ESSAY: Autosurfs Deserve A Hall of Fame Prosecution
AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin is entitled to his dignity. He is not, however, entitled to sustain the lies that sustained ASD during its miserable run or kept false hope alive for thousands of members after the U.S. Secret Service seized his money.
When the ASD case ends, it should end without ambiguity.
The prosecution of ASD’s assets in the form of money and real estate never was about an “evil government” — not even for one minute. All fair-minded people know that. If you bought into that story, you bought into a lie. If you wrote disingenuous letters to the government at Bowdoin’s urging — or if you wrote them on your own initiative, without doing appropriate research — you contributed to what amounts to an unconscionable spin campaign to sanitize a wretched enterprise that was polluting the U.S. money supply.
And you did it at a time in which U.S. banks were failing at a pace not seen since the Great Depression and more and more people were consumed by worry and sliding into poverty.
This is a case about domestic and international wire fraud and money-laundering. It featured an attack on the U.S. banking system and an attack on the U.S. Treasury itself. These things should make you feel utter revulsion. If they don’t, you are endorsing crime on a global scale.
Why would you do that?
If your answer is that surfs are fundamentally harmless, you are engaging in self-delusion of the highest order. Their danger is inarguable in any rational context. You cannot sanitize this filthy business via disclaimer or by saying things such as, “Only spend what you can afford to lose.”
You should have to force yourself not to hurl every time you read those words or get an email from an “industry expert” who counsels you to be careful while playing these terrible games — all while providing an affiliate link so he or she can pocket a commission before the enterprise collapses or is destroyed by the government, thus potentially implicating you in a crime.
If he or she sloughs it off with something along the lines of, “People should be free to make their own choices,” ask him or her if that theory applies to bank robbery or theft on a grand scale hidden behind a disclaimer that says “rebates aren’t guaranteed.”
It’s not just another form of “gambling,” either. Gambling is highly regulated. So is the Ponzi scheme business, even if you want to delude yourself into thinking it’s not. In fact, the Ponzi scheme business is so tightly regulated and so universally reviled that the Congress saw fit to make it illegal under a host of laws. Taking it “offshore” is nothing but a confession to the crime.
The Constitutional power to legislate is vested in the U.S. Congress. No private attorney is empowered to divine private legislation that makes exceptions for thieves and criminals — to say, in effect, “We get to keep the money, and there’s not a damned thing you can do about it.” No pro se litigant can turn it into a case of judicial “TREASON” when he or she is properly excluded from the legal proceedings.
Imagine a world in which the Legislature or a judge permitted Ponzi schemes. Bernard Madoff, who devastated legions of individuals, charities and endowments, would be a free man. Compellingly, though, not even Madoff, a man of relentless cunning and unparalleled criminal hubris, had the gall to ask his investors and the public to understand his plight or to blame it on evil prosecutors.
No autosurf has ever succeeded — unless you define the organized theft business as genuine enterprise or a genuine form of empowerment. The autosurf lane is lined with stinking carcasses and broken dreams. It is paved with shards of glass and cannot be navigated without harm to innocents. The “free market” defense to which autosurf players default by rote is the same one that served up human bondage for profit.
The “rebates aren’t guaranteed” disclaimer is an abomination manufactured to provide cover for promoters, so they’ll have an excuse should the government move in. It is nothing more than a license for the operators and promoters to steal — from the unknowing, from religious groups, from widows, from people from all walks of life. “Insidious” does not even begin to describe it.
These surfs pose a clear and present danger to the security of the United States and other countries. People are using them to scrub enormous sums of money. Criminal enterprises are involved. People who seek to cause widespread harm could be involved. You could be helping a terrorist organization buy bombs or missile launchers or weapons of mass destruction. You could be helping drug dealers hide profits.
Spin Alert: Bowdoin As Victim
Yesterday a poster here reposted an email purportedly from a person who had communicated with ASD President Andy Bowdoin recently. Apparently the spin game already is starting, with Bowdoin being positioned by shills as a victim, as he negotiates with prosecutors.
