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Tag: Jack Arons

  • As Zeek-Related Fundraising Efforts Begin, ‘Andy’s Fundraising Army’ Down For The Final Count: AdSurfDaily Patriarch Andy Bowdoin Awaits Sentencing In Pre-Zeek, 1-Percent-A-Day Ponzi Scheme Case

    UPDATED 11:31 P.M. EDT (AUG. 26, U.S.A.) After the collapse of AdSurfDaily in 2008, there were at least four efforts to raise funds to “defend” the Ponzi enterprise and/or its participants. The PP Blog has received reports that at least one such effort is under way in the aftermath of the collapse last week of Zeek Rewards, which the SEC called a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that had affected more than 1 million people. Zeek also is under investigation by the U.S. Secret Service and the office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper.

    Zeek members who cling to a belief that the government somehow got it wrong perhaps can save themselves both money and heartache by looking at the history of the various ASD-related efforts to “defend” the multilevel marketing “program” after the U.S. Secret Service seized 15 bank accounts (and about $80 million) in ASD-related proceeds in August 2008.

    Here are briefs on the various ASD-related “defense” efforts:

    “Andy’s Fundraising Army”: This bizarre effort was the fourth and final of a series of failed ASD-related efforts. Started by accused ASD Ponzi schemer Thomas A. “Andy” Bowdoin himself last summer (with the purported help of ASD cheerleader Tari Steward), the effort immediately devolved into a symphony of the bizarre.

    With Bowdoin effectively having been out of public view for nearly three years, the purported “army” teased potential contributors for days with a photo that showed Bowdoin smiling broadly and looking confident. Among other things, the teaser asserted there was “MORE GOOD NEWS” and plenty of reasons to help Bowdoin raise $500,000 to pay for his criminal defense.

    It went on to assert that “A Recent Survey of ASD Members Proves that the Vast Majority of You Want to Join Andy’s Fundraising Army” and that “[P]er standard and accepted industry guidelines, public opinion surveying of 140 members of a large group of members that all share a common interest or purpose, of any size, even in the millions, will give an excellent cross section of the opinions and viewpoints of the entire group.”

    But the “army” site did not describe the characteristics of the 140 ASD members purportedly sampled. Nor did it define what specific surveying “standard” it applied or define the source of the purported “industry guidelines.”

    And what would a good, MLM-like approach to raise funds for an accused HYIP scammer (1 percent a day) be without a “prelaunch” phase? With the teaser in place, a placeholder website for “Andy’s Fundraising Army” promised a full launch to come, along with the exciting opportunity for ASD members to send funds to the man accused of defrauding them to the tune of $110 million.

    But like a bad HYIP dream, the “army” website naturally missed its first advertised launch date. This was blamed on the need for more “testing,” reinforcing one of the HYIP world’s longstanding clichés. It then missed its second advertised launch date, explaining that “one last important system is being finalized.” With the first two launch dates missed, the site reported that it had set a “Final Revised Launch Date.”

    During the evening of July 26, 2011, the launch finally occurred. Like many things ASD, it provided minute after minute of MLM infamy. Indeed, Bowdoin appeared in a fundraising video with symbols of American patriotism as the backdrop.

    Among other things, Bowdoin — who in 2008 described himself as a Christian “money magnet” and advised ASD members after the Secret Service raid that “God” was on the company’s side and that “Satan” had infiltrated the government — claimed in the video that he’d been “crucified” by U.S. law enforcement.

    He blamed the ASD-related losses in civil court on a federal judge, the prosecutors and his own former defense counsel. Bowdoin asked members to provide $500,000 to help him pay his new defense team.

    It is believed he raised about $26,000 in the following weeks — but things continued to unfold like a bad HYIP dream. There was a report that a hurricane knocked the fundraising site offline, for instance. By January 2012, the site had lost its ability to collect money via PayPal. Federal prosecutors declined to comment on the development, which occurred after Bowdoin had become a pitchman for “OneX.”

    In April 2012, prosecutors described OneX as a fraudulent scheme and pyramid. Bowdoin pleaded guilty to wire fraud the following month, admitting ASD was a Ponzi scheme. His fundraising website, which published purported “expert” opinions from attorney Gerald Nehra and consultant Keith Laggos that ASD was not a Ponzi scheme, remained online for weeks after the guilty plea.

    The “Andy’s Army” site is now offline and is listed as an expired domain. In recent days, Bowdoin — as part of his plea agreement — has dropped his last remaining claim to cash seized in the ASD case. (A third ASD-related forfeiture complaint was filed by the government in December 2010. Bowdoin entered a claim.) He is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 29.

    Nehra’s law firm later became counsel for Zeek, according to Zeek. And Laggos became a purported “consultant.”

    Todd Disner and Dwight Owen Schweitzer: Even as Bowdoin was rolling out his “army” website and repeatedly missing launch dates, ASD figures Todd Disner and Dwight Owen Schweitzer were advancing a plan to raise money to sue the government. An email attributed to Disner surfaced in July 2011 that introduced a pronoun mystery: “We plan to go after Akerman Senifit (sic) next,” the email read in part.

    Akerman Senterfitt was the name of Bowdoin’s original defense law firm in the civil portion of the ASD case. In the earliest days of the case, ASD cheerleaders on the now-defunct “Surf’s Up” forum positioned the well-known firm as the “Perry Mason” firm; the government, meanwhile, was said to be represented by “Gomer Pyle.” A federal judge was described as “brain dead” if she ruled against ASD, and a federal prosecutor was described as an individual who deserved to be placed in a medieval torture rack.

    Why Disner chose the pronoun “we” was never explained. The July 2011 email followed an April 2011 email attributed to Disner that included this declaration: “Let the games begin!”

    During this period, Disner and Schweitzer were soliciting funds to sue the government. This effort began at an unclear point of time after November 2008, the month a federal judge issued a key court ruling against ASD while saying Nehra’s opinion could not be relied upon in part because it “relied solely on the written words contained in the Terms of Service without independent investigation or review of ASD’s business records to ascertain how ASD operates in fact before opining.” (Bolding added.)

    If the judge’s ruling could be reduced to two words, it might read, “Gomer won.”

    At an unclear point in time, both Disner and Schweitzer became reps for Zeek. They filed their ASD-related lawsuit in November 2011, claiming, among other things, that the government had presented a “tissue of lies” when bringing the August 2008 forfeiture case. As part of their apparent strategy, Disner and Schweitzer pointed to purported expert opinions of Nehra and Laggos. Disner and Schweitzer produced those opinions months after ASD had lost two civil-forfeiture cases in both U.S. District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals.

    Months later, Bowdoin himself put both Disner and Schweitzer in a box. In May 2012 — after Nehra and Laggos both had opined ASD was not a Ponzi scheme and after Disner and Schweitzer had sued the government — Bowdoin admitted that ASD was a Ponzi scheme.

    Bob Guenther and ASDMBA: In 2008, ASD member Bob Guenther became the de facto head of an entity known as the ASD Members Business Association. The stated goal of ASDMBA was to raise funds to hire Dallas attorney Larry Friedman to represent ASD members’ interests in the case.

    ASDMBA soon devolved into a circus, with Guenther using its website to promote a company that was developing an online game. Along the way, Friedman sued ASD critic Jack Arons, triggering a side drama that lasted for weeks and burying Arons in an avalanche of paperwork. (As a matter of pure PR, high-powered Friedman came out the loser for bringing out nukes against a web critic armed with a fly-swatter. The avalanche finally ended, with Arons, a Florida retiree who lives in a manufactured home, largely unscathed.) Guenther, meanwhile, refused to provide a reliable accounting of how the tens of thousands of dollars raised by ASDMBA was spent, according to members.

