Missouri-Based ‘Trainer’ For Florida-Based AdSurfDaily Was Head Of Purported ‘Religious’ Nonprofit Firm In Oregon; State Dissolved Firm Over Which Erma ‘Web-Room Lady’ Seabaugh Presided; Address For ‘Carpe Diem’ Was A Mail Drop
On Jan. 16, 2008, the state of Oregon recorded the business registration of an entity known as “Carpe Diem,” a purported “religious” nonprofit firm. AdSurfDaily figure Erma Seabaugh of Cape Girardeau, Mo., was listed as Carpe Diem’s president and secretary. ASD members described Seabaugh as a “trainer” for the Florida-based autosurf firm whose operator, Thomas A. “Andy” Bowdoin, 76, is under federal indictment for wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities.
The Oregon registration of Carpe Diem coincides with a period in which ASD allegedly was ratcheting up the criminality to drive more business to its $110 million Ponzi scheme — first by introducing a companion “Spanish” autosurf known as LaFuenteDinero and later by launching a “Chinese” surf known as Golden Panda Ad Builder and producing a video in which an attorney who appeared with Bowdoin preemptively denied ASD was operating a Ponzi scheme, according to federal court filings.
As an ASD trainer and a person with “privileges within the ASD computer database system to post and remove ‘ad packages’ from individuals’ accounts,” Seabaugh was positioned to benefit from ASD’s crimes and engage in crimes of her own, according to federal court filings.
The filings raise the possibility that Seabaugh was seeking to disguise personal income as the proceeds of a purported religious entity and use ASD itself to launder money or hide income.
Prosecutors said in December that it appeared as though Seabaugh “was selling her own investment ‘ad packs’ to clients and representing herself as ASD.” The Cape Girardeau, Mo., address for Carpe Diem in Oregon records is associated with a firm that provides mailbox and parcel services.
Oregon dissolved Carpe Diem’s registration in March 2010, about 26 months after the entity was registered in the state.
Just weeks prior to the January 2008 creation of Carpe Diem — on Nov. 11, 2007, Dec. 9, 2007 and Dec. 19, 2007 — Seabaugh opened three separate ASD accounts. Each of the accounts used a variation of the Carpe Diem name: Carpe Diem, Carpe Diem2 and Carpe Diem3, according to federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia.
The presence of a form of the Carpe Diem name in three ASD accounts leads to a question about whether Seabaugh or others were seeking to structure transactions to avoid tax-reporting requirements or to minimize the risk that a bank might begin to ask uncomfortable questions.
Seabaugh used the Carpe Diem account to sponsor “48 additional investors into the ASD investment scheme,” federal prosecutors said in a forfeiture complaint filed on Dec. 17, 2010, about 16 days after Bowdoin was arrested in Florida.
Known as ASD’s “Web Room Lady,” Seabaugh withdrew $107,997 from the Carpe Diem account “through checks that issued from ASD,” according to the complaint. The account was funded with “ad packs” that “originated” at LaFuenteDinero, the “Spanish” version of ASD.
It also was funded with $10,510 that originated at e-Bullion, which prosecutors described as an online digital currency.
Two of Seabaugh’s Carpe Diem accounts — Carpe Diem2 and Carpe Diem3 — were used to promote an apparent “pyramid scheme” known as StreamlineGold.net, according to the forfeiture complaint. Although Seabaugh appears not to have made a withdrawal from the Carpe Diem3 account, she withdrew $83,994 from the Carpe Diem2 account, which also had been opened with a transfer of “ad packs” from LaFuenteDinero, according to the forfeiture complaint.
LaFuenteDinero means the “fountain of money.” Different email addresses were used to open each of the Carpe Diem accounts, according to the forfeiture complaint.
In addition, Seabaugh used an address with the letters “ASD” and the word “admin” included among the characters comprising a free gmail address, according to the forfeiture complaint.
E-bullion operator James Fayed was convicted in May of arranging the contract murder of his estranged wife, Pamela Fayed, a potential witness against him on matters pertaining to fraud. James Fayed faces the death penalty for the slaying.
Investigators have linked e-Bullion to multiple Ponzi schemes.
At least $10,510 flowed from E-Bullion to ASD through Seabaugh’s Carpe Diem account prior to the gruesome slashing murder of Pamela Fayed in a California parking garage on July 28, 2008.
About four days later — on Aug. 1, 2008 — the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars in the personal bank accounts of ASD’s Bowdoin. Seabaugh has not been charged with a crime, but agents seized at least $153,087 from bank accounts linked to Carpe Diem and Seabaugh, according to court filings.
[…] There’s an article on the Patrick Pretty blog which contains some new info on Ms. Erma. Seems she has more problems than just her involvement in ASD. Here’s a link to Patrick’s blog. […]
[…] Seabaugh, an ASD member who used E-Bullion, was an ASD trainer, according to the government. Records in Oregon show that Seabaugh, whose assets were seized in the ASD case, was operating a purported […]
[…] In 2009, the U.S. Secret Service effectively accused Bowdoin of doing the same thing. ASD purported to pay 1 percent a day. In August 2012, the Secret Service said it also was investigating Zeek. Court filings in the ASD case show that some members of ASD established entities through which to receive proceeds from ASD. One was described as a “ministry of giving,” for instance. Another was described as a nonprofit religious entity. […]