BREAKING NEWS: Vana Blue Inc. Says Karveck International Deal Is Off; News Release Raises New Questions About Ownership Of AdViewGlobal Autosurf
UPDATED 2:55 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) In a short Business Wire news release late this morning, Vana Blue Inc. said it “has canceled all agreements with Karveck Int’l and has no affiliation with [the] company or its affiliates.”
The company claimed to own Karveck International in February 2009, declaring it a “newly acquired asset” that had produced $1.8 million in revenue in January. Karveck was described as a company that “specializes in internet advertising and promotion in a search engine and ad clicking type environment.”
Today’s news release, however, said the deal once described as completed never was finalized and that the cancellation came as a result of “further due diligence.”
“Vana Blue was unable to complete this transaction but is in the final stages of negotiation with an oil company to continue its plans of acquisitions,” said Donald Rex Gay, Vana Blue’s president.
Vana Blue is a Pinksheet stock that trades under the symbol VBLU.
Among other things, Vana Blue has said it owned the eWalletPlus payment processor that has been associated with AdViewGlobal (AVG), an autosurf with ties to AdSurfDaily Inc. Karveck’s name also has been associated with AVG, but AVG identified George and Judy Harris as its owners.
George Harris is the stepson of ASD President Andy Bowdoin.
AVG was in prelaunch phase in January, the month before Vana Blue announced the sales figures for Karveck International. There has been one report that AVG registered in Uruguay as Karveck International, but that report has not been confirmed.
Vana Blue’s domain name now resolves to a GoDaddy.com parked page. Meanwhile, the domain for eWalletPlus also resolves to a parked page and appears to be for sale on sedo.com.
Today’s Vana Blue news release used a Gmail address. Previous news releases by the firm used an email address at the Vana Blue domain.
AVG announced to members Aug. 5 that it had reported a theft of $2.7 million to state and federal authorities. The surf made the announcement one day after ASD announced in court filings that it was negotiating with federal prosecutors in a case that involved the seizure of tens of millions of dollars last August from Bowdoin.
Vana Blue used mail services in both Phoenix and Las Vegas for its street address, according to records. Vana Blue also has said it had an agreement with a company known as Net Auction Plus, an eBay alternative, “to provide online, affordable, and flexible payment services.”
The NetAuctionPlus.com domain name is registered to Michael Austin and uses the same Phoenix mail-service address as Vana Blue. The NetAuctionPlus.com domain throws a server error.
Austin’s name also has been associated with eWalletPlus, but is only one of several names associated with the payment processor and money-services business. AVG promoters have claimed that eWalletPlus was AVG’s in-house payment processor.
The names of at least two other companies — TMS Corp. and TMS Association — also have been associated with Vana Blue. Both firms purportedly owned eWalletPlus.
A third firm with a similar-sounding name — TMS Corp. USA LLC — is registered in Nevada and Arizona.
Records show the registration of TMS Corp. USA LLC was recorded by Gary Talbert, a former ASD executive. The Arizona registration lists ASD’s street address in Quincy, Fla.
Federal prosecutors said last year that ASD’s Quincy address was bogus.
In January, Karveck International was referred to in this Business Wire news release carried by Reuters as “Karveck Corporation.” It was described as a media company with “international reach that provides high volume exposure for websites thus creating advanced advertising on the internet for big and small businesses and for individuals who have products and services to sell.”
The name change from Karveck Corp. to Karveck International was not explained.
AVG has a history of issuing confusing announcements. In May — on the same day the Obama administration announced a crackdown on international monetary fraud — AVG announced it had secured a new offshore wire facility after losing a previous facility in March.
The surf, which purports to be headquartered in Uruguay, provided account numbers and detailed wire instructions for members. Three days later, a company AVG identified as a facilitator of the transfers issued an express, public denial that it had any business relationship with AVG.
AVG never acknowledged the denial. Instead, the surf issued an announcement signed “AVGA Management†that the wire deal it just had described as completed had failed because of unsuccessful negotiations.
Funny, for a company which supposedly “specializes in internet advertising and promotion” I cannot find any references for them on the net besides the Jan press release by Vana Blue. They seem to have had no Internet presence, no website, nada.
Hi dirty_bird,
A keen observation.
Apparently, an Internet advertising company no one ever had heard of posted $1.8 million in revenue in January, the same month AVG was in prelaunch.
And even though Karveck was declared a “newly acquired asset,” Vana Blue now says it “was unable to complete this transaction.”
It’s enough to make one’s head spin — especially when the various permutations of TMS and the confusing information on eWalletPlus are thrown in.
There are references to TMS Association, TMS Corp. and TMS Corp USA LLC.
Meanwhile, AVG members said AVG itself owned eWalletPlus, describing it as the in-house payment processor.
Some readers may find this May “Is It A Ghost?” story of value:
https://patrickpretty.com/2009/05/31/is-it-a-ghost-top-5-reasons-to-avoid-adviewglobal/
The ownership mystery actually has deepened since the May story was published, owing to new references to Vana Blue, Karveck and the TMS Corp. USA LLC permutation of the TMS name.
Patrick
Patrick
[…] is both a maze and amazing. A company known as Vana Blue Inc. that trades as a penny stock now has specifically disclaimed ownership of Karveck International — yet another name associated with AVG — and yet Vana Blue […]
[…] to identify the actual owners of the eWalletPlus payment processor AVG said it owned. No fewer than three companies have claimed to own the payment processor, which now is […]