    Guenther bizarrely dismissed his critics as “left wing liberal no balled people,” calling one an “ignorant mouthy broad.” He also claimed ASDMBA was instrumental in returning money to ASD victims, saying the group retrieved funds for retired and active-duty police officers in Texas and California, and for a high profile Dallas Cowboy’s executive.

    Nothing in the public record suggests Guenther had any standing to perform any services on behalf of ASD members. It later emerged that Guenther was a convicted felon. Months after the 2008 formation of ASDMBA, in March 2009, Guenther was charged with two felony counts of aggravated harassment. Mesa, Arizona, police said Guenther repeatedly violated a court injunction for workplace harassment that prohibited him from nuisancing Cheyenne Mountain and Affiliates, the Arizona business that was developing the online game promoted on ASDMBA’s website.

    Guenther later accepted a plea agreement in the harassment case. No jail time was ordered.

    ASD Members International: This one was hatched by members of the pro-ASD “Surf’s Up” forum, which became Bowdoin’s official mouthpiece after the key court ruling went against ASD in November 2008. ASDMI was a purported nonprofit entity formed in Missouri. Its bizarre mission was to raise funds to litigate against the government even if the government was proceeding lawfully. In short, ASDMI planted the seed that prosecutors and investigators would be sued and/or charged with crimes.

    It is believed that at least 168 people contributed money to ASDMI.

    Included in the ASDMI braintrust was former Surf’s Up moderator Barb McIntyre, who enforced a “Poof Penalty” when ASD members left links on Surf’s Up to stories on the PP Blog.

    But if there was an ASDMI “star,” it was “Professor” Patrick Moriarty, one of the most unusual characters in the entire ASD drama. Moriarty was an early advocate for Curtis Richmond, a purported “sovereign” being who advanced a theory that all commerce was lawful as long as the buyer and seller agreed to a contract. Among other things, it was a position that would have legalized slavery and human trafficking. Richmond went on to accuse a federal judge of “TREASON” and to accuse investigators of theft.

    Richmond was hailed a “hero” on Surf’s Up, which never revealed that Richmond had been found in contempt of court for threatening federal judges and was part of a Utah “Indian” tribe a federal judge ruled a “complete sham.” (This is the “tribe” known derisively as the “Arby’s Indians” because it once held a meeting in an Arby’s restaurant in Utah. The purported “tribe” also had a purported “Supreme Court.” The address for the “Supreme Court” was the address of a doughnut shop. Richmond was sued successfully under the federal racketeering statute (RICO) by public officials in Utah targeted in a vexatious legal campaign by Richmond and other “tribe” members.)

    With Surf’s Up fanning the flames that federal prosecutors and a U.S. Secret Service agent needed to be investigated and prosecuted for their roles in the ASD Ponzi case, it emerged that Moriarty — who once sold fake academic degrees on eBay, claiming they were gag gifts — once had started a purported nonprofit in the name of a man accused of killing a woman in cold blood and ambushing two Missouri police officers and another man.

    Moriarty later was indicted on charges of tax evasion. He pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to federal prison.

    NOTE TO ZEEK READERS: This document, which was filed by federal prosecutors in December 2008, is the second of three known forfeiture complaints filed against ASD-related assets. It is highly recommended reading.

    The document was filed about four months after the original — and best-known ASD forfeiture complaint — was filed.

    The ASD case started as a civil case with a parallel criminal investigation. Zeek-related litigation may follow the same track. Ponzi investigations take time. The December 2008 ASD forfeiture complaint shows that investigators continued to “follow the money” and to destroy ASD’s cover story after the original forfeiture complaint was filed.

    It likely is true that the August 2008 complaint has received the most attention — no doubt because it laid out the core elements of the government’s case. But the December 2008 filing was tremendously damaging because it provided the first real inside glimpse into how ASD truly was operating.

     

     

  • UPDATE: Guest Columnist Relates Conversation With Lawyer On Matters Pertaining To Free Speech And Subpoena In Larry Friedman Libel And Slander Lawsuit Against Jack Arons

    Editor’s Note: This is a follow-up column by Roxy Lewis, a member of ASD and the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA). Lewis is a self-described member of the “AARP generation” and a grandmother.

    Her initial column was published April 18. It dealt with her thoughts and feelings about seeing her name in a subpoena in the slander and libel lawsuit by Dallas attorney Larry Friedman against Florida resident Jack Arons, a pro se defendant who draws Social Security and lives in a manufactured home. The initial Lewis column also included her take on email exchanges with Friedman’s law firm in her bid to receive a refund for her $100 contribution to ASDMBA.

    This column addresses her discussions with an attorney about these matters. It is published in her own words. The references to the “Ning Nine” below are references to individuals about whom Friedman sought information via subpoena to ning.com, the host of the ASD-Biz forum.

    For additional background, see reports on this Blog pertaining to Bob Guenther, the de facto head of ASDMBA. Guenther introduced Friedman to potential ASDMBA contributors last summer as a lawyer interested in protecting their interests in the civil forfeiture case against AdSurfDaily Inc., a Florida company federal prosecutors said was selling unregistered securities, engaging in money-laundering and wire fraud and operating a Ponzi scheme. Some ASDMBA members are unhappy with Guenther, saying he has not provided transparent accounting that detailed  how ASDMBA spent money collected from contributors to protect their interests in the ASD case. ASDMBA members also complained about verbal bullying and threats from Guenther. Friedman is the attorney for the ASDMBA Trust.

    Of Subpoenas, Speech and the Attempt to Silence

    By Roxy Lewis

    After writing the guest column on this blog [April 18], I was finally able to speak directly with a local Minnesota attorney who specializes in internet law, regarding my name appearing on Larry Friedman’s subpoena in his case against Jack Arons. I also wanted to know the legal ramifications of that, as well as my options and possible legal exposures. I would recommend everyone else who is curious do the same with an attorney local to their area.

    Based on what I was told, I am even more convinced that naming the “Ning Nine” in the subpoena was a move intended solely to intimidate and silence us, and anyone else who reads about the ASDMBA, and possibly to fish for further information about the anonymous posters in the group.

    First I asked whether I have any legal exposure based on being on the subpoena. The reply was no, as the subpoena was not directed to me personally, nor have I posted anything that could be considered libelous or defaming.

    Next I asked, after reading the thoughts of others that the Ning Nine group members should sue Larry Friedman for defamation, whether this would be possible.  In a word, no. Larry Friedman has not defamed or issued libelous statements regarding any of us. The fact that he listed our names on a subpoena is not actionable.

    Third, I asked if I were to file a complaint with the Texas bar or shared information with the Citizen Media Law Project site, as some have suggested, would I have an exposure to suit there. His response was very interesting.

    What he said was, “The best defense for a claim of defamation is the truth. If what you say in the complaint or share with the Project is the truth, and you can show that, you have an excellent defense.”

    Then, just out of curiosity I asked this: Suppose Larry Friedman decides, since he has my real name and address, to sue me and schedules a deposition in Texas as he did with Jack Arons. Can he compel me to go to Texas, which would be as big a financial hardship to me as it is to Jack Arons?

    His answer was very enlightening. He said, “Generally speaking, the answer is no.  Generally speaking, a person being deposed cannot be forced to travel more than 100 miles for the process.”

    So, there you have it. Ning has said it isn’t going to respond to the subpoena. None of us on the subpoena other than Jack have personally been subpoenaed or sued at this point. We have no cause of action against Larry Friedman for our names being included in the subpoena. Those of us who have said nothing negative or untrue about Larry Friedman and/or Friedman and Feiger, have the best defense should he ever decide to come after us in an attempt to silence his critics and/or the entire internet.

    We have the facts, which often come from Larry Friedman himself, and in his own words, no less.

