‘Cops,’ Threats, Laundry Baskets, Militia, $30 Million, $120 Million, ‘Supreme Court,’ Mysteries, Claims, ‘Offshore,’ Conversion Rates — And Exclamation Points!!!
EDITOR’S NOTE: The screen shots below are in no particular order. Each, however, helps tell a bit of the AdSurfDaily/AdViewGlobal story. Some of these screen shots are being published for the first time today.
Do recent affidavits ASD President Andy Bowdoin filed clear up some of the mysteries surrounding AVG? Bowdoin has suggested an indictment was returned in May. On June 1, an AVG forum operated by some of the Mods and members from the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum announced that, “Effective today, AVGlobal Association is a full service Internet Marketing and Advertisement Company.” The announcement did not say what the company was prior to June 1.
If there is a theme to this presentation of screen shots, it’s that information supplied by some of the operators and promoters of ASD often is in conflict with itself. At the same time, these screen shots demonstrate that some very strange things have happened and that some promoters have been in involved in very strange events.
One promoter, for example, cited the theme song from the television program “Cops” in a bid to chill critics — and then proceeded to pitch MegaLido, the failed autosurf, in two forums — even after the U.S. Secret Service had seized tens of millions of dollars from ASD.
Filing from 1996 showing address of Faye's Florist as 11 S. Calhoun.
Filing from 2008 showing address of Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises, which used the same building Faye's Florist listed in 1996 at 11 S. Calhoun, now listing 13 S. Calhoun as its address.
PatrickPretty.com Blog receives dual spams June 8, 2009, that promote AdViewGlobal. One of the spams claims Best Buy, Staples and GoDaddy are AVG advertisers. AVG suspended cashouts 17 days later, on June 25.
Unhappy ASD member posting at Pro-ASD Surf's Up forum suggests it's time to form a "militia" and storm Washington, D.C., with guns. Post was signed "A Patriot."
Poster enamored with the exclamation point on AdSurfZone in August 2008 says ASD is going to sue critics in aftermath of seizure of tens of millions of dollars from surf company, amid wire-fraud, money-laundering and Ponzi scheme allegations.
Poster enamored with the exclamation point pitches the failed autosurf, MegaLido, on Surf's Up.
Poster enamored with the exclamation point pitches MegaLido on the GoldenPandaAdZone forum.
AdViewGlobal forum operated by some Surf's Up Mods showcases Forbes' logo in AVG pitch. AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin now suggests a grand-jury indictment was filed under seal in May. This June 1, 2009, AVG screen shot begins with, "Effective today, AVGlobal Association is a full service Internet Marketing and Advertisement Company," which leads to the questions, "What was it before?" and "Did AVG know about the purported grand-jury indictment and decide suddenly to try to get legal?"
July 2008 claim that major corporations, including Google, Kodak and NBC were ASD advertisers.
AVG suggests in promotional material that Staples is one of its corporate advertisers.
AVG promotional material claims the surf produces a conversion rate of 37 percent, with the only qualifier being, if the "sales copy doesn't totally suck."
On May 31, 2008, ASD workers place paperwork in plastic bins that resemble laundry baskets. On Aug. 5, 2008, the U.S. Secret Service claimed ASD had engaged in money-laundering. Within two weeks of the conclusion of the Las Vegas rally, Bowdoin/Harris family members and at least one ASD employee engaged in a spending spree that totaled more than $240,000, resulting in the purchase of automobiles, a Cabana boat and jet skis, and the retirement of the $157,000 mortgage on the Tallahassee home of George and Judy Harris.
On Oct. 29, 2008, as it awaited a ruling from a federal judge on Ponzi issues, ASD announced it expected a $200 million revenue infusion from Praebius Communications. ASD removed the announcement after members said they intended to verify the story as presented by ASD.
ASD mainstay Curtis Richmond claims U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot owes him $30 million and must step down from a case.
