DEVELOPING STORY: AdViewGlobal ‘Compliance’ Employee Sued Twice Last Year For Noncompliance With Federal Law
A Florida man identified as a “Compliance” employee of the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf was sued twice last year for not complying with federal laws in a business he owns.
Gerald Castor and his company, 1st Credit Solutions LLC of Bradenton, Fla., settled one of the cases last month. The lawsuit was brought in June 2008 by an employee who accused Castor of federal labor-law violations, alleging that workers were not paid wages at “time and one-half” for work in excess of 40 hours per week.
In a joint dismissal motion April 6 by the plaintiff and the defendants, the parties said the plaintiff had received “payment in full for all of her claims, including claims for overtime, liquidated damages and attorney’s fees and costs.”
The payment amount and the date of the payment were not disclosed. Mediation for the case had been set for June and was canceled. A judge did not review the settlement because the plaintiff acknowledged it was not a result of a compromise and that “all” of her claims had been met.
A second labor-law complaint against Castor and 1st Credit Solutions filed by a different employee was dismissed by a federal judge in March when the plaintiff did not follow up on the claim.
On March 23, AVG announced in a statement signed “The AVG Management Team” that its bank account had been suspended because too many members had wired transactions in excess of $9,500.
In a March 25 announcement under Castor’s name as a member of AVG’s “Compliance” department, the surf reported its banking problem was on the way to being “rectified” without explaining how the company intended to fix the problem.
Regardless, the company used a three-exclamation point headline — “AVGA Breaking News: Thanks and Good News!!!” — to report sales were brisk despite the problem.
“Tuesday member purchases continued to be good thanks to those purchases made with cash balances,†Castor’s announcement said. “We appreciate your continued cooperation and purchases through cash balances through the end of the week.”
The company then cited unspecified banking regulations, claiming changes in the regulations limited online purchases to $2,500.
Castor owns another Florida company — Living Legacy One LLC. Court records show that a process-server in the lawsuit against 1st Credit Solutions initially had trouble serving Castor, but eventually located him at the Bradenton building that serves as headquarters for both 1st Credit Solutions and Living Legacy One LLC.
On May 4, AVG announced its banking problems had ended as a result of a deal that would enable customers to wire money to an offshore bank to pay for AVG “advertising” purchases. Three days later, however, one of the companies AVG named as a facilitator of the transfers issued a public denial that it had any business relationship with AVG.
The company, KINGZ Capital Management Corp., said it had discussed business matters with Living Legacy One — but not AVG — and that it believed it had been targeted in a scam. AVG did not inform members about the denial. Rather, the surf said the sudden absence of a wire facility it had just announced came as a result of “negotiations” that had failed.
See an October 2008 court record from a federal lawsuit against Castor and 1st Credit Solutions in which a process-server reported initial trouble locating Castor, but later found him at the building that serves as headquarters for 1st Credit Solutions and Living Legacy One LLC, according to records in Florida.
See our March 25 story in which AVG, which purports to be headquartered in Uruguay, identifies Gerald Castor as a member of the “Compliance” department.
See April 6 stipulated dismissal of lawsuit against Castor and 1st Credit Solutions in which the plaintiff acknowledged she had received payment in full on her claims on an unspecified date.
See the annual reports of both 1st Credit Solutions and Living Legacy One LLC that were filed with the Florida Department of State by Castor on the same day — April 29, 2009.
See May 5 report on AVG’s May 4 announcement that it had a deal by which customers could pay for “advertising” purchases by wiring money to an offshore bank. The surf announced the deal on the same day the Obama administration announced it was cracking down on offshore fraud.
See May 7 report in which KINGZ Capital Management, a company AVG announced was involved in wire transactions for AVG “advertising” purchases, denied it had any business relationship with AVG. KINGZ said it believed it had been targeted in a scam, noting it had discussed business with Living Legacy One, not AVG.
KINGZ said it acted immediately to ensure no money would get to AVG via wire transfer.
Advertising.. right…..
Isn’t it about time for CORRECTION to show up and demand balance and fairness? An expose of the Governments evil role in shutting down a legal company called ASD Cash Generator? This story has no bearing on anything, and besides Castor’s company made good to the employee thereby proving he did nothing wrong?
I just wanted to make sure I had warmed up my voice for choir practice ahead of time.
I am wondering when “Patrick’s Guide to the Proper Use of Exclamation Points” is due to be published. I can’t wait!!! And who plays Patrick in the movie?