    However, there is another option for the Ning Nine. I was told there is no reason to refrain from making truthful reports to the appropriate bar associations and other public groups, such as Citizen Media Project about this entire matter, as has already been suggested in multiple online venues.

    As long as the information is truthful and the assertions can be proven and documented, there is no reason not to proceed. In my case, as well as several others of the Ning Nine, I have not posted anything false about Larry Friedman or his firm, or the methods he has employed regarding the ASDMBA. His own company emails have done the damage, both those from himself and his employee. And as one of the comments to my guest column says, I am not the only one to receive such threatening responses via email when a simple refund request was made.

    I did find one other interesting tidbit in my research. Larry Friedman’s biography on the Friedman and Feiger site says he is licensed to practice in Texas, Florida and Minnesota.  From what I found online today and confirmed by calling the Judiciary directly, this is not the case, at least in Minnesota. While he is a member of the Minnesota Bar, lawyer license #0032165, by virtue of having paid the fees on March 5, 2009, he is not authorized to practice here. The following information about his Minnesota status comes from this link:  http://www.courts.state.mn.us/mars/AttorneyDetail.aspx?id=0032165

    Sscreenshot reduced to fit within borders.
    Screen shot reduced to fit within borders.

    Since I was unfamiliar with the meanings of “Not authorized-Non-Resident” and “Involuntarily Restricted (by Court Order), I called the Bar office at 651-296-2254 and asked for clarification. I was told that the “Not Authorized-Non-Resident” is a choice the individual attorney makes, and is not mandatory simply because they are out of state.

    The “Involuntarily Restricted (By Court Order) is because of Larry Friedman’s CLE status. Since he has not reported his CLE (Continuing Legal Education) record to the Minnesota Judicial System, his license to practice was involuntarily put in a “non-authorized” or “on-hold” status. I find it very interesting that his biographical information on the Friedman and Feiger site says he is licensed to practice in Minnesota, when he is not, according to our State Judiciary. Licensed? Yes. Licensed to practice? No.

    The same information can be found by searching the Minnesota Courts Lawyers for Public Discipline site at http://www.mncourts.gov/lprb/SearchLawyer.aspx.

    So, I invite all of you to do your own checking with an attorney local to your area, to see if you get different answers than I did. For the present, there are no grounds on which the Ning Nine can sue Larry Friedman as he’s done nothing actionable.

    Ning isn’t going to respond to the subpoena request, according to Paul Levy, particularly since they don’t even gather all of the information included in the subpoena. What each person decides to do after talking to a local attorney regarding their personal interactions with Larry Friedman and/or his staff, is clearly up to them.

    But as the attorney I spoke with said, as long as you are being truthful and can substantiate and document the facts of what you say, you have the best defense against any defamation claim from anyone, including other attorneys, wherever they may reside. That would apply to any group of persons, such as the 300 ASDMBA members located in Florida, who may choose to take this further as a group, as well as it would to individuals.

  • GUEST COLUMNIST: ‘Shocked’ And ‘Scared’ To See Her Name In Friedman Lawsuit Paperwork; Says She Was Told To ‘Examine Your Finances’; Sees Move By Dallas Lawyer As ‘Intimidation Tactic’ And Says She Won’t ‘Roll Over’

    UPDATED 3:45 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.)

    Editor’s Note: This is a guest column by Roxy Lewis, a self-described member of the “AARP generation.” Lewis was a member of ASD and the ASD Members Business Association. This column is in her own words. In the column, Lewis tells her story about various email interactions concerning her attempt to get a refund for her contribution to ASDMBA.

    THE IRONY OF INFORMATION TRANSFORMED
    INTO THREATS IN THE ARONS/FRIEDMAN CASE

    By Roxy Lewis

    When I saw my name in Exhibit A of the “Notice to Take Deposition” issued by Carter Boisvert to Jack Arons in the ongoing suit by Larry Friedman, I was frankly shocked at first and then scared. After all, I am a member of the AARP generation living in Minnesota, who never posted anything defamatory, slanderous or libelous about Larry Friedman or the legal firm. Yet here, buried in the middle of Larry Friedman’s suit against Jack, I found not only myself, but the names of 8 other users of the ASD-BIZ.NING.com forum. I was concerned, felt this was purely an intimidation tactic, and had no idea where to go next.

    However, I am not one to just roll over and play dead based on legal documentation from some unknown person in a remote location. One of the ironies in this subpoena is the request for information on the 8 of us. The subpoena states they are asking for:

    “Any and all documents regarding the following members of the “ASD Business Information Zone” social network site, located at the Internet web address http://asd-biz.ning.com, including but not limited to each member’s full name, address, telephone number, all e-mail addresses, all IP addresses and any other contact information within your possession, custody, or control.”

    Why is this ironic? Because in my case, Larry Friedman already had all of that information, and had it for months. In December 2008 I had an email exchange with Bob Guenther, who referred me to Larry Friedman, regarding a refund of my ASDMBA “contribution.” His final reply is noted below:

    “Roxy. I am not avoiding any issue. There is no issue. You are not our client and never have been. Your dispute, if any, is with the organization that you purportedly joined not with me or my firm. You did not hire my firm. You are not a client of my firm. We don’t even know who you are. The only mistake I made was being nice to you in the first place, and I won’t make it again. If you take any frivolous action against me or my law firm we will defend it vigorously and pursue all of our lawful remedies against you. We know exactly how to deal with people like you in the Texas courts. Do not contact me again. -Larry Friedman”

    It’s interesting to me that Mr. Friedman moved immediately to threat mode, “we know exactly how to deal with people like you in the Texas courts.” Given that I am a private citizen, not an attorney, not financially wealthy as Mr. Friedman and his firm are, this was definitely perceived by me as a threat directed specifically at me. I decided to bide my time and do some research as things unfolded.

    In March, I read that Larry Friedman’s firm had begun authorizing refunds. Laura Tripp was named as the contact person. I contacted her, restating my December request. I received a very nice reply, with the instructions and questions they required to be answered in order to obtain a refund. I found the last one particularly interesting: “Source of information for refund request” as it could be taken as asking “how did I learn about the fact that the firm was refunding monies.”

    I submitted my request and waited. The response from “Laura” was swift and as hostile and threatening as the December exchange with Larry Friedman, saying I would not be getting a refund. However, this time there was an added twist. This time “Laura” made disparaging remarks about the others on the ASD-Biz.ning.com board, the very thing Larry Friedman accuses Jack of doing! The tone moved from the pleasant information-giving exchange of earlier emails to what I perceived as a hostile threat as well:

    Ms. Lewis,

    This firm will not refund any money that was not paid directly to Friedman & Feiger. It has no obligation to do so. The money it has refunded has been strictly voluntary. The information you received from J. D. Sullivan a/k/a Wayne Tidderington a/k/a Bob Sterling is false and misleading. The statements that you have made are unsupportable. That is why Mr. Sullivan/Tidderington/Sterling does not make them himself, use his own name or file his own complaints. Mr. Friedman and the firm have recourse and will file suit against anyone who makes false, misleading or disparaging remarks against them or files a baseless complaint — as they have already. Rendering legal advice without a license is a crime in Texas; filing false complaints is actionable. The firm takes your threats very seriously and any complaint you file will be considered spurious and will be vigorously defended. Your should investigate Mr. Sullivan/Tidderington/Sterling’s background and history very carefully before you get involved with him or do his bidding. The last person he used for similar purposes got sued in Texas, after which he abandoned them and left them to fend for themselves with the problem he created. Ask Mr. Sullivan/Tidderington/Sterling what his real name and address is, what he does for a living, how many times he has been sued for interfering in other people’s businesses, what his wife’s real name is and where she works. If he will give you all of that information truthfully (which he won’t) you will know who you are really dealing with. Then you can determine for yourself who is leading you around. And, by the way, ask Mr. Sullivan/Tidderington/Sterling what his relationship is to Andy Bowdoin and what Mr. Sullivan/Tidderington/Sterling’s motives were to divert your attention from the  real cause of your concern. If you want all of your money back start looking for it under Mr. Sullivan/Tidderington/Sterling’s rock.

