FREE: PDF Handout On Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force; Document Compiles President’s Executive Order And Attorney General’s Speech In Florida

Dear Readers,

UPDATED 11:50 A.M. ET (U.S.A.) There were reports yesterday that things have become so strange at Florida-based AdSurfDaily that a convicted sex offender has emerged as a sort of PR voice for the company. ASD is implicated by the Department of Justice in a $100 million Ponzi scheme, amid allegations of wire fraud, money-laundering and the sale of unregistered securities. Two forfeiture complaints filed against the firm in 2008 also cite a racketeering statute.

After 17 months, more than 165 court filings — some of which can only be described as bizarre — and more than $1 million spent on legal fees by ASD President Andy Bowdoin, the company lost one of the forfeiture cases this week. It was filed by federal prosecutors and the U.S. Secret Service in August 2008, and is the “bigger” of the two cases.

“Bigger,” of course, is a relative term. For the purposes of this post, “bigger” is defined only as involving more money. A second forfeiture case filed by federal prosecutors and the Secret Service in December 2008 involves less money — but is equally grave. In some ways, the second case, which had not been adjudicated to conclusion but may be soon, is even graver than the August 2008 case. The December case defines Bowdoin family members and unnamed others as the beneficiaries of ASD’s fraud. The December case puts the alleged beneficiaries of the fraud squarely in the sights of a potential criminal prosecution for felonies that could lead to prison time.

We believe Bowdoin is more worried about the December case than he is the August case — even though no claims ever were filed in the December case. The names of his wife, his stepson and his stepson’s wife are mentioned repeatedly and prominently in the December case. Prosecutors also have hinted that they are very well aware of the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf, which has Bowdoin family and promotional ties and rose to early prominence after ASD’s assets were seized, a racketeering lawsuit was filed against Bowdoin, a key court ruling went against ASD — and after Bowdoin had chosen to surrender his claims to the money seized in the August 2008 complaint.

Bowdoin then changed his mind, attempting to reassert his claims to the money seized in the August complaint by re-entering the case as a pro-se litigant.  Bowdoin’s former paid counsel — a prominent law firm — informed the court that Bowdoin did not consult with it before filing the series of pro se motions.

None of Bowdoin’s pro se motions made an ounce of sense. They were so unclear, in fact, that the judge had to construe a meaning, which is to say what Bowdoin was attempting to do was not clear on the face of the motions. At one point, he appears to have attempted to reverse a decision he never made — namely, to submit to the forfeiture outlined in the December 2008 case. Bowdoin did not file a single document to gain standing in the December case or to make a claim — in fact, no potential claimant did.

And yet Bowdoin seems initially to have tried to overturn a forfeiture to which he never had submitted. Only later did Bowdoin file a specific pro se motion to overturn the August forfeiture. ASD members were so fixated on the August complaint — the “bigger” one in money terms — that they missed the nuclear danger of the December complaint. Lots of potential jail time is described in the December complaint.

Here is Bowdoin’s initial pro se filing to rescind the forfeiture, which was entered into the record Feb. 27, 2009.  This motion addresses only property seized in the December 2008 complaint. Bowdoin never even established standing in the December case.  Neither he nor attorneys employed by him or family members filed a single document in the case. So, as noted above, Bowdoin initially tried to overturn a forfeiture in a case in which he had no standing and perhaps would have trouble even gaining standing.

His pro se motions were a trainwreck and created even more problems for ASD. The judge ordered Bowdoin’s soon-to-be-former counsel to state their intentions and to instruct Bowdoin on important matters of law before asking for formal permission to withdraw from the case. One of the important matters was that corporate litigants cannot proceed pro se. Corporate litigants must use professional counsel. It is clear from the filings that Bowdoin’s pro se helpers overlooked this obvious flaw in the initial filings. Bowdoin later hired two new paid lawyers to help him navigate the choppy waters and to attempt to undo some of the damage caused by the pro se pleadings.

Now, it’s important to point out here that the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum — now suddenly defunct — championed Bowdoin’s pro se pleadings and was positively giddy for days after he attempted to re-enter the case. Bowdoin was heaped with praise. Prayers went out. People cheered him on as though his pro se advisers had scored some sort of dramatic win. As always was the case on Surf’s Up, the prosecution was condemned. Bowdoin urged ASD members to write to President Obama to gain his support in Bowdoin’s fight against the Secret Service.

The disconnect was both startling and troubling.