Hi dirty_bird,
It’s already out: “like garlic — sparingly.”
As I recall, one ASD promoter’s ads for Megalido had 9 exclamation points in the first 21 words.
Thanks for the note.
Patrick
I think that David Courtney broke that record with his Email touting how great AVGA is and how much money you could make, but you were not investing, buying page impressions. Then with his announcement of the 250% matching bonus, and the 200% matching bonus I think he broke his previous record of using !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I won’t bother posting one ! in this post. Just so you know CORRECTION, I am being sarcastic.
To all American’s have a great Memorial Day Weekend. Take time to give thanks for all the men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice for us to enjoy the freedoms we tend to take for granted. Also to pray for their families, and give thanks for their sacrifice as well.
Patrick,
Do you think the Feds are running clones of all the AVG websites so they (the Feds) can track what tales are being told to continue to lure investors to AVG, even as their banking and computing ability steadily declines? I think there are going to be serious prison sentences handed out to the AVG group — not just the founders and officers but all the participants — when they go down. The fact that they opened up a clone of their own, even while ASD was under Federal investigations, and their “it’s off-shore so it’s legal” approach to respecting U.S. laws, a la “Professor Patrick Moriarty,” would seem to make them prime candidates for having the book thrown at them.
ASD was a legal beautiful business model.
The US DOJ is the true villain in all of this and many peoples lives were destroyed because of their actions. They need to treat all participants fairly and return members funds while they investigate. Doing the right and decent thing would go a long way towards restoring confidence in the justice system, as there is none when they behave with impunity and utter disregard for US citizens and others from abroad.
AVGA will succeed in spite of the US DOJ and their desire to control the world!
Long live AVGA!!!
Johhny
Johnny,
Either you have missed out on reading anything about the ASD prosecution, since the very beginning or you are unable to understand simply math. ASD did not have outside revenue and was NOT solvent at the time of AG raid. The amount that ASD would have had to pay out in the few weeks or months after the date of the rate (guaranteed or not) would have brought the company to its knees, leaving liabilities to the tune of over 300$million dollars.
As far as the non guarantee element is concerned in the ToS, this was overtaken by public assurances by the management of ASD from the President downwards, that rebates would continue. The rebates were guaranteed in all material meanings of the word. In any event, it was been stated by Andy Bowdoin, that the rebates already paid out were, in fact, invented figures and did not represent the half of 1% or any other percentage of the daily earnings that were paid to members, thus making another nonsense of the ToS. If ASD came back tomorrow, it would not have money to pay out the existing membership even 1% for more than a couple of days. Then who would you scream at?
If that isnt enough for you, the president of ASD has been discovered to have a track record which is totally in contrary to the portrayal of the successful businessman of integrity he claimed to be. He is in fact a twice convicted felon for securities fraud. And it now looks as if some of his collaborators are none too clean either. There are strong indications that the ASD business itself was not cleanly run and numerous other compliance laws were broken.
The ASD business was declared by the Federal Judge NOT to have proved itself to be a legal business. The case is not finally closed yet, but there is nothing on the horizon to indicate that the Judge has any reason to change her mind on the topic of ASD’s legality.
If AVGA is modelled on the ASD business model, with various tweeks, then it is following a model that the Courts have, so far, declared not to be legal.
AVGA will have to demonstrate substantial outside revenue to support rebates AND a product of intrinsic value with a large pèrcentage of non earning sales, in order to prove it is neither a ponzi nor involved in the sale of unregistered securities.
It’s offshore status and private association status is not going to help it one bit, unless it ceases to deal with any US citizen (and citizens of those countries which also forbid this type of business)
As many have said before – if you can demonstrate with concrete statistics that AVGA has outside revenue to support its rebates and that it has a viable advertising product that is worth the money it charges (and that there is some benefit in paying more for advertising, other than rebates) then I too will join up, along with the rest of those who do not see this unfairness to AVGA or ASD.
With the information available to us so far, and in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, it is looking as if, for once, the US Government used its laws for the right reasons.
Johnny, I have a question. Assuming you live in America, knowing that Feds closed ASD and hurt so many people, If your co-workers grandmother who had only $40,000.00 to live on, came to you, could you tell her to purchase (yes I said purchase not invest) get a home base business (wink ,wink) and purchases ad impressions with AVGA? the whole $40,000.00
[…] was the address of a mail drop. Purported AVG “compliance” department head was sued twice in 2008 for noncompliance with federal law. AVG claimed to own eWalletPlus payment processor. Actual […]