    Laura Tripp
    AR Manager
    Friedman & Feiger, LLP

    Just to be sure I had been clear, I sent one last email to “Laura” :

    Dear Ms. Tripp,

    Thank you for your reply.

    Please confirm for me that you (and Attorney Friedman) understand that his solicitation of funds to be sent to ASDMBA and mailed to Bob Guenther, still means he solicited them, received them and then did no service for them.  As such, if he will not reconsider and refund my $100.00 I will have no recourse other than to immediately file a complaint with the Texas Bar Association and advise others who have asked my opinion on the matter to do the same.

    Please reply by midnight on 4/7/09 CDT.  Thank you.

    Roxy Lewis

    “Her” reply was swift and again perceived as threatening:

    Ms Lewis

    You have my response.  I would strongly recommend that you consult with an attorney in Minnesota and stop getting your legal advice off the internet from non-attorney bloggers.  As stated, any baseless complaint filed with the Texas Bar will be vigourously defended by this law firm. Also, I might recommend that you examine your finances to be sure you have the means to defend yourself against any actions that may be brought against you as a result of your actions.

    That’s the second irony in this exchange. Clearly she had NO information about my December email exchange with Larry Friedman and assumed I was “getting my legal advice off the internet from non-attorney bloggers,” the same bloggers she disparaged in the prior email, rather than realizing this was a repeat request.  Still, this threat against my finances compared to those of “this firm” felt very much like a second threat against me.

    Those of you who have been following the case from Larry Friedman against Jack Arons know that many people believe, and have posted online in multiple forums, that this is really a first amendment, freedom of speech case. Considering that fact, I began to search for information on the internet regarding first amendment rights and came upon cyberslapp.org. I’d never heard of a “cyberslapp” before, but the definition on their home page was exactly what I was looking for:

    “A new form of lawsuit called a “CyberSLAPP” suit is threatening to overturn the promise of anonymous online speech and chill the freedom of expression that is central to the online world. CyberSLAPP cases typically involve a person who has posted anonymous criticisms of a corporation or public figure on the Internet. The target of the criticism then files a frivolous lawsuit just so they can issue a subpoena to the Web site or Internet Service Provider (ISP) involved, discover the identity of their anonymous critic, and intimidate or silence them.”

    Because I was named in the subpoena, I contacted them via their “contact us” link on the home page. This put me in touch with a Mr. Paul Levy. I told him of the subpoena and my name being there, along with 8 others. He advised that Ning, being located in California, would likely not respond to a Texas subpoena at all, but he would verify this with them. Yesterday he confirmed this is indeed the position [Ning] has taken, and authorized me to share this information. You can view the posting on the ASD-Biz.ning.com forum.

    So, to all of us named in that subpoena, it appears we don’t have much to worry about. Some of the online bloggers speculated early that this would be the case. Personally I needed a greater assurance than that, and the feedback from Ning to Mr. Levy gave me that assurance.

    I am still not convinced Larry Friedman or the Texas courts and Judges have any jurisdiction over those of us in other states, including the subject of the suit, Jack Arons of Florida. I am now more convinced than ever that we all need to be diligent in guarding our first amendment rights against those who would try to intimidate, threaten and silence us, no matter where they are located.

  • Arons Blames Friedman For Mediation Failure

    Florida resident Jack Arons blamed Dallas attorney Larry Friedman for a breakdown in lawsuit-settlement negotiations, saying Friedman did not take the negotiations seriously.

    In court filings in which Friedman is seeking a new temporary restraining order against Arons that would prohibit Arons from communicating with reporters and other third parties about the case, Friedman said talks collapsed because Arons didn’t negotiate in good faith.

    A previous restraining order against Arons expired.

    Friedman’s is not telling the truth, Arons said.

    “It is more like Larry was unwilling to mediate,” Arons said in a Blog Comment here. “I had set aside 4 hours on the day of mediation to mediate and Larry who was in his car on the way to another meeting spent all of 15 minutes on the mediation.

    “He also continued to load me down with paperwork during the so called mediation. So as is the case Larry is lying again and is making it sound like I am at fault and not him,” Arons said.

    Friedman sued Arons last month in Dallas for slander and libel, in a case that sprouted from Friedman’s representation of the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA) Trust.

    The Trust was formed by member contributions to protect their legal interests in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme case.  Some ASDMBA members have complained about the management of the Trust by Bob Guenther, its de facto head.

    Guenther, they say, has not provided transparent accounting that detailed how the Trust spent money from contributors. Friedman is the Trust’s attorney. Guenther, a convicted felon, introduced Friedman to potential contributors last year.

    Arons, who says Friedman has buried him in paperwork, including a 135-page filing yesterday, lives in a manufactured home in Florida, collects Social Security and does not have an attorney.

    Arons now is trying to amass $1,500 through a loan or donations to sue Friedman in federal court.

    Yesterday’s filing by Friedman includes an exhibit of Internet postings on this Blog and the ASD-Biz forum. It also includes content from the websites of the Dallas Morning News and WCTV-TV, a Florida television station.

    Separately, Friedman is using a subpoena to ning.com, the host of the ASD-Biz forum, in a bid to obtain information on posters at the forum. Some forum members appear to have changed their forum identities to create twists on their old names or twists on how they’ve been described by Guenther — in protest.

    Guenther is scheduled to make a court appearance in Arizona today on felony charges of repeatedly violating a court order that prohibited him from threatening an Arizona company.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Friedman Seeks To Gag Arons; Cites ASD-Biz Forum And PatrickPretty.com Blog In Court Filing

    UPDATED 11:26 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Dallas attorney Larry Friedman is asking a Dallas judge to issue a temporary restraining order against Florida resident Jack Arons.

    An exhibit included in the filing includes content from the ASD-Biz Forum, PatrickPretty.com, the Dallas Morning News and WCTV-TV, a Florida television station. Separately, Friedman is attempting by subpoena to get ning.com to provide him information on the identities of posters at the forum.

    ning.com hosts the ASD-Biz forum.

    Friedman sued Arons last month, accusing him of slander and libel. All in all, today’s filing, including the exhibit, took up 135 pages.

    In the filing Friedman said a previous restraining order against Arons had lapsed and that settlement negotiations with Arons had broken down “due to [Arons’] unwillingness to mediate in good faith.

    “[Arons] continues to post on the Internet regarding Plaintiff despite representing to the mediator that he would not do so while the parties were trying to reach a settlement,” Friedman said in the filing.

    Among the content included in the exhibit was an April 9 column in this Blog, along with Comments from readers. Also included was an April 11 column, along with reader Comments, including a Comment from Guenther in which he threatened to send an email to the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA) Trust database that suggested we were a member of ASD and “possibly an ASD winner!!!”

    We were not members of ASD. Nor were we members of ASDMBA.

    Also included in the exhibit was a copy of a March 28 column in this Blog, along with reader Comments, including Comments from Guenther. The exhibit also incuded a copy of a March 19 column in this Blog that reproduced an October 2008 letter from Friedman to Guenther, warning Guenther that the ASD probe was an active criminal investigation and to stop threatening people.

    The exhibit also includes page after page of postings from the ASD-Biz forum, including posts made as recently as today by forum members. Some of the Comments made on this Blog cited in the exhibit also were made today.

    Friedman claims in the filing that his reputation will be irreparably harmed if Arons is not restrained. Among other things, the filing seeks to restrain Arons from “encouraging or duping ASDMBA investors to file false complaints or disseminate false facts to state agencies or other entities.”