At some point during the late summer or early fall of 2009, someone apparently sympathetic to Bowdoin’s cause started this site at IContact; it’s called “Official ASD Update” and, from what we can tell, has all of one post. One of the names referenced on the site is “Edna Bowdoin” — the name of Bowdoin’s wife — but it is not clear that Ms. Bowdoin ever was at the site. Even so, her name appears in this Dec. 28, 2009, reference.

On some days, it is hard to quantify all the sadness associated with the ASD case.

One thing that is not hard to quantify is the madness. That madness finally eroded the lion’s share of Bowdoin’s support base. Prosecutors deserve a lot of credit for neatly undermining the wink-nod nature of autosurfs in a series of court filings. These filings showed the autosurf “industry” for what is: a cesspool that relies on the repetition of lies to suck new money into the schemes.

The IContact site, which perhaps was conceived as a new channel through which Bowdoin would communicate with members to keep them on his side as his court challenge continued, never emerged as a “voice” for Bowdoin. The madness had driven away the vast, vast majority of the ASD constituency. He even had lost much of the Surf’s Up crowd — something he must have realized. Why even start a second site if you’re confident in the existing communications network?

These days Bowdoin appears to be relying on a small network of insiders to stay in communication with the troops. Surf’s Up is gone. The second forum never gained a following.

Now, according to members, a person with a conviction for sex crimes involving children, is doing PR work for ASD. Whether it’s “official” or not is beside the point. The mere fact it is being done puts the madness associated with ASD on full display for any person on the email list of the promoter to see.

Yesterday (and previously) we wrote about the Interagency Financial Fraud Task Force established by President Obama in November 2009. We also wrote about a speech yesterday by Attorney General Eric Holder outlining responsibilities of the Task Force. Holder gave the speech in Florida, which was no accident. Florida is Ground-Zero for mortgage fraud, Ponzi schemes and various forms of securities and financial fraud — not that other states also do not have the same problems.

We compiled the President’s Executive Order establishing the Task Force and Holder’s speech into a PDF. The document includes the entire Executive Order and the entire speech.

We’ve titled the document, “So, You Want To Join A Ponzi Scheme? Two Good Reasons To Say ‘No’ When A Friendly Upline Sponsor Approaches You In Person Or Via Email And Asks You To Join A Paid-To-Click ‘Advertising’ Program Online Or A ‘High-Yield Income Program’ (HYIP).”

Many, many people have turned their backs on the so-called autosurf “industry” because of their experiences with Andy Bowdoin and ASD. That’s a good thing, of course: Ponzi = Pain. We write about the pain caused by Ponzi schemes every day on this Blog.

Despite the daily news on Ponzi schemes and financial fraud, however, many, many people continue to participate in the schemes. They do so at their own peril, as Holder said yesterday. The White House and the Justice Department clearly have thrown down the gauntlet on mortgage fraud, securities fraud, Ponzi schemes and other types of financial fraud that can undermine local, regional and national economies — and the economy in the homes of families across the world.

Here is a free copy of our distillation of Obama’s Executive Order and Holder’s speech in Florida. It perhaps will make a handy desktop reference for you and members of your family. The document is based on public information released by the U.S. government.

What the government is doing is dreadful news to the Ponzi pushers — but it is good news for the global economy and to families across the world. We provide the document in the spirit of education, and sincerely hope that it can make at least a small difference in the lives of people who continue to believe there is something noble about collecting commissions for selling people into misery.

Thank you, Readers, for your daily visits.

Patrick

P.S. In case you missed the link above to the PDF, here it is again. Forum owners are invited to make a copy of this document and post the document in their respective forums.

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20 Responses to “FREE: PDF Handout On Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force; Document Compiles President’s Executive Order And Attorney General’s Speech In Florida”

  1. Quick Note:

    Read coverage by ABC News of Holder’s speech in Florida:

    http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/holder-palm-beach-madoff-ground/story?id=9516417

    Patrick

  2. Quick Note:

    Read the urging of the Broward-Palm Beach New Times for the Justice Department to start “shipping investigators and prosecutors” to Florida to clean up all the financial fraud:

    http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2010/01/eric_holder_task_force_palm_beach.php

    Patrick

  3. What some of your readers may not know is that The Attorney General For Florida (Bill McCollum) is running for Governor. Now is the best time to file a complaint since he is more likely to follow through on it than place it in the little round receptacle.

    I have sent copies of my latest complaint concerning the ASDMBA and the $130,000.00+ that was taken from 300 Florida Residents under the guise of being a Legal Trust to all those who are running against him for Governor.

    I have received a response from both Alex Sink & Micheal E. Arth who also feel that McCullom does not have the best interest of Florida Residents at heart.

