PatrickPretty.com

Month: February 2013

  • Convicted Ponzi Schemer Andy Bowdoin Of AdSurfDaily Now Listed As Inmate In Florida Federal Prison [UPDATED FEB. 8]

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This post originally was published Jan. 24 at 7:33 p.m. It was updated Feb. 8 to include this editor’s note reflecting that Andy Bowdoin now is listed as an inmate at the federal prison camp in Pensacola, Fla. (Pensacola FPC.)  The original story published Jan. 24 appears below and includes some edits to reflect the latest information . . .

    ** ____________________________________ **

    UPDATED 9:08 A.M. ET (JAN. 27, U.S.A.) Thomas Anderson “Andy” Bowdoin, the 78-year-old AdSurfDaily Ponzi patriarch, is listed today as an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee. His estimated release date is Feb. 7, 2018. [New on Feb. 8: Bowoin has been transferred to