    A hearing on the application for a new restraining order is set April 17.

  • Injunction Against Arons Dropped In Friedman Lawsuit

    UPDATED 2:13 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A temporary restraining order against Florida resident Jack Arons by Dallas attorney Larry Friedman has been dropped.

    Arons and Friedman are in mediation to try to settle a dispute that resulted in Friedman accusing Arons of slander and libel March 5. The mediation is occurring via telephone and will resume next week.

    The lawsuit stemmed from the affairs of the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA) Trust.

    Bob Guenther is the de facto head of the Trust. ASDMBA members said Guenther has not provided transparent accounting for the Trust and engaged in threatening behavior when his management was questioned.

    Guenther is facing two felony charges of aggravated harassment in Arizona. A court date is set next month. Police alleged that he repeatedly violated a court order prohibiting him from threatening an Arizona company.

    Friedman is an attorney for the Trust. ASDMBA members funded the Trust with contributions, expecting that their legal interests would be covered in the AdSurfDaily case. Some members said they filed complaints with the Texas Bar and the office of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.

    Guenther said the Trust had an insurance policy and, if members had valid complaints, they should contact him to make a claim against the policy.

    “If anyone has any VALID complaint about the administration of the ASDMBA, the disbursement or use of the funds, or any other questions not answered, then they should get a lawyer, file suit, and Ill turn it over to our insurance company,” Guenther said on March 26, in a Comment to this Blog.

    Guenther did not say what process was in place to determine if a complaint was valid. He added that the Trust had a second trustee, Kenneth Devolpi.

    “Hopefully Mr Friedman will continue to represent the ASDMBA, without compensation, as he has done for the last 90 days or so, and the other Trustee, Kenneth deVolpi, will not resign,” Guenther said in a Comment.

    Devolpi lists members of Guenther’s family, including Guenther’s wife, as Facebook friends. Guenther’s daughter lists Devolpi as a friend, as does Guenther himself.

    ASDMBA members have raised concerns in recent days that Guenther now seems to be backing away from claims that ASDMBA is a Trust.

    “This association was not formed as a formal Texas ‘TRUST,’ Guenther said in a Comment to this Blog. “No representation to that effect have ever been made. It is a simple association, formed with a set of self imposed administration guidelines.”

    The organization, however, was referred to as a Trust in recorded conference calls and online chat forums. The dispute now seems to center on the meaning of the word “Trust.”

    Guenther also said in a Comment that about $1.5 million was returned to members of Golden Panda Ad Builder, acknowledging that the money did not become part of a federal pool to compensate victims of what prosecutors described as a $100 million Ponzi scheme involving ASD and Golden Panda.

    This may lead to questions about whether some victims received preferential treatment and whether federal prosecutors will seek to have the money returned to the pool.

    Money was returned to police retirees and active-duty officers in Texas and California, and to a “high profile Dallas Cowboy” executive, Guenther said. He acknowledged that he had a hand in the return of the money.

    A five-figure sum was returned to Joe Shoop, an ASD promoter, Guenther said.

    Guenther did not say under whose authority the money was returned. He ventured, however, that “The Feds who raided the ASD headquarters,upon finding over $35 Million in uncashed cashiers check, should have ordered the return of the uncashed checks to the rightful owners.”

    The money returned to Golden Panda members was not seized in a raid by the U.S. Secret Service of ASD’s headquarters in Quincy, Fla., last year. The returned money, rather, had been sent to Golden Panda in Georgia.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Friedman Warned Guenther About His Behavior Prior To Meeting With ASD Prosecutor, Document Says

    UPDATED 12:10 P.M. EDT (March 20, U.S.A.)

    NOTE: Though not related to the main post below, the government tonight responded to Curtis Richmond’s pro se filing in the ASD case. In the morning, we’ll publish a story on the government’s response to it and similar filings, rather than preparing another breaking-news story tonight. (Now posted here.)

    In essence, the government is arguing that Richmond’s filing and three other filings using the Richmond litigation blueprint will lead to justice being unconscionably delayed for many thousands of ASD victims and could result in manifest injustice for ASD members.

    Prosecutors also are well aware that ASD President Andy Bowdoin also now is filing his own pleadings, referencing them but not responding to them in tonight’s filings. It would not be surprising if the government takes the stand that Bowdoin’s filings are designed to delay justice. Pointedly, the government described Bowdoin as “apparently proceeding pro se,” a possible sign of developments to come.

    Tonight, Bowdoin appeared in a video, offering ASD members what he described as a way to get their money back by joining a new program called “Paperless Access.” Bowdoin appears to have shared ASD’s database with the company. Some ASD members were reacting with anger this evening, accusing Bowdoin of unrivaled, unmitigated gall.

    You can view the video here.

    Here, below, our earlier post . . .

    A document from the Dallas-based Friedman & Feiger law firm paints a picture of an out-of-control client who had to be told how to behave prior to a meeting with the lead prosecutor in the AdSurfDaily case.

    At the same time, the document also may raise questions about lawyer-client confidentiality.

    Although the document was dated Oct. 27, 2008, and addressed to Robert Guenther, the de facto head of the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA) Trust, Friedman’s client, it was mixed into a package sent Jack Arons.

    Arons, a Florida man, is being sued by Friedman for libel and slander. He said he received the document in both electronic and physical form from the law firm after being sued March 5.

    The document carries the signature of Friedman. A note at the top of the document says it was intended to be sent by fax to Guenther last October.

    It is unclear if Guenther received it.

    friedmanguentheroct27document

    Guenther and Friedman met with Assistant U.S. Attorney William Cowden the following month, in November 2008. Guenther has said he hoped to persuade Cowden to name Friedman’s firm receiver in the federal Ponzi scheme case against AdSurfDaily Inc.

    Guenther left the meeting without a deal and now is blustering at Cowden on the ASDMBA website.

    Arons said he thinks someone made a mistake.

    “When Larry sent me the court documents that was one of the files that was attached,” Arons said. “I think that he goofed. I also received a copy in the ones that he mailed to me later. So someone in his office screwed up.”

    Guenther was charged March 13 in Arizona with two felony counts of aggravated harassment. The action in Arizona did not stem from Guenther’s management of ASDMBA.

    At one time, Guenther used the ASDMBA website to cross-promote both ASDMBA and mmoguls, a gaming opportunity affiliated with Cheyenne Mountain and Affiliates. Cheyenne Mountain obtained a restraining order against Guenther for workplace harassment.

    He violated the order as many as five times, which led to the March 13 charges, police said.

    Arons has been a critic of both Guenther and Friedman over their handling of ASDMBA matters.

    Why the document was contained in the packages Arons received is unclear.

    In the document, Friedman told Guenther that “you need to stop threatening physical violence and, for that matter, stop threatening people altogether.

    “Making threats over the Internet and across state lines probably violates numerous state and federal laws,” the document advised.

    The document specifically warned Guenther, prior to the meeting with Cowden, that “nothing you send or say to Cowden is protected by the attorney-client privilege or any other privilege or exception.”

    At the same time, it warned Guenther “not to do anything to impede the federal government’s investigation whatsoever with whatever you are doing.”

    “Impeded” is a word Guenther used in a post three days ago at the ASD-Biz Forum, when he meant to say “embedded.”

    “You need to stop saying bad things about people on conference calls, or on the Internet,” the document warned. It specifically advised Guenther to apologize to two ASD members who raised the prospect of suing Guenther.