    Lets just say Patrick I intend to stir the pot and cause Bill to either take action or face his opponents who will be asking the same questions as I have.

  4. Patrick:

    Excellent points as always. Here’s the dark side of these scams. They prey on people’s fears, anxiety, desperation and to a certain extent greed. While there are a few that only lose a small amount in these scams, we know the vast majority in them do not.

    Just like in ASD, you had people taking out a second mortgage, investing their entire savings, borrowing from their 401(k) on Andy’s promises they would get rich; and be a money magnet like him. You had senior citizens who were throwing money at Andy that had no clue how to work a computer or that even had a business to promote. But Andy had a solution, they would just provide you a business so you could become a millionaire. You had all the early players who got in and got out that were extolling the virtue of ASD, Andy and how easy it was to make money. They would be rich, and it wouldn’t take that long to accomplish it.

    What these players didn’t tell all those who they got to join ASD was they were no longer ‘invested’ in ASD. They were only receiving referral fees. To make matters worse, the rally’s were run more like a tent revival than a business opportunity.

    This is money that will never be recovered for them or for their local economy. This is money that would have saved some people from losing their house or car. This is money that could have been spent in their local economy possibly saving businesses from going out of business, and donating to charitable organizations that desperately need donations to stay in business. This is money that has now forced some seniors to living a retirement of poverty, instead of it being their “golden years.”

    No-one stops to think of the economic damage these scams due to communities, businesses and the economy. Think of all the billions of dollars that were lost to these scams in just the last year alone. They are having, and will have to come, a devasting effect on people’s lives and the economy.

    When I first thought about starting Eagle, the losses in the scam world worldwide waw in the hundreds of millions of dollars. A significcant sum indeed. In just three short years it is now in the hundreds of billoins of dollars worldwide; and that is just the amounts we know about. Many still do not report it, and many scams are gone before anyone knows the true dollars lost.

    Too many players in the scam world see it as a game. They know how to play the game so they win, but don’t tell the gullible how the game is played. These players need to be held accountable just as much as the perps of the scams. When they are, it will be a turning point in this war. Hopefully ASD will be the opening shot in this war by taking down the players besides Andy and his crew.

    It is time the government has woken up to this massive fraud, and is finally going to do something about it. It is destorying our economy. But until people start coming forward and file complaints, it is going to take a long time to get on top of this worldwide problem. The government cannot do it alone. It is time for people to accept the responsibility of their own actions and help put these scammers out of business.

  5. While doing various google searches, there were several posts using the IContact platform which gave various ASD “updates”. However searching for “Robert Fava” turned up something a bit more interesting. I found this blog entry from July 2008:
    http://www.williambuckley.name/2008/07/do-you-want-to-know-what-andy-bowdoin.html
    It is a transcript of what “Honest” Andy said at one of the rallies. Look how he answers questions that weren’t asked. Look how he says a lot of words with no actual information being exchanged. Both George & Judy Harris are mentioned, but he doesn’t state they were related to him.

    After the failure of ASD has William Buckley learnt his lesson? Looking at his most recent post from Nov 2009, the answer is no. He was promoting something called “EzyZone.com” as an “affiliate program”. I believe EzyZone.com is owned & operated by Colin Venter and Darrn Bartsch, who were behind the Reality Millions/DO International scams from a few years ago. Colin Venter was also promoting ASD at one point.
    http://au.linkedin.com/pub/colin-venter/11/646/118
    http://www.linkedin.com/pub/darren-bartsch/11/5b7/b42

    I think William Buckley can be added to the list of serial ponzi promoters.

  6. Why I even bother to refute what this drunk Jack Arons says is beyond me, but because several ASDMBA members have alerted me to this post, I guess Ill respond.

    One.. Where does Arons get his infoprmation that there are 300 Florida members of the ASDMBA?? Jack has told everyone he can touch on the internet for over a a year he has sent this and sent that about the ASDMBA to FBI agents, Secret service agents, Federal Prosecutors, Attorney Generals, Governors, Judges, State prosecutors, you name it, he claims they have it. So, for the sake of argument, let us assume for a moment everything you say is true and all of these people have looked at your claim. Seems to me Jack, you might get the point.

    Nothing the ASDMBA did is unethical, immoral and most of all, nothing illegal… I would suggest next you send whatever you have to the White House, or better yet, try late night TV..