Curtis Richmond filing in ASD case in which $30 million again is cited. Unlike the $30 million claim against Friot in the separate case (noted in screen shot directly above), the ASD claim appears to be targeted at four public servants, including Judge Rosemary Collyer, perhaps calling for a grand total of $120 million. One of the claims was that a court clerk was guilty of a "major Interference With Commerce and Interference With Interstate Commerce" and thus apparently owed ASD pro se litigants $30 million.
Curtis Richmond turns to fraudulent 'Supreme Court' and seeks the arrest of federal judges, a banker and an attorney.
On July 24, 2009, VanaBlue claimed on its website that it owned the company that owned the eWalletPlus payment processor. At least three companies, including AdViewGlobal, also have claimed to own eWalletPlus. What company or individual actually owns the processor continues to be a mystery involving AVG, VanaBlue, Karveck Corp., TMS Corp., TMS Association and TMS Corp. USA LLC, which used AdSurfDaily's street address in Quincy, Fla. Federal prosecutors said last year that the Quincy street address was bogus.
In April, AFTER AVG had claimed to own eWalletPlus and AFTER AVG reported its bank account had been suspended, eWalletPlus reported on its website that new registrations were disabled.
Nice to see you cut loose a bit but I think this whole exercise was an excuse for excessive exclamation points! Is the inner Patrick coming to the fore?
On a serious note, the ignorance and stupidity of the ASD, AVGA, BAS, etc characters is endless. Einstein was right.
LOL. Twinkies Ebersold. Wonder what he’s up to these days?
Patrick:
I especially liked the one you posted earlier where it said it was FDIC insured, and protected from the SEC and all law enforcement agencies.
What truly has been incredible to me is that the people who were “buying advertising” from ASD were “supposed” to be business people. I would have thought that “real business people” would have known better than to create ads like these, and would have had a basic understanding of accounting to see immediately ASD was a scam/Ponzi. More importantly, if ASD was a real advertising company they would have stopped these ads immediately instead of encouraging them and others to do the same. That should have been a dead giveaway ASD was not a legitimate company, out of many other red flags regarding ASD.
What also boggles my mind is why would anyone want to do busines with people that were this ignorant about basic advertising? The list of questions ASD raised by anyone doing real due diligence should have been 5 pages long. Of course I realize that the vast majority of the people advertising on ASD were MLM programs, but that still does not give them carte blanche to run blatant lies in their advertisements. It also demonstrates how lax the MLM companies are in policing their members ads too.
Hi d_b,
Einstein? I’ve heard the name but can’t place it. :-)
On my own serious note, there are days in which one doesn’t know whether to laugh or, as a friend of mine says, “go out in the yard and yell [expletive] FIVE TIMES BIG!”
When I was growing up, we were taught police officers were our friends and always to respect them. We were taught that prosecutors worked for the people, all of whom had the right to expect justice.
And we were taught that judges presided over trials to ensure fairness for all parties and that the role of judges was so critical to society that they deserved special respect.
At the same time, we were taught always to respect defense attorneys and to honor the highest traditions of the Constitution.
Over the years I have seen defense attorneys perform extraordinary work — work that showed that police officers and prosecutors do not always get it right. I’ve also seen prosecutors perform brilliantly and police officers perform investigative work that made almost the whole of society proud.
I was covering a murder trial one day, and there was a break in the testimony. The judge didn’t leave the bench. I picked up a newspaper and started reading it. Next thing I knew, I heard the judge calling my name, instructing me to approach the bench.
The judge, civilly, whispered to me that there would be no reading of the newspaper in the courtroom — not even during breaks — because he didn’t want anybody ever to get the impression a courtroom was a lounge.
Besides, he asked, what would happen if a juror caught a glimpse of the newspaper and saw coverage of the trial?
Duly admonished, I returned to my seat thinking, “How can you be so stupid, Patrick?”