  • NEWS ANALYSIS: The Problem With Guenther’s ‘Secret’ Code Word (And Other Oddities About The AdSurfDaily Case)

    Bob Guenther has told the Mods and members of the ASD-Biz forum that his previous “Bob Guenther” account had been “compromised.” He announced that he had deleted the “Bob Guenther” account and now would embed a secret code word in posts under his new forum identity, so members would know he was the actual author of posts and not a hacker using his identity to post.

    Under the new forum identity “Robert L,” Guenther said he came to the conclusion that someone had hacked his old account after “in depth investigation” revealed “[s]omeone had accessed my account, had my email and my password.”

    Meanwhile, in an unrelated but equally strange development, a poster at the Surf’s Up forum threatened to beat up ASD President Andy Bowdoin for lying to him.

    “[I]f I ever see you face to face I will knock the f— out of you,” the poster said. “I met you and had breakfast with you and you lied to my face on that Sunday in [M]iami . . .”

    Miami was the site of a July 12 ASD rally — a rally attended by federal agents working undercover.

    Bowdoin was 74 at the time federal agents seized tens of millions of dollars from the firm a few weeks after the Miami rally, in the opening days of August. The poster who threatened Bowdoin also appears to be a senior citizen. Earlier discussion in the forum suggests the man lost $52,000 by trusting Bowdoin.

    The Surf’s Up post, which stood for hours, now has been deleted. The man’s wife, who also appeared to be a senior citizen, was pictured alongside him in a loving pose. Some seniors are none too happy with Andy Bowdoin. The threat, however, was excessive.

    No good can come through violence, suggestions of violence or menacing behavior. The man, who said he lives in California, made no threat to travel to Florida to harm Bowdoin.

    The ‘Secret’ Code

    At roughly the same time Guenther was deleting his old account at the ASD-Biz forum and announcing his secret code, he also was sending an email to this Blog. We deem the email menacing and convoluted.

    Guenther is the de facto head of the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA) Trust, the subject of some recent posts on this Blog and elsewhere on the Web.

    All of Guenther’s old posts at the ASD-Biz forum were wiped away when he deleted his account, including threatening posts and posts that triumphantly announced a slander and libel lawsuit against Florida resident Jack Arons by Dallas-based attorney Larry Friedman, who is the attorney for the Trust.

    Bob Guenther introduced Larry Friedman during an ASDMBA conference call last year while ASDMBA was solicting funds to protect contributors’ interests in the ASD case. Friedman now blames Arons for stirring the pot online and encouraging people to file complaints about his handling of the Trust’s affairs, claiming Arons is a felon and a menace.

    Links to the slander and libel lawsuit were posted in the ASD-Biz forum under the “Bob Guenther” identity, which now is wiped away. Also wiped away were goonish threats from “Bob Guenther” that Friedman would sue other people.

    Here are two questions an investigator might ask if considering recent developments concerning Guenther:

    • Who could derive a benefit from the claim the “Bob Guenther” identity at the ASD-Biz Forum was compromised by a hacker?
    • Who could derive a benefit by deleting the “Bob Guenther” account and thus deleting the posts associated with it?

    Friedman immediately should fire the Trust as a client and disassociate himself from Bob Guenther. He also should report this matter to law enforcement. These acts are disturbing and too unnatural to ignore.

    Some people said they saved copies of the old posts, anticipating that the account might go missing. Some ASDMBA members said they filed complaints with the Texas Bar and the office of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott about the manner in which the Trust’s affairs have been handled.

    Secret code? Guenther could post something inflammatory, not include the secret code — and then claim someone else is the author because the post didn’t include the secret code.

    A secret code is proof of nothing. The notion itself strains credulity at a level that cannot be ignored.

    Along those lines, a claim by Guenther that he was at a volleyball tournament in Dallas “about the time” an unauthorized poster was using his old forum account and claiming to be heading to Mexico also is proof of nothing. A poster in Dallas could claim to be posting from Mexico. So could a poster from Arizona, at a location near the border with Mexico. (As noted in a previous post, in January we captured an Arizona IP address of Guenther’s near the Mexico border.)

    Guenther explained that he hadn’t been to Mexico since 2003 and that “[a]nyone that actually knows me, also knows why.” Again, however, the claim proves nothing . Even a person who claims not to have been in Mexico since 2003 could claim to be posting from Mexico — or anywhere.

    Restraint is not a word we associate with Guenther.  His lack of restraint is what is driving one of the stories associated with the federal probe into the business affairs of AdSurfDaily Inc. (ASD).

    Within hours of establishing a new posting identity at the ASD-Biz forum, Guenther was back to threatening people with lawsuits.

    Guenther is the de facto head of the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA) Trust. As noted above, ASDMBA was formed with member contributions in the aftermath of the government seizure last summer of tens of millions of dollars from ASD. Federal prosecutors say ASD was selling unregistered securities, operating a Ponzi scheme and engaging in wire fraud and money-laundering.

    ASDMBA’s stated goal was to protect the legal interests of ASD members who contributed to the association. People concerned want to know why that hasn’t happened, despite the fact ASDMBA raised more than the $100,000 said to be needed to pay for the retainer of Larry Friedman.

    In our view, Guenther has a duty to explain precisely to ASDMBA members from whom money was collected how the money was spent. If he chooses not to do so, he should have no expectation that ASDMBA members will stop asking questions.

    Something this basic should not be difficult or painful. In fact, publishing a detailed accounting is the quickest way for Guenther to disarm his critics. Concerned ASDMBA members want sunlight, the best disinfectant. What they’re getting is rudeness, hostility, profanity, tirades, threats and juvenile insults — and now secret codes.

    What they’re not getting is sunlight.

    Friedman should drop the slander and libel lawsuit against  Jack Arons. The filing of the lawsuit was repugnant, especially under these bizarre conditions.

    Arons, on Social Security, is an amateur Web critic with a fly swatter. Friedman met Arons with a Howitzer, suing him in a blitz of paperwork and then trying to force Arons to appear in Dallas for a deposition at Arons’ expense with three days’ notice.

    It was disgraceful, the stuff from which lawyer jokes are born. All of it flowed from ASDMBA’s lack of transparency. If anything, Arons owes Friedman an apology — if even that.

    Friedman has considerable stature in the Dallas legal community — and every right to defend his reputation. This lawsuit doesn’t help. Nor does the behavior of the Trust and its de facto head, Bob Guenther.

    Guenther needs people to believe in him now, and he’s doing very little to give them any reason to.

  • EDITORIAL: No Settlement In Larry Friedman Lawsuit Against Jack Arons; Tensions Escalate As Prominent Dallas Attorney Sues Pro Se Litigant

    Florida resident Jack Arons, sued last week for libel and slander by Dallas attorney Larry Friedman and hit with a blitz of legal documents, said the lawsuit still was on and that settlement talks had broken down.

    Friedman, the lawyer for the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA) Trust, describes Arons as a “felon” and a “vigilante” and an Internet “menace.” Arons, on Social Security, readily acknowledges he had encounters with law enforcement as a younger man.

    ASDMBA was formed last summer, in the aftermath of the government seizure of tens of millions of dollars from Florida-based AdSurfDaily amid wire-fraud, money-laundering and Ponzi scheme allegations. Federal prosecutors say ASD was selling unregistered securities while calling itself an “advertising” service.

    Members of ASDMBA said they expected Friedman to file litigation to protect their interests in the ASD case.

    Arons plainly is confused about what to do. At the same time, he is angry. His confusion and anger are understandable. Friedman should have no expectation that he is dealing with a professional litigant who will react by the book.

    Larry Friedman is dealing with a common man who does not have an attorney and who was buried in Friedman’s legal paperwork. At the same time, Jack Arons is being openly threatened in the ASD-Biz forum by a person who purports to be Friedman’s client.

    Friedman already has lost the PR war. The war was lost with the paperwork blitz and the appearance on the forum by Friedman’s purported client.

