Default Notice Entered In December 2008 Forfeiture Action Against AdSurfDaily-Connected Assets; Final Forfeiture Is Pending
UPDATED 8:31 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Federal prosecutors today asked the Clerk of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to enter a default notice for assets seized in the December 2008 forfeiture complaint against AdSurfDaily.
The clerk entered the notice, and the forfeiture of the property is pending. It will be finalized when U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer enters a forfeiture order. Collyer issued an order last week for the forfeiture of ASD assets seized in the August 2008 case.
Seized in the December 2008 complaint were the Tallahassee home of George and Judy Harris; a 2008 Honda car registered to the Harrises; a 2009 Lincoln luxury sedan registered to Bowdon/Harris Enterprises; a 2009 Acura registered to Hays Amos, an $800,000 building in Quincy, Fla. paid for in cash; jet skis; a Cabana boat; marine equipment; computers; and $634,266.13 surrendered by Golden Panda Ad Builder.
No claimant ever came forward in the December 2008 case, prosecutors said.
With Collyer’s forfeiture order in the August case, prosecutors now have title to about 99.2 percent of the liquid assets in the overall forfeiture case (August 2008 and December combined). A forfeiture order in the December case, which included only a fraction of the liquid assets, would give them title to 100 percent.
The real-estate, automobiles, computers, boat, jet skis and marine equipment are illiquid assets that must be sold before they can become part of a compensation pool for ASD victims.
Prosecutors alleged that ASD was operating a Ponzi scheme, while selling unregistered securities under the guise of being an “advertising” service and engaging in wire fraud and money-laundering.
Bowdoin and Harris must have more important things to worry about.
Hi Martin,
The December forfeiture complaint spells out a case for wire fraud over the Harris mortgage. It also paints a picture of money laundered twice and just plain theft by insiders.
Referring back to the August complaint, it’s also interesting that ASD suddenly had a “real estate” division allegedly staffed by George Harris and the plans to venture into business in South America, especially given what later happened with AVG. What’s especially interesting is that ASD seems to have been involved in a flurry of activity just prior to the August seizure, which suggests it knew the heat was on and was trying to cover its tracks.
Going back to the December complaint, well, ASD is going to have trouble reconciling some of its stories. Lawyer Garner, purportedly an SEC specialist, purportedly had vetted the company — and then suddenly ASD went shopping for uptown securities lawyers, after telling members the company already had been vetted. Prosecutors said the shopping for real SEC experts occurred 20 months into ASD’s run, so how does ASD reconcile the story that it already had passed muster?
Here’s the thing: Andy Bowdoin has tremendous legal and psychological exposure here — something that the cheerleaders either ignored or did not recognize.
These cases assert a conspiracy. If criminal charges come, the government could start arresting the co-conspirators while Bowdoin still is flailing away, trying to persuade rank-and-file members that the government seized THEIR money, despite his claim to the contrary in his court filings.
Here are some “what ifs?”
What if Bowdoin family members get arrested and the government makes a strategic decision to permit Bowdoin to remain free, pending his arrest at a later time after he’s had his fill of filing court papers? It could go down that way. If it does, Bowdoin will be out there totally alone, demonstrating for all time that he is willing to permit people he loves take the early fall. His unmasking will be complete then.
What if nonfamily “insiders” get arrested before Bowdoin? It leads to the same outcome described above.
What if Bowdoin’s family members and insiders jailed while he’s still trying to score PR points with the rank-and-file turn on him? It could happen. There is no small amount of leverage in this case. The government could take George and Judy Harris into an interview room, buy them a Coca-Cola and present a tray of cookies — and then show them records on the incredible collection of felons and crackpots in the enterprise.
If they have any sense at all, they’d turn on him immediately and try to cut the best deal.
What if the prosecutors already have X number of people who’ve already turned on him? It’s seems pretty clear that the prosecution is very well-informed about AVG. Besides, it took the Secret Service all of 30 seconds to infiltrate ASD. Agents could have done the same with AVG. It makes sense to get on the inside to observe the gears and the cogs. Such intelligence-gathering could create a stinging blow to the surf “industry.”
I’ve mentioned this before, but the December complaint reads like a prequel to what happened later at AVG. Longtime observers have said the AVG story unfolded pretty much by script. I think it’s possible that all of the script has been saved by law enforcement for posterity and that ASD’s lasting “contribution” to the “industry” is that it set the stage for the government to nuke these things.
There was considerable, palpable paranoia in AVG at the end. Members clearly were worried about moles and plants, which demonstrates the criminality and exposes the wink-nod.
As it stands now, the government likely will have two civil judgments in the forfeiture cases leading up to any criminal actions that could follow. Those create even more leverage. It seems some of the folks got the message with the filing of the conference-call transcript by the Secret Service in September.
That filing demonstrated that this case was “real” — and pretty much destroyed the reflexive cheerleading. It seems to have forced people to ask themselves if they really wanted to risk jail for Andy Bowdoin and company.
Patrick
Patrick,
I wonder if Garner vetted Andy the same way that Mark Simmons was vetted in his “nanny cam” stuff, the Security Teddy Bear. Maybe they used the same lawyer, Simmons will need one soon enough.