BULLETIN: New Affidavit Filed By Andy Bowdoin Appears To Be At Odds With Claims He Made In September

Andy Bowdoin

A sworn affidavit filed today by AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin appears to make claims that are the polar opposite of claims he made in a sworn affidavit witnessed by a notary public and filed in federal court Sept. 15.

Separately, Bowdoin’s lawyer, Charles A. Murray, filed a brief that may be the opening volley in a bid to challenge the Constitutionality of the government’s forfeiture case, suggesting the U.S. Secret Service had no “probable cause” to seize tens of millions of dollars from Bowdoin’s bank accounts in August 2008.

Murray also said that Bowdoin had not received fair notice about court rulings and did not challenge the rulings previously because of an email glitch that affected Murray’s computer between Nov. 10, 2009, and “early January” of this year.

“I experienced as yet unidentified computer/server issues, wherein multiple email messages apparently never loaded to the firm’s Inbox,” Murray said.

Bowdoin, 75, now flatly claims he was told by a former defense attorney that, if he submitted to the forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars, he would face no jail time if criminal charges were filed in the ASD Ponzi scheme case.

He did not name the attorney in today’s filing, referring to him obliquely as “prior counsel.” In an earlier filing, Bowdoin identified his counsel as Stephen Dobson.

“I was assured by my prior counsel that, if I released my claims in this [civil-forfeiture] action, I would not be facing any incarceration,” Bowdoin claimed today. “My January 2009 motion to withdraw my claim . . . was solely based upon prior counsel’s unilateral mistaken belief that my release of claims would unequivocally assure that any subsequent criminal sentence entered would not include any prison time.”

Today’s filing was witnessed by Florida notary public Joe B. Cox of Lee County.

But in a sworn affidavit Bowdoin signed Sept. 15 before a different notary public — Patricia C. Sanson of Lee County — Bowdoin repeatedly said Dobson had said only that there was a possibility Bowdoin would not be sentenced to prison if criminal charges emerged.

In the Sept. 15 affidavit, Bowdoin repeatedly swore that Dobson had not promised him no jail time.

These are among the phrases Bowdoin swore to in the Sept. 15 affidavit (emphasis added):

• Dobson represented to me that I could possibly avoid prison or get a reduced sentence if I agreed to disclose details concerning ASD and releasing the assets.
• I also signed a document stating that I would release my claims in the abovecaptioned civil in rem forfeiture proceeding, again thinking that necessary for a possible avoidance of a prison term.
• I did all of this on the understanding that by cooperating I could possibly avoid a prison sentence.
• I agreed not to exercise my rights in the civil forfeiture proceeding, anticipating from representations made by Dobson that this could possibly keep me out of prison.
  Dobson lead [sic] me to believe that if I cooperated there was a possibility that I would not be incarcerated or imprisoned.
• I believed that my cooperation would still result in a criminal sentence that could possibly not include imprisonment or incarceration.
• I slowly came to understand what I understood from Dobson not to be the case: that my agreement to cooperate provided me no benefit in the criminal matter except the possibility of a reduced sentence if the judge desired which would still be a life sentence.

Bowdoin’s filing today leads to questions about whether he deliberately chose to appear before a different notary to swear to the affidavit. At the same time, it leads to questions about whether Bowdoin somehow was unaware that U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer already had cited Bowdoin’s Sept. 15 sworn affidavit in a major ruling that Bowdoin no longer had standing in the case.

On Nov. 10, Collyer noted Bowdoin’s repeated use of the words “possibly,” “possible” and “possibility” in the Sept. 15 affidavit when referring to the advice Dobson had given him on the matter of jail and and finding that Dobson had behaved responsibly while representing Bowdoin.

“Such an approach from counsel could be seen as the norm when the Government’s evidence is strong,” Collyer said. “What Mr. Bowdoin hoped to gain from his release of claims/early acceptance of responsibility and his debriefing with the Government was a promise of no jail time. When that was not forthcoming from the Assistant United States Attorney, Mr. Bowdoin balked and tried to back up, as if he had not already released his claims and talked to the Government.”

Read the sworn affidavit Bowdoin filed today after appearing before notary Joe B. Cox.

Read the Sept. 15, 2009, sworn affidavit Bowdoin filed after appearing before notary Patricia C. Sanson.

Read a story from earlier today on a possible split in the Bowdoin/Harris family.