    Arons said he was unhappy with a document written by an intermediary for Arons’ signature that purportedly would bring the matter to an end. The document was in the form of a retraction. Arons rejected the document. (See the wording of the purported retraction document below.)

    Instead, Arons prepared his own retraction of comments against Friedman and posted it in online forums.

    Arons lives in a manufactured home in Florida. He has been soliciting input from nonexpert forum posters to go up against Friedman. The case was a train wreck from the moment it was filed.

    We again call on Friedman to drop the lawsuit and fire his client, the ASDMBA Trust. If any entity is harming Friedman’s reputation, it is the Trust, whose de facto head is Bob Guenther.

    See a previous post. See another one.

    A poster purporting to be Guenther at the ASD-Biz forum announced the lawsuit against Arons last week — in two separate threads. The headline in the main announcement thread was titled, “Jack Arons Sued, Served and Shut Up, Finally . . .”

    The poster provided links to the lawsuit documents before Arons had been served, called him “Rookie” and threatened others with lawsuits. Later, the poster purporting to be Guenther referenced Arons’ adoptive, 6-year-old daughter in a post, raising security concerns. Arons is the father of a son who was murdered.

    Arons said the matter has been reported to the FBI.

    People are asking questions about the Trust, Guenther and Friedman. Some people said they had complained to the Texas Bar and the office of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. Their concern is how ASDMBA is spending money it collected from members. The Trust, Friedman’s client, has not answered questions to the satisfaction of some members.

    Arons is not a member of ASDMBA. Friedman blames him for stirring the pot in Internet forums. It is only natural that Friedman would be concerned about complaints to the Bar and Abbott. Even so, Friedman, a professional, had to know that some ASDMBA members were unhappy and apt to complain.

    That’s why Friedman should fire the Trust, which has not answered questions to the satisfaction of members.

    Arons said he filed a pro se response to the lawsuit.

    Friedman filed a vague complaint against Arons, swearing only to a single paragraph in the 12-page document but emerging with a temporary restraining order against Arons.

    If Friedman is interested in a settlement, he should explain to Arons the precise conduct that damaged him instead of forcing depositions from on high and hitting Arons with an avalanche of legal filings.

    This case is sad, especially since the behavior of Friedman’s client is the driving force behind the concerns of members. Their demand is reasonable: for Guenther to produce straightforward accounting. Instead they have been met with insults, political jibes and menacing forum posts.

    None of those behaviors is consistent with transparency. ASDMBA was formed with the financial contributions of its members. Presenting a line-item accounting should be easy. Tensions have escalated because of the absence of detailed accounting by the Trust, leading to complaints to the Bar and the attorney general.

    As noted above, Arons issued his own retraction to statements he had made online about Friedman. The retraction was published online before Friedman even had accepted it. This is the type of thing that happens when people act without advice of counsel and under extreme pressure.

    And Larry Friedman knows this is the type of thing that happens when people act without counsel. He does not have the duty to act as Arons’ counsel, of course. After all, Friedman is claiming Arons harmed his reputation.

    But Friedman does have a duty to play fair. The blitz he directed at Arons was repugnant.

    The ‘Retraction’ Arons Wouldn’t Sign

    Here, verbatim, is the retraction an intermediary told Arons that Friedman would accept to drop the lawsuit. We have added the italics.

    Date:
    Time:

    I, Jack Arons, (Address, City, State, Zip) am writing this of my own free will on behalf of Larry Friedman of Friedman and Feiger Law Firm.

    Over the last couple months I have been spearheading a campaign against Larry Friedman, due to my belief he, along with his client, willingly defrauded a group of people (the ASDMBA) of tens of thousands of dollars.

    I have been encouraging the members to file a complaint with the Texas Bar against Mr. Friedman for his participation. After further research, and facts that have come to light, it is now my conclusion that Larry Friedman was indeed a victim in this debacle, of his own client! And that he did in fact, to the best of his ability, fulfill and honor his commitment to the ASDMBA members.

    I apologize to Mr. Friedman for the egregious error and for whatever damage I might have caused to his name, his reputation, or his law firm. I further state I will discontinue the promoting of people to call the Texas Bar Association to complain about Mr. Friedman, and ask that those that did call back and say they made the complaint based on misinformation.

    I will discontinue, from this day forward, from writing any posts in forums, or emails, or disseminating information in form, Mr. Friedman or his Law Firm.

    I can be called for verification of this information at: ___(phone)___________

    And once again, I apologize to Mr. Friedman.

    (full name)

    Arons’ Own Retraction

    March 10, 2009

    After consulting with many different people both for and against this problem that I am now faced with and to insure the safety and well being of my family I have decided to (as Bob would say) throw in the towel. I love a good fight and had my family not been dragged into a fight that was not of their making I would have done everything humanly possible to achieve the goal that resulted in a Bully called Bob Guenther from scamming people out of their hard earned money and getting away with it.

    As far as Larry Friedman and his Law Firm is concerned I retract all statements made against them. Although I can not change what course of actions that have taken place concerning my statements I will no longer post anything derogatory concerning him or his firm.

    Each member of the ASDMBA (which I am not) must make their own decisions of what they will do or have done and if they feel that they erred in filing anything against F&F that I might have said to take the appropriate actions to correct that which has been done.

    I do not control the internet although at times like this I wish I did.

    Jack Arons
    10088 Blue Waters Road
    Tallahassee, Florida 32305
    850.421.5791

  • EDITORIAL: Arons Retracts Statements On Friedman

    Jack Arons, a Florida man sued for libel and slander last week by Dallas attorney Larry Friedman, announced today that he is retracting statements he made about Friedman on the Internet.

    “As far as Larry Friedman and his Law Firm is concerned I retract all statements made against them,” Arons said. He posted the retraction in online forums covering the AdSurfDaily case.

    “Although I can not change what course of actions that have taken place concerning my statements I will no longer post anything derogatory concerning him or his firm,” Arons said.

    Today we are renewing our call for Friedman to drop his lawsuit against Arons. At the same time, we call on Friedman to exercise judicious restraint and not to bulldoze Arons in any settlement negotiations.

    Meanwhile, we call on Friedman to fire the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA) Trust as a client. The de facto head of the Trust is severely damaging Friedman’s law brand. Friedman should fire the Trust and get his shingle out of harm’s way. Let the Trust litigate against Friedman if it so chooses. The Trust has no credibility. Members who funded the Trust say it also has no money and is operating in the red.

    Arons does not have a lawyer. He lives in the type of manufactured home that is common throughout Florida. He is not wealthy. Over the weekend, he worked on self-written, pro se drafts to fight Friedman’s lawsuit, asking for input from nonexpert forum posters.

    On Monday, he was served with papers designed to force him to travel from Tallahassee to Dallas at his expense to sit for a Friedman deposition on Thursday. Arons is at a monumental disadvantage. He has had no time to think and is ripe to be bulldozed.

    Larry Friedman should not bulldoze Jack Arons. To do so would be shameful, and yet a bulldozing is something some of his colleagues actually might applaud because this bulldozing would be a particularly wicked one. The pity-there-was-an-unoccupied-seat-on-the-sunken-lawyer-bus  joke is not a joke about a bus; it is a joke about bulldozers driven by attorneys.

    Friedman claims Arons is a menace because of Internet postings, while his de facto client openly is engaging in menacing behavior, complete with references to stalking and chasing people.

    Jack Arons is not the menace in this case; he was the convenient target because people were complaining to the Texas Bar about matters pertaining to the Trust, and Friedman blames Arons for stirring the pot.

    Friedman brought a Howitzer against a Web critic and sympathetic figure armed with a small peashooter. It was maximum overkill: Friedman sued in Dallas March 5. Arons was served in Florida March 7. On March 9, Arons was notified to appear in Dallas March 12 to provide a deposition to Friedman.

