Bowdoin Purportedly Tells ASD Member That Prosecutors ‘Have’ Finally Admitted To Screwing Up; Email Asks Members To Look For ‘Rally’ Videos; New Flap Starts On Surf’s Up
UPDATED 5:34 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) In a development reminiscent of a claim made more than a year ago on the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum that prosecutors had acknowledged behind closed doors that ASD was not a Ponzi scheme and refused to admit it publicly because of embarrassment, a new email missive surfaced today that suggested Bowdoin was on the verge of winning the forfeiture case.
The claim was made despite the fact that a federal judge has issued a fresh ruling that Bowdoin no longer even has standing in the case.
Like previous unsubstantiated claims that the government was losing the case, today’s email was published on the Surf’s Up forum. Threadbare of supporting details, the email cited a third-party conversation with Bowdoin and implored ASD members to “get a little excited folks!”
“Andy explained a few things to me of which I cannot share them all, but I can say that the government attorney’s ‘have’ finally admitted to some things that are totally in our (ASD) favor,” the email claimed.
No mention was made as to what the government purportedly admitted that was helpful to ASD’s case. The email was posted a short time after news broke that U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer refused to step down from the ASD forfeiture case.
Collyer’s refusal came in response to a Dec. 17 motion filed by Bowdoin to disqualify her, but Collyer said Bowdoin no longer had standing in the case to make any additional claims or to reassert old claims.
Today’s Surf’s Up email did not address the judge’s fresh ruling, which was docketed only hours before the new round of unsubstantiated claims was made in the email published on Surf’s Up.
“Andy said that in cases such as the ASD one the government usually pushes so hard until they get a plea deal. He said that this happens 98% of the time,” today’s email claimed. “But, Andy would not sell us out and he has stood his ground firm since August of 2008 and because of that things are starting to turn around for ASD. This is something the government did not expect.”
Prosecutors called Bowdoin “delusional” in September 2009, asserting he was telling members one story and Collyer another. They asserted in earlier filings that he has “followers.”
Despite repeated claims on Surf’s Up beginning in the fall of 2008 that prosecutors had admitted ASD was not a Ponzi scheme, no such proof ever has surfaced. In fact, in December 2008, prosecutors filed a second forfeiture complaint against assets tied to the firm, again alleging that ASD was a Ponzi scheme.
Even though Surf’s Up claimed the government had admitted ASD was not a Ponzi scheme, no attorney for ASD ever argued a similar claim in court — in either the December 2008 or August 2008 forfeiture cases against the firm. There is not a single entry in the public record of the case that the government ever acknowledged ASD was not a Ponzi scheme.
In April 2009, prosecutors said Bowdoin signed a proffer letter in the case and had acknowledged the material allegations against ASD were “all true.” Bowdoin had at least two meetings with prosecutors over a period of at least four days last winter, and admitted ASD was operating illegally, according to court filings.
In September 2009, Bowdoin said in his own court filings that he had admitted “significant information against my interest.”
Surf’s Up posters have led various campaigns to discredit the prosecution.
Today’s email urged ASD members to search for videos that might have been taken at ASDÂ functions, suggesting the videos could be used to prove the prosecution is lying.
“The reason Andy was calling was to get some help from the members. So, here it is…
“Andy wants to know if any of you took Videos and/or Audios of ‘him’ speaking at any of the ASD Rallies,” the email said. “The government is stating that Andy said certain things during the rallies and Andy is confident that he did not, but he does not have the proof without being able to provide the video/audio footage.
“Please share this message with your entire organization so that we can get it out to the
masses yet today hopefully to see if someone has the supporting evidence for Andy,” the email urged. “If any of you DO have the video footage (or audio recording) then transfer it to DVD and and contact Catherine Parker at [email address deleted].”
In August, some of Bowdoin’s supporters claimed that Collyer had ordered the prosecution to prove by Aug. 28 that ASD was a Ponzi scheme or dismiss the charges. A similar claim was made in April.
Collyer has never issued such an order.
Today’s email asked ASD members to send warm thoughts to Bowdoin and his wife, Edna Faye Bowdoin. Edna Faye Bowdoin and her son, George Harris, were named beneficiaries of ASD’s illegal conduct in the December 2008 prosecution filing.
