AdSurfDaily mainstay “Professor” Patrick Moriarty has pleaded guilty in federal court in Missouri to filing a false tax return, federal prosecutors said.
“The total tax loss admitted by [Moriarty] is $135,697,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors initially brought multiple tax-fraud counts against Moriarty, saying in March 2009 that he had filed false returns for the years 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. He pleaded guilty to the 2003 count, and faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Moriarty’s trial had been set to get under way this week, but he entered a plea instead. Prior to trial, prosecutors said they had “voluminous†evidence, including seven 4-inch binders of records and records from an unspecified casino.
Moriarty entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Jean C. Hamilton of the Eastern District of Missouri, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Michael W. Reap.
Along with members of the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum, Moriarty formed a nonprofit organization known as ASD Members International (ASDMI) in October 2008. Among ASDMI’s claims was that it would litigate against the government in the ASD case, even if the government was behaving legally.
At least 167 ASD members gave money to ASDMI, but no litigation ever was filed. ASDMI disbanded in January 2009, less than three months after organizing.
Records showed that Moriarty, who professed tax expertise, once started a nonprofit in the name of a Missouri man accused of murdering a woman in cold blood and shooting a police officer four times.
Moriarty, who once sold fake academic degrees on eBay, explaining they were gag gifts, used the title “Rev†and purported to be the “minister†of the Universal Life Church (ULC) of Troy, Mo. He listed his qualifications as a Ph.D. and a D.D., and noted he also is an accountant and “Tax Return Specialist.â€
The credentials were listed on a church-provided website, which included a link by Moriarty to MLM opportunities.
ULC has been the subject of controversy. The church ordains up to 10,000 individuals per month, without charging a fee or holding any classes. Advanced degrees can be obtained for as little as $29.95 with little academic effort, according to ULC’s Wikipedia entry.
Moriarty advanced the legal theories of Curtis Richmond in the ASD case. Among Richmond assertions were that prosecutors were guilty of interference with commerce for disrupting ASD’s operations.
Dubbed a “hero” on Surf’s Up, Richmond is associated with a Utah “Indian” tribe a federal judge ruled a sham in a separate case. Public officials successfully sued Richmond and other “tribe” members under federal mail fraud and racketeering statutes, saying they had been targeted in a vexatious legal campaign that resulted in a bogus judgments for spectacular sums being placed against the officials.
A bogus judgment of $250 million was placed against a local prosecutor in the Utah case.
Richmond signed a bogus “arbitration” award of more than $300,000 against a family-services worker, according to court records.
Moriarty and Surf’s Up led a letter-writing campaign to Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The campaign sought Leahy’s support in advocating for ASD, an alleged Ponzi scheme, and sought the Senate’s help in investigating the ASD prosecutors.
Prior to his Senate career, Leahy had been named one of the top three local prosecutors in the United States. Even as Moriarty and Surf’s Up members were writing letters, Leahy was calling for U.S. fraud laws to be strengthened.
See this story from February 2009 about the Moriarty/Surf’s Up letter-writing campaign to Leahy. In a letter to Leahy, Moriarty claimed that “[o]ver 50 individual and notarized DEMAND[S] FOR LEGAL EVIDENCE were sent to Jeffrey Taylor, US Attorney; William Cowden, Assistant US Attorney; and Roy Dotson, Special Agent, US Secret Service.â€