    You are irrelevant, have no substance to your claim, and are just one of these millions of internet flies that swarm around the attention a few “TYPED” words generate.. Pathetic..

    cite=”comment-8573″>

    JackArons: What some of your readers may not know is that The Attorney General For Florida (Bill McCollum) is running for Governor. Now is the best time to file a complaint since he is more likely to follow through on it than place it in the little round receptacle.I have sent copies of my latest complaint concerning the ASDMBA and the $130,000.00+ that was taken from 300 Florida Residents under the guise of being a Legal Trust to all those who are running against him for Governor. I have received a response from both Alex Sink & Micheal E. Arth who also feel that McCullom does not have the best interest of Florida Residents at heart.Lets just say Patrick I intend to stir the pot and cause Bill to either take action or face his opponents who will be asking the same questions as I have.  (Quote)

  7. Patrick,

    Robert Fava was identified by the ASDMBA over a year ago as one of the biggest “Winners” in ASD. Andy surrounded himself with excons, scam artist and people with checkered past. They were much easier to use, and were all looking for a way out of the hole their past had put them in.

    Robert Fava stood on the stage at several Sales Rally’s across the USA, looking every bit the salesman he is, and selling Andy’s scam. All the while, accumulating downlines and best of all, getting free “AdPaks” from ASD/Andy for his appearance. These free AdPaks made Fava MILLIONS. The free AdPaks made hundreds of people many hundreds of thousands of dollars. That is one of the main things that would have brought the PONZI down if the Feds had not raided ASD..

    Fava was on the stage in Miami on July 12, 2008 when I attended the rally along with about 5000 people. With him appeared another participant in the scam, Don Peterson, supposedly the Chief Compliance Officer for ASD. Peterson and Fava put on quite a show, then Andy appeared in the back of the room, and began to walk down the aisle, greeting people all the way, I saw people literally run to “touch” him. It was a scene right out of a bogus 1950’s Tent Revival meeting..

    Peterson went one to tell everyone how Andy was this, Andy was that, a recipient of a Presidential award, a man of God and a self made millionare. He said he had researched Andy and all he had ever found was a traffic ticket. Then he began to tellthe crown a little about himself about his past service to our country, his many awards for heroism, his duty in Vietnam as a pilot etc etc. A former Marine and Vietnam veteran myself, this appeared to be nothing but BS. Ive meet thousands of Veterans, and the last thing anyone who spent anytime in Vietnam does, is talk about his time there, or his awards.

    The story gets real interesting from there, but suffice to say, from that point on, about 4pm that afternoon, July 12th, I, and hundreds of others that attended the rally knew this was a scam. I tried to get my $5000 back that day,and along with several others confronted Peterson. I personally had a very terse, almost physical confortation in the bar area with Peterson…

    Unlike all this rhetorical BS these people post on the internet about events they only read about, if you find some people that were actually at a rally, actually participated in ASD before the Feds raided ASD on August 4,2008, actually tried to do something about things, you would have a better inside on just what a rotten, but well organized, scam this was. After all, Andy had plenty of practice, along with about 20 others that were with him in the original Ad Surf scam, before ASD..

    You want to know a little about this charasmatic ASD promoter Fava, just take a look…

    http://www.iowasexoffender.com/registrant/10037/?type=simple&lastname=fava&firstname=robert&postalcode=&action=Submit+Search

    Bill Cowden and the DOJ was furnished with every bit of this information, and much much more and NEVER used a bit of the info, never introduced anything to the court, never did a thing except maintain his weak case. I know he got the volumes of info, my lawyer and I hand carried it to him in Washington DC in November of 2008.

    Now here we are today, almost 18 months later, and what?? The siezed money is still not completely in the hands of the Feds, much less even remotely close to being reimbursed, if at all..

    How much of the millions upon millions of dollars of those “winnings” that over 500 of Andy’s croonies tucked away will be left when, and if, the Feds ever get around to going after them..

  8. Robert L Guenther: Why I even bother to post is beyond me. No one believes a single word I say, and, what’s more nobody cares, either

  9. Robert L Guenther: Robert Fava was identified by the ASDMBA over a year ago as one of the biggest “Winners” in ASD.

    Was that before or after you and your lawyer declared ASD “not a ponzi”? My guess is a long time after. The William Buckley blog post above which mentions Robert Fava was in the original forfeiture complaint. Dated July 23, 2007.
    http://www.justice.gov/usao/dc/Victim_Witness_Assistance/FILED-%20Verified%20Complaint-%20ASD%20(8.5.08).pdf
    More or less than a year after that date you and your lawyer were proclaiming ASD was not a ponzi.

    Robert L Guenther: Nothing the ASDMBA did is unethical, immoral and most of all, nothing illegal

    Why did your lawyer, on behalf of ASDMBA, decree that ASD was not a ponzi? Surely someone with his education and knowledge should know that ASD was a ponzi scheme?

