BIZARRE: California Man Charged In Precious Metals And Commodities Swindle Claimed Same Award As Andy Bowdoin; Ryan A. Nassbridges Charged By CFTC In $5.5 Million, Ponzi-Like Scheme In California

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has gone to federal court in California to halt a precious-metals and options scheme operated by a man who claimed to have the same award for business achievement as AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin, according to web listings.

Like Bowdoin, the head of Florida-based AdSurfDaily, Ryan A. Nassbridges of Laguna Niguel, Calif., claimed to possess an important award known as the Congressional Medal of Distinction, according to a website that bears his name and is registered in his wife’s name.

Also like Bowdoin, Nassbridges now has been charged in a massive fraud scheme. The CFTC said today that Nassbridges, who once was known as Ryan Nasserabadi, was operating a “precious metals futures and options fraud” that gathered $5.5 million from at least 80 customers.

He also was accused of lying to investigators about the scheme.

Also charged were Nassbridges-affiliated companies known as American Bullion Exchange (ABEX Corp.) and American Bullion Exchange LLC (ABEX LLC).

Other web listings suggest Nassbridges was referred to by multiple names online. While one site refers to him as Ryan A. Nassbridges, another refers to him as both Ryan A. Bridges and Ryan N. Bridges. The site that uses the  Ryan A. Bridges and Ryan N. Bridges names is registered behind a proxy, meaning the owner of the domain is unclear. Curiously, documents on the domain list the name of Ryan A. Nassbridges.

Equally curiously, the entire left sidebar of both websites stream images of the awards purportedly received by Ryan A. Nassbridges.

It was not immediately clear if Nassbridges operates the sites and why the sites used different names.

Both sites tout the Congressional Medal of Distinction and include photographs of Nassbridges posing with prominent Republican politicians, including former President George W. Bush. Whether the photos were authentic was not immediately clear.

One thing that is clear is that the medal now has been linked to at least two alleged Ponzi schemes and that both alleged schemes have traded on the name of the President of the United States.

In the ASD case, the medal was described as a marketing memento for making campaign contributions to the National Republican Congressional Committee. Bowdoin was accused earlier this month of using Ponzi proceeds to make the donations and not correcting the record when affiliates told prospects he had received an important award from the President of the United States.

The websites that use the one or more forms of the Nassbridges’ name claim that he received the medal for his “contribution toward the passage of the tax cut.”

CFTC did not reference the medal in its allegations against Nassbridges, saying only that he used participants’ funds to make “political contributions” of an unspecified amount.

He also used about $586,100 to make mortgage payments, $305,000 to make credit-card payments, $90,100 to make car payments and $157,700 for cash withdrawals, CFTC charged.

Some investors received Ponzi-like payments, CFTC charged. It added that investors did not know that Nassbridges and the companies were trading commodity futures and options while “sustaining significant trading losses.”

Investors believed they were trading in precious metals, including gold, palladium, platinum, silver bullion and gold and silver coins, CFTC said, noting that the alleged scheme was advertised on Fox, MSNBC and Home and Garden Television.

The complaint described an operation by which “account representatives” were required to make a minimum of 350 “prospecting calls” per day.

The websites tout Nassbridges as the “2005 Businessman of Year” and the recipient of the “Presidential Certificate of Merit Signed by the President of United States of America.”

“[H]e is among those few who are Awarded with the ‘Eisenhower Commission’ Signed and presented by 3 former President’s (sic) of United States of America for helping the USA Small Business Organization and talented entrepreneurs create jobs for the American working class,” according to the websites.

His wife, Bita Nassbridges, who was named a relief defendant by CFTC for allegedly receiving ill-gotten gains from the scheme, is referred to as “Mrs. Bridges” on one of the sites and “Mrs. Nassbridges” on the other. The couple is pictured in poses with Republicans Bush, former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani and Sen. John Thune.