“The government is really playing hardball and the negotiations are very intense,” the email claims. “A handful of people have sent messages that they don’t understand why Andy hasn’t communicated to everyone and, to them, that means Andy is a crook.
“Those people don’t realize that, when a person is involved in a legal issue, their attorneys counsel them not to discuss anything with anyone,” the email continued. “Why? Because those who want to win the case against that person will look for anything the person says, take it out of context, and use it against the person. It’s very commonly done and done effectively. Many innocent people are in jail because of that very mistake. Andy couldn’t take the chance. Please know that this has been very hard on him, not being able to talk to you directly.”
Horse-hockey.
Andy Bowdoin has blamed every lawyer involved in the case for ASD’s troubles, including his own. He fired his paid counsel without informing them, morphed into a pro se litigant after consulting with amateurs and filed one fantasy brief after another. For good measure, he chided the prosecutors by saying his drivel “should really get their attention.”
“Watch for the filings,†Bowdoin instructed, in a letter published March 13 on the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum. “I will be speaking out on a conference call as soon as the filings are completed. We will notify you of the call. I look forward to talking to you then.â€
No conference call occurred after Bowdoin’s filings were completed. Bowdoin’s amateur advisers didn’t anticipate a ruling from the judge that corporate litigants could not proceed pro se, which forced Bowdoin to hire new paid counsel. His previous paid counsel effectively resigned from the case after being ordered by the judge to state their intentions.
Representing intransigent Bowdoin, it seems, had become a royal chore.
In asking for leave to withdraw, the attorneys said their representation of Bowdoin had become “unreasonably difficult.â€
“After this Court denied Claimant’s Emergency Motion for Return of Seized Funds [on Nov. 19, 2008], the client-lawyer relationship between the Firm and all three Claimants substantially deteriorated and has not improved thus rendering the representation unreasonably difficult,†the lawyers said.
‘Strong Up The Middle’
Assuming that the email cited above relates an actual conversation and includes a kernel of truth, it’s good to know the government is “really playing hardball.” The government should play hardball; a metaphorical Sandy Koufax should be on the mound, Johnny Bench should be behind the plate, Ozzie Smith should be at shortstop, Joe Morgan should be at second and Willie Mays should be in center field.
It’s important to be strong up the middle on defense.
When it’s time for the government to bat, it should alternate between Ty Cobb and Rickey Henderson at lead-off, with Roberto Clemente in the two-hole. Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig should alternate at the third position, and Babe Ruth should bat cleanup. Hank Aaron and Willie Stargell and Willie McCovey should be ready at a moment’s notice in case the Bambino was just getting home at gametime, and Willie Mays and Kirby Puckett could alternate in the five-hole.
The government team definitely needs an All-Star and Hall of Fame representative from the Minnesota franchise, which is why Puckett is a good selection.
Mike Schmidt and Eddie Matthews should alternate in the sixth position, and Joe Morgan should bat seventh. Ozzie should bat eighth, with Sandy in the ninth spot. If Sandy tires — or if his elbow becomes inflamed — the call should go to Cy Young. He should be backed by Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton and the entire Hall of Fame pitching staff, including relievers.
Lawyerly Tony LaRussa (for academics) should manage; Billy Martin (for spirit) should coach first, and Walter Alston (for the love of the game) should coach third. The All Star lineup should be so strong that LaRussa doesn’t have to worry about players playing out of position or worry about letting all members of his “strong up the middle” defensive team bat.
If an umpire rules all defensive players have to bat and that the government can’t let people play out of position, LaRussa should field what he believes to be the best team on any given day, which means even immortals will have to ride the bench.