  10. I’ve just remembered that ASD promoter David Courtney gives his address as in Florida.
    “3035 Mapleshade St., Deltona, FL 32738, USA”
    Maybe, just maybe he’ll get some special attention. His latest drivel is titled “Play the Ponzi, or Play it Safe?” promoting something called “PanaMoney”. Which of course is another obvious ponzi.

  11. […] this story to get a free PDF that compiles President Obama’s Executive Order forming the Financial Fraud […]

  12. I didnt realise that you had to be a nuclear physicist or a professional scam hunter to know that Fava was one of the biggest winners in ASD. I suspect that nearly all members of ASD knew that BEFORE the raid.

    The assumption that anyone (and least of all Bob Guenther) knows what the AGs office does with the information they receive is amusing, to say the least. More so when one remembers that the raid was conducted by the SECRET Service and they are known to act behind the scenes and for NOT sharing information, which is one of the reasons they bear that name.

    Amusing too that Bobbie G had plans to set up a new version of ASD, in the aftermath of the raid, on the assumption that his lawyer chum Larry Friedman was going to get the ASDMBA legal standing on the basis that ASD was NOT a ponzi.

    In my book Bob Guenther would be descriped as some one with a selective memory! LOL

  13. Patrick, thanks for this excellent pdf, which I will be passing on to everyone in my ASD mailing list and recommend that others do the same.

  14. Tony H: Was that before or after you and your lawyer declared ASD “not a ponzi”? My guess is a long time after. The William Buckley blog post above which mentions Robert Fava was in the original forfeiture complaint. Dated July 23, 2007.http://www.justice.gov/usao/dc/Victim_Witness_Assistance/FILED-%20Verified%20Complaint-%20ASD%20(8.5.08).pdfMore or less than a year after that date you and your lawyer were proclaiming ASD was not a ponzi.Why did your lawyer, on behalf of ASDMBA, decree that ASD was not a ponzi? Surely someone with his education and knowledge should know that ASD was a ponzi scheme?  (Quote)

    @ Tony H… Whoever you are, you must be new to the ASDE blog game. Not only did we never declare, say, nor imply that ASD was not a Ponzi, we submitted reams of evidence to the DOJ to the contrary.

    Since you obviously get you info from the internet, from who knows what source, you may have confused a statement made early on in the DOJ’s process for proving their case against Andy B. The only statement ever made regarding ASD “not being a Ponzi” was regarding the 125% payout. And I still stand by that.. Under the original business plan, it does work. We had a third party create a logarithm under different scenarios to prove the point..

    No, once again, get your facts straight, then come back …

  15. I repeat

    In my book Bob Guenther would be descriped as some one with a selective memory!

  16. Bob G.

    ASD was never a legal company, and you need to demand your money back because the business model was a classic Ponzi and unsustainable. It must be difficult having to try and remember all the stories you have told. First it was legit, then it wsan’t, then back to it was legit, to back to it wasn’t, and now you trying to claim the business model was legit and not a Ponzi. Next time hire a true mathematician if you want the truth. You were sold a bill of goods. Try using Entertained’s Black Box, and you jut might learn something.

  17. Lynn,

    I think the problem is that he paid for a logarithm, when he should have paid for an algorithm……and hired someone with mathematical literacy.

  18. Bob Guenther: Whoever you are, you must be new to the ASDE blog game.

    Not so new that I would put $5000 into an obvious ponzi scheme. Then realize it was a scam. Then set up a “business association”, and get a lawyer to say it wasn’t a ponzi to drum up business. Then berate government officials. And make veiled threats, call anyone a left wing liberal, and try to take credit for other people’s work.

    Bob Guenther: The only statement ever made regarding ASD “not being a Ponzi” was regarding the 125% payout. And I still stand by that.. Under the original business plan, it does work. We had a third party create a logarithm under different scenarios to prove the point

    This “third party” who created the “logarithm” to prove the point, how much did they or one of their relations put into ASD? Were they in your downline? Did you pay them for their advise out of the $130K you took from the punters?

  19. […] Enforcement Task Force and remarks on the Task Force by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Read this story, and get the PDF near the bottom. Readers who viewed this page, also […]

  20. […] Only three weeks after Holder left, the SEC filed the Winning Kids’ action. The litigation once again puts Palm Beach County in an unwanted spotlight. It is the home to each of the Winning Kids’ defendants and the same county in which Holder spoke, describing the area as “Ground Zero” of financial fraud. […]