Prosecutors alleged that Edna Faye Bowdoin and Harris used money from two ASD Bank of America accounts in June 2008 to open an account at a third bank into which more than $177,000 in illegal proceeds was deposited. Of that sum, more than $157,000 was transferred by wire to yet another bank and used to pay off the mortgage on the Harris home in Tallahassee.
Bowdoin described George Harris as head of ASD’s real-estate division, according to court filings. He also talked about establishing a business presence in South America. Only months later, the AdViewGlobal autosurf was born, purportedly operated from Uruguay and owned by George Harris and his wife, Judy Harris.
‘I asked Andy how Faye was doing and he was quiet for a moment and then said she is not doing so good,” today’s email said. “She is in a very severe depression and has been for quite some time ever since this whole debacle started.
“So, I have a personal favor to ask of you all. Can you take a few minutes to send her a card or a nice note at the very least to let her know that the members are still thinking about her and Andy?” the email urged.
Some ASD members immediately questioned why Bowdoin himself had not sent the email and instead relied on a third-party communication to ask for a favor. At the same time, members questioned what had become of Sara Mattoon, reportedly ASD’s official spokeswoman.
In September 2009, the U.S. Secret Service filed a transcript of an ASD conference call in which Bowdoin and Mattoon were quoted. The filing led to questions about whether the government was contemplating a prosecution for obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors also made a veiled reference to the AVG autosurf in a September filing. In June, RICO attorneys suing Bowdoin for racketeering made a direct reference to AVG.
In the prosecution’s September 2009 filing, the government suggested an AVG prosecution could be in the offing.
“ . . . it may be the case that Bowdoin never intended to plead guilty when he agreed to debrief, and was just buying time while searching for a different exit strategy that failed to materialize. Maybe Bowdoin thought that before the government brought its charges he (like some of his family members) could move to another country and profit from a knock-off autosurf program that Bowdoin funded and helped to start,” prosecutors said.
I mentioned this in the other news story, it’s also relevant here:
The email also says:
A quick search on the email address shows that Catherine Parker is not a legal person, but a ponzi/MLM player. She was/is involved with “World Asset Growthâ€:
We pay 75% of our revenue total back to members: 65% as rebate sharing and 10% as ref commission, making a total of 75% revenue share. WAG will keep 15% for our labor with security and 10% for cost of maintaining the site, We just like you have to pay bills.
Sounds just like any other ponzi.
She was/is involved with “2×2Magic†and “WORLD LIGHT FUNDINGâ€, and was a promoter of ASD from at least Feb 2008.
In a move almost as mind-gobbling as the post itself, it has mysteriously been deleted from the Surf’s Up forum a few hours after it was put up. Since it was posted by Kat, a forum moderator, you would think it has some major relevance to the “cause”. Why they even bothered to post this drivel is beyond the reasoning of most people.
Andy’s supporters should probably stop wasting their time looking for DVD’s of things that Andy DID NOT say at rallies and in phone calls. The Feds already have audio and video evidence of the many things Andy DID say, and the many claims he made, and it’s more than enough to hang him and the other insiders. The Feds have revealed snippets of Andy Live from time to time, but without a doubt they’re saving the juiciest portions for his criminal trial. Tick-tock. Note to Insiders: Time to work out a plea deal before it’s too late!
For example, they have the webcast of Andy discussing finding investors and selling STOCK in his new company:
Latest information from AdSalesDaily…be sure to be on the call tonight with Andy!!
Ad $urf Daily News
2007-03-13
VERY IMPORTANT CALL TONIGHT!!!