For flexibility, Ozzie and Johnny could alternate with Cal Ripken Jr. and Carlton Fisk, just like Willie Mays and Kirby. In a team consisting of all Hall of Famers, Clemente could sit if his back began to ache, and Bill Mazeroski could spell Joe Morgan at second, perhaps especially late in games. Maz can pick it — and he hit perhaps the most famous 9th inning homerun in the history of the game.
Metaphorical LaRussa must be free to bring metaphorical Bob Gibson into the game on a moment’s notice to throw strategic brushback pitches, if needed, before getting the strikeout.
Andy Bowdoin should be defended by Johnnie Cochran, Gloria Allred, Clarence Darrow, Gerry Spence and Abraham Lincoln — five great legal minds.
And when Bowdoin loses and the spin begins, you should feel revulsion that he is blaming his lawyers, including Abraham Lincoln — while championing the government for playing hardball in this case and sending even the reverential Mr. Lincoln back to the bench, his strikeout by Sandy Koufax duly recorded for posterity.
Patrick, you were doing well until you went into baseball. I got really confused. When did Ozzie Osbourne ever play baseball??
Ok, I see.. Ozzie Smith.. I see now….. LOL
Let’s get Yogi Berra involved somewhere; I’d love to hear more “yogi-isms!!”
Yeah, me too.
Ozzy & Sharon singing & dancing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdwOoinuJi0
——-
I suspect that by the time Bowdoin is put behind bars, many of the ponzi supporters will have forgotten about him. How many ponzi supporters know about Bryan Marsden? Or Blake Prater? I suspect there are other ponzi operators from the past that I don’t know about.
Ponzi players, pimps, and supporters jump from scheme to scheme quickly. Look how they jumped from 12DailyPro to CEP to ASD to AVG to Noobing to AV4U to Tazoodle. They don’t want to be reminded of the past, it stops new money coming in. And if they do get reminded, the latest scheme is “totally different, this time, honest”. While Faith Sloan, AaronAndShara and many others, are able to promote obvious ponzi schemes, the likes of Bowdoin will be able to pay off their mortgage, buy cars and boats.
The Bowdoins, Marsdens, and Praters are not the only ones who need to be put behind bars. The Faith Sloans, ponzi friendly payment processors, ponzi friendly web hosts, ponzi promotion forums are all helping to undermine the banking systems. Not just the US banking system, these schemes are world wide. It affects other countries as well.
Yogi Berra on Coney Island – “Nobody goes there any more, it’s too crowded”
It can even lead to armed rebellion. Just check out the 1996 collapse of the Albanian Ponzi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_rebellion_in_Albania
Here’s the World Bank Report
http://www.worldbank.org/html/prddr/trans/so97/albania2.htm
I had relatives visit Tirana a few years ago. They said it was “immediately evident” that something had happened because there were so many abandoned half-constructed buildings. Google Tirana, Albania and see if you can spot them.
all great teams now have a bench coach.. it should ne Casey Stengel. Two thinks he said that were great
1) “No ball players drink in the hotel bar on the road, because that’s way I drink !!!!!
2) “Sex before a big game, is not a problem.. it’s looking for it that can be a problem!!!!
SRS is planning to get his own payment processor. That ought to quiet some of the ones that have not been paid…and it’s a lot more than .1%.
Bryan Marsden of PIPS set out to create a bank in Cambodia and bought an off the shelf license in Panama. But nobody got paid. You have to have money for that.
I have to wonder if Steve Smith was able to take his “Ronco” Gold Smelter with him when he moved?
As Tony H has already commented, the enablers of this whole crooked “industry” should also be paying the price for their highly paid involvement in both ASD and all other ponzi schemes.
I am talking of course about the payment processors who enable the money movement from the schemes through pretty much unregulated and uncontrolled centres, generally outside the US and in counties which do not enforce their financial legislation in this area. They process billions of dollars for schemes which are illegal and, in many instances, against their own TOS (for a higher level of comission than that applied for “normal businesses”)
If the governments of the countries which are home to the enablers clamped down on their activities and enforced the laws, a very large part of the internet fraud “industry” would collapse very quickly due to their inability to have simple money transaction methods for their members.
