ of 140. But they do take delusional to a new level.

  6. What’s really sad is the people involved seem to genuinely believe what they’re proposing to do would work like some sort of “vote for your favourite” on American Idol.

    Seeing he’s pleaded guilty to so many serious offenses involving so many victims and so much money, one can’t help but asking how much difference character references made in the cases of other guilty pleading offenders,say for example, Bernard Madoff

  7. littleroundman: What’s really sad is the people involved seem to genuinely believe what they’re proposing to do would work like some sort of “vote for your favourite” on American Idol.Seeing he’s pleaded guilty to so many serious offenses involving so many victims and so much money, one can’t help but asking how much difference character references made in the cases of other guilty pleading offenders,say for example, Bernard Madoff

    Actually, all letters to a Judge are screened by his staff and anything that is in regards to a pending case is set aside, as it would be improper for the Judge to even read it. The only legitimate way to communicate with a Judge about a pending case is in letters to the defense attorney who can enter them as evidence, which is typical in sentencing hearings, or, while the case is still open, to file an Amicus brief, but again, that’s something that is filed on the record and becomes part of the docket.

    These numb nuts are just filling up the Judge’s trash basket.

  8. Hi Gregg,

    I do believe Sara wants the troops to send the letters to Bowdoin’s counsel.

    You’ll recall, of course, that in the earliest days of the ASD case in August 2008, a call went out to send letters of support to Bowdoin’s original counsel. The prosecution used some of those letters against ASD.

    It’s also worth pointing out that, in September 2009, the Secret Service prepared a transcript of Bowdoin and Mattoon addressing the troops and presented it to a federal judge:

    Here is a highlight from an accompanying prosecution filing:

    “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.”

    For background:

    http://patrickpretty.com/2009/09/28/breaking-news-prosecutors-go-back-to-court-provide-judge-copy-of-transcript-from-bowdoins-call-last-week/

    This was Bowdoin’s infamous “Miss America” call in which Bowdoin managed to tell members the seized money belonged to THEM, after earlier telling a federal judge it belonged to HIM.

    Patrick

  9. […] memo and detailed new allegations against Bowdoin, 77, broke one day after some ASD members were circulating an email that asked their fellow members to “flood” a federal judge with letters of support for […]

  10. While it’s kind of strange for someone to include Zeek spam in correspondence about ASD, I think we all know that Zeek Rewards is based on ASD and many ex-ASD people joined up with Zeek. Or maybe they thought sending that Zeek spam would count as their daily ad for their profit share.

    I fully expect a year from now when Paul Burks is in jail Zeekheads trying to flood the authorities with letters of support. After all, it’s changing lives!

  11. […] Despite rendering what some may call an “expert opinion” that ASD was legal, founder Andy Bowdoin pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with ASD. Patrick Pretty later reported: […]