    In between, a person purporting to be “Bob Guenther,” the de facto head of the Trust, appears to have adopted the role of Friedman’s goon. In previous mentions of the purported Guenther, we described him as appearing to act as a bouncer. We’re using “goon” today because the purported Guenther now has referenced Arons’ 6-year-old daughter in a menacing forum post.

    That is the act of a goon, not a bouncer. We believe Friedman is appalled and perhaps even frightened by the behavior of his de facto client. It is our expectation that Friedman will fire his client. Not to do so is to turn a blind eye to the damage his brand is suffering at the hands of his client — something he was unwilling to do when it came to Jack Arons, a mere flea met by a Howitzer that could shoot from Texas to Florida.

  • EDITORIAL: Larry Friedman, Drop The Lawsuit

    UPDATED 6:33 P.M. EST (U.S.A.) Dallas attorney Larry Friedman represents the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA) Trust. Friedman has sued Florida resident Jack Arons for slander and libel, asserting that Arons — a self-styled truth-seeker whom Friedman describes as a “felon” and a “vigilante” and an Internet “menace” — has told untruths and slimed him online.

    The filing of a lawsuit against Arons strikes us as a severe remedy and a warning to others not to ask too many uncomfortable questions. It’s hard not to see things that way when a person purporting to be Bob Guenther, the de facto head of the Trust, appears to be acting as Friedman’s publicist and bouncer — and using Friedman’s law shingle as a weapon.

    Friedman assesses the harm from Arons’ alleged slime at $50,000. He filed a 12-page lawsuit, but swore only to a single paragraph in the document in a verification on the final page. Regardless, Friedman walked away with a temporary restraining order designed to mute Arons.

    Critics at the ASD-Biz forum say the document reads like a broad bid to chill legitimate  discussion about ASDMBA. Prior to the filing of the lawsuit, some ASDMBA members said they filed complaints against Friedman with the Texas Bar and the office of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.  The members want to know how ASDMBA is spending money it collected.

    And they want to know why no ASDMBA litigation has been filed to date, whether ASDMBA even can gain standing in a forfeiture case against the alleged proceeds of a criminal enterprise, and why the Trust says it still owes Friedman money. The kinds of questions ASDMBA members say they want answered certainly are reasonable.

    Friedman’s client is the ASDMBA Trust, not the individual members who provided funding and comprise the association. The original plan was for Friedman to communicate with members through the Trust, which effectively is under the control of Bob Guenther, who identified himself a Friedman client in matters that did not pertain to ASDMBA. Guenther introduced Friedman to the members in a conference call when the Trust was being formed last summer.

    The trouble with Friedman’s claim that the Trust is the proper information gateway, according to members, is that Guenther doesn’t answer questions and has released only a broad accounting of how ASDMBA spends its money. These members say the accounting is far too vague. They also complain about verbal bullying from Guenther, who has cited a longtime friendship with Friedman.

    It’s all well and good that Friedman’s client is the Trust. Friedman, in effect, is saying members should turn to Guenther for answers, and that very well could be proper if Friedman has an attorney-client relationship with the Trust. But when members can’t get the answers they seek from the Trust or become the subject of a passive-aggressive rant or verbal threat from Guenther, where do they turn?

    Some of them say they turned to the Texas Bar and Abbott.  The lawsuit against Arons followed — and was announced by a person who purported to be Guenther in two separate threads at the ASD-Biz forum.

    One of the posts announced the announcement, pointing viewers to a separate thread that contained the actual announcement. The poster purporting to be Guenther was the first person to post links to the lawsuit documents, before any information appeared on the Dallas court site and before Arons was served.

    How the lawsuit information was disseminated creates the appearance that Guenther is working as Friedman’s flack and bouncer. Even at the very moment this post is being written, a person purporting to be Guenther is over at the ASD-Biz forum threatening to extend Friedman’s long arm from Dallas and sue other people. The claim is that no one can say they haven’t been warned about Friedman’s ability to file libel lawsuits.

    The implication is that Guenther himself wants to spread the chill. In a juvenile insult, Arons was referred to as “Rookie.” The message was rookies get sued and eaten for lunch by the professionals, so don’t ask too many questions.

    Still, however, there has been no transparent accounting from the complaining members’ point of view. A lack of transparent accounting certainly isn’t consistent with professionalism — and was one of the reasons ASDMBA members said they turned to the Texas Bar and Abbott to address their concerns.

    Members want to know why ASDMBA, for example, appears to have spent thousands of dollars on what was vaguely described as contract services and Internet expenses. It is possible to purchase web hosting for a site that would accommodate ASDMBA’s needs for $24 a year, not thousands of dollars.

    People know that. They also know that vague accounting sometimes is a signature of abuse.  Their concerns are not silly. They could be addressed in minutes by Bob Guenther and the Trust.

    And yet the concerns aren’t being addressed, according to members. Meanwhile, Jack Arons is being called a “Rookie”  and getting sued, and a poster purporting to be Guenther is announcing the lawsuit with great fanfare and opining that 80% of men are “internet pussies who couldn’t work their way out of a wet paper bag.”

    Yes, really.

    “Jack Arons Sued, Served and Shut Up, Finally…” reads the over-the-top headline, in the thread that announces Friedman’s legal handiwork.

    There were reports this morning that Arons’ Internet connection was taken down as a result of documents faxed to his ISP.

    Friedman’s quickest route to restore a reputation he claims was damaged is not to sue Jack Arons; it is to insist that Guenther and the Trust be straightforward in their dealings with members who contributed money and, if they’re not, to fire the Trust as a client.

    As things stand now, the person purporting to be Guenther appears to be staining Friedman’s reputation by acting as a bouncer against people who might be inclined to file complaints with the Texas Bar and Abbott. What’s more, the temporary restraining order is so broad that it appears to restrain people sympathetic to Arons even from contacting Friedman to let him know what’s going on at the forum.

    Appearances matter. It looks like the person purporting to be Guenther is doing Friedman’s bidding for him and seeking to insulate himself from criticism and legitimate questioning by dangling Friedman’s shingle as a weapon. At a minimum, this situation creates the appearance of impropriety. It looks like thuggery.

    The poster purporting to be Guenther shows virtually no restraint. The ASD case has never been about politics, but Guenther — who seems not to possess a thimble full of PR savvy — routinely cites his conservative credentials in forum threads about ASD or ASDMBA. It’s as though he can’t even conceive that ASD and ASDMBA have Democrats and liberals in their membership ranks and that politics has no place in this particular business discussion.

    ASDMBA members weren’t asked about their political leanings when they joined. They were told that the association was going to litigate in their interests. They didn’t join to be told they weren’t conservative enough or Republican enough to be taken seriously. And they certainly didn’t join to be made the subjects of juvenile ridicule by Guenther and threats that they, too, will get sued if they don’t play the game by rules he defines.

    On the ASDMBA website, Guenther is directing bluster at William Cowden, the federal prosecutor handling the ASD case. Guenther had made a big show of emailing questions to Cowden, who is under no obligation at all to provide Guenther any answers. The ASD case is an active, ongoing investigation. Cowden wouldn’t discuss the government’s prosecutorial plans during an active investigation even if Congress were to subpoena him. He’s certainly not going to jump through Guenther’s hoops.

    Larry Friedman should drop the lawsuit against Jack Arons. At the same time, he should stop Guenther from using his attorney’s shingle as a weapon. Little wonder that attorneys are made the subject of jokes and outright ridicule when this kind of thing is happening in full public view.

    ASDMBA should provide a full, itemized, transparent accounting. Bob Guenther should end any involvement with ASDMBA and rid himself of the notion that people are too stupid or too afraid to hold him accountable.