They should be included in the list of perpetrators of the autosurf industry and not as a side note, but somewhere in the upper part of the list.
Many of the payment processors are in Canada. The U.S. raided StormPay and eGold. PayPal doesn’t play nice with Ponzis.
Speaking of Faith Sloan, I recently caught her (and chided her on her own website for) promoting a gifting pyramid that just started up this month. The one that gives up to 2/3rds of the “gift” to the administrator, in three seperate pieces to try to abuse supposed IRS loopholes.
Sorry, excluding Paypal
Hi Tony,
I knew this baseball-laden essay came at the risk of losing Europe. :-)
Perhaps one day I’ll delve into European/world football, which we call soccer in the United States. I’ll need some help, though, unless I could find a way to make the whole column about David Beckham and Posh Spice.
Regards,
Patrick
Hi dirty_bird,
All in a day’s work for helpful, indefatigable upline sponsors whose only interest is “paying it forward” so their downline members can experience only the best life has to offer.
Somehow, “Don’t spend more than you can afford to lose” passes for genuine wisdom in this universe, whose inhabitants fill in the gaps with other vague niceties and breathless prose, often punctuated with — are you ready for this? — EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I keep thinking back to the MegaLido promo — nine slammers in the first 21 words, including “FINALLY!!! An auto surf program as good as ASD and GP BUT OFFSHORE!!!”
This was after the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars from ASD and GP, of course. In fairness, though, it was before AVG went belly-up and suspended cashouts.
Patrick
Patrick
Hi Just sick of this,
I’d thought about suggesting Casey as the manager, but I was afraid a bird might fly out of a hat in the courtroom. That’s why I settled on LaRussa. Virtually no bird factor to weigh.
Regards,
Patrick
Hi Marie,
Covered Yogi in comments this July 1 thread, after AVG had suspended payouts and disabled its forum:
https://patrickpretty.com/2009/07/01/adviewglobal-withdraws-announcement-of-new-payment-plan-initial-announcement-baffled-members/
Regards,
Patrick
Hi Lynn,
Unlike Veg-O-Matics, gold smelters are pretty hard to move at a yard sale.
(Just an early morning attempt at humor. Ronco does not make Gold Smelters.) :-)
Patrick
Patrick,
You are more confused than someone trying to devine the entrails of an SRS string of emails.
NO EXCLAMATION POINTS FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!
P.S. I prefer Big Time Wrestling complete with the old lady jumping up and down and smacking people with her purse.
Patrick:
Are you sure about that? I thought everyone had a “Ronco” Gold Smelter lying around. The really great part is they don’t require any of those pesky EIR Reports, Permits, Licenses, and are portable. I was also told when you weren’t changing rings, bracelets, necklaces, teeth into gold, you could also use it to: make your own moonshine, turn lead into car parts, old metal into lawn furniture and figurines, and last but not least make your own gold coins.
Does this mean I have to cancel my order I made last night from their infomercial?
Advice which is almost always given after the ponzi has collapsed. But don’t worry, the next one has plans to transfer all your AD-Packs/PipsPoints/whatever. Or you will make all your money back and more!!!!!! Just use my sign up referral link. By the way, Tazoodle isn’t the only thing ex-ASD pimps are promoting. Something called “adflasher.net” is also being promoted, and is yet another obvious ponzi scheme.
As for football, don’t look at me. I used to think a “Beckham” was a small furry animal, and Posh Spice was an expensive curry. I was probably right.
Sorry, d_b. That post was meant in response to Tony.
AND NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!
Patrick
This give me an Idea of how to get filthy rich and just screw my fellow man all with the help of the Canadians. Wow I never knew it was this easy. Beside The world is going to hell anyway. Right. Not Really a Man Reaps what he sows Carma is HELL!!! In more ways than one!!!