I had known the judge for years; he had spiked me years earlier sliding into third base when I was trying to apply the tag. He was a defense attorney back then. :-)
While he was admonishing me, it had occurred to me that he was almost transcendent in that robe and that I’d better not bring up the ankle wound I’d suffered as the result of his hard — but fair — slide into third. I would have “slud” hard, too, as Dizzy Dean might have said.
We were not friends, but solid acquaintances. Once he became a judge I noticed how much his life changed. He was treated with the sort of respect my mother spoke about when I was a child. A sort of dignity sphere extended from him. People didn’t violate it. I’d see him in a restaurant seated with his wife, a Senator, and noticed that people kept a respectful distance, though still acknowledged their presence through dignified nods or quiet words. There was no glad-handing or back-slapping.
When they exited the restaurant, all eyes were on them, and they returned the nods in a very humble, dignified way. They were not a power couple; they were a husband and wife who studied hard, worked hard and became public servants after years of serving the needs of the public in their private careers.
This is one of the reasons I sometimes don’t know whether to laugh at the ASD case or go out in the yard and yell [expletive] five times big.
I don’t want to overstate what I’m about to say, but it causes a certain amount of pain — enough that I notice it — when some of the ASD pro se litigants attack the government, the prosecutors, the Secret Service, the process — and even the judge herself.
And when I say “attack,” I’m not talking in the sense a defense attorney would attack the case or the evidence by perhaps sliding hard into third; I’m talking about the sort of attack that is utterly lacking in sobriety and rational thought and often conflates a reality that simply does not exist. Curtis Richmond basically told a federal judge she’d better grant his motions within 30 days or hire an attorney herself. It was reprehensible.
And the attacks aimed at the prosecutors and the Secret Service either in court filings or letter- writing campaigns were equally reprehensible. This prosecution team has worked hard amid challenging circumstances. They deserve thanks, not ridicule and hostility.
In any event, I haven’t submitted to the temptation to go out in the yard and swear to the top of my lungs. I remember that newspaper in the courtroom, my own dignified admonishment by a judge.
But most of all I remember how he and the Senator left the dining room, and how their fellow diners quietly acknowledged their respect — and how it was quietly returned, the dignity sphere extended mutually.
Patrick
Hi Lynn,
The “shelter” claim is very incriminating. It cuts to the heart of the “advertising”/securities issue, which is why I shake my head when some ASD members boldly predict the government doesn’t have a chance and no jury would convict if the case goes to a criminal trial.
These things were sold via wire. Money was distributed via wire. There are a total of 15 bank accounts, including one that contained precisely $6 million. Three other accounts contained precisely the same amounts — a bit more than $1 million.
Now, look at AVG: No jury would ever believe it wasn’t wire fraud. Uruguay? Offshore processing? Money purportedly missing? Same players — and the shelter angle sold again, perhaps by many more people.
Regards,
Patrick
Hi Patrick,
I’d have to say things have changed over the years. On the good side, we have a black president voted in by a majority white nation. Blacks can now feel that they have a chance to get to the top based on merit. That’s a good thing. I wouldn’t want to go back to the “good old days” in that regard.
Regarding the civility of public discourse, I think we are taking a step in the wrong direction. The “me” generations feel they can just act out whenever they don’t get their way. Witness the Town Hall meetings this summer. And Kanye West’s antics, Serena Williams’ antics and that guy from Georgia’s outburst during Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress.
The ASD filers have got a notion stuck in their heads (brains not included) that they can get rich by clicking on ads and no judge, jury, prosecutor, black box model or anything else can stop them. Hopefully they have a WWF style smackdown coming and they learn their lesson although history teaches that they will just retreat further into the fringes. It’s a very sad statement that with so much information readily available at one’s fingertips, many people just choose to reinforce their views and find others to validate those views, no matter how disconnected from reality.
[…] detractors. One ASD member later said he imagined that the theme song from the television program “COPS” would be playing to herald Bowdoin’s court […]