Mr. Andy Bowdoin will be conducting our member update call tonight. He will give us more information about the status of AdSurfDaily and our plans for the future. I recommend you get every person you have sponsored on the call tonight. It will be on the WebCast line. Here is the information from Andys call last night. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Andy Bowdoins Corporate Update Call 3/12/2007 Hi Folks, My name is Andy Bowdoin, President of AdSurfDaily. We are not having an opportunity call tonight, but it will be an update call instead. I am in Atlanta Georgia tonight and I have been up here this afternoon meeting with some of our leaders getting some input on some of the issues we have. We have known that we should have shut down the site for a long time, because of the issues we continually have with the site, but we have been putting band aids on it to keep it going until the new site was ready. We have been using a lot of our programmers time to repair it and keep it going. That is expensive and wasting money and prolonging the development of our new site. But now the existing AdSurfDaily site is beyond repair � the mathematical formula that governs the payouts are wrong. The site has been paying out 63%, 67% and 72% instead of the normal 60%. This has drained the money we had for pay outs. Therefore all pay outs are on hold at this time. We have frozen all accounts. We have disabled the ability to make upgrades and purchase new ads. You can still view ads and earn credits to show your site. You can still look at you history and referral page. You can print out your information in your History page and Referral page. We will use this information to make everyone whole when we launch the new site. Our goal is to launch the new site during the month of May and make everyone profitable. We will be selling stock in the new corporation AdSalesDaily to finish paying for the development of the new site and make the current payouts. The minimum purchase for the stock is $10,000. We are looking for people who share our vision, and are willing to invest toward the continued development and completion of the new AdSalesDaily website. If you are interested in purchasing some of the stock or if you know someone that might be interested in listening to the stock presentation, call the home office at 850-627-2206. In the meeting this afternoon Craig Beste wrote this familiar phrase on the board � A Quitter never wins and a Winner never quits.
Hi Marci,
Yes, it seems those “leaders” were indeed leading in March 2007, only months after ASD’s formal launch and ASD already was in the tank. I wonder if this is why the prosecution has suggested in court filings that ASD members will have a hard time proving ASD ever operated legally?
What’s next. Russian hackers?
Yes, ASD stock at $10,000 a share — and campaign donations in the names of both AdSurfDaily and AdSalesDaily to boot. And the donations were made while ASD was not paying people and lining up a stock issue.
Here is my rough triangulation map:
https://patrickpretty.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/usasdtriangulationmap.gif
Of course, ASD also had a presence in California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma, so perhaps that, too, should have its own large triangle.
Regards,
Patrick
Quick note:
See this story from May 4:
https://patrickpretty.com/2009/05/04/purported-transcript-bowdoin-pushed-asd-stock-in-2007-other-records-show-bowdoin-gave-campaign-donations-in-names-of-two-firms/
Patrick
Don,
It is entirely possible that that serial criminal and noted Ponzi Promoter, Kat, aka Kathryn Milner, of Ohio, is getting smart enough to delete her own self-incriminating posts.
I thought you’d written a piece about the stock offering, but I couldn’t find it — thanks for the link and the map showing the extent of Andy’s investment/Ponzi scheme. There were articles available on the Internet well before the rallies took place, so the “I did my due dilgence” claim falls quite flat, at least to me.
I hadn’t heard of ASD until it failed, pretty much on my doorstep — or back porch might be more accurate. When I saw the name of one of the insiders, I got interested in the psychology, as you did too, I know. And Andy’s psychology — and some of the attorneys he drags with him — is still interesting. The upcoming criminal indictments against Andy, Faye, George, and Judy, will soon breathe some life into this saga!
If this saga runs true to “form”, and, so far I can’t see any reason to believe it won’t, believe me, “people ain’t seen nuffin’ yet”
Early predictions from the usual suspect “naysayers” were that this could be dragged out for up to four years.
“Predictions” which are now appearing to be entirely accurate.
This ain’t gonna be a half hour episode, this is gonna be an entire mini series.
I remember back when on the Surf’s Up forum they floated this story that Bill Cowden had admitted ASD was not a Ponzi, but they could not admit it publicly. And of course ASD was going to be back up and running in a couple of weeks. Then low and behold Judge Collyer in her ruling on the Evidentiary Hearing that ASD met all three conditions of it being a Ponzi.
Funny how that ended that story line. Now it is back. I guess they thought enough time has gone by, no-one will remember the trial balloon the first time they tried this and it fell flat on its face with the Judge’s ruling.
One thing is for sure, these clowns all deserve each other. They are a reverse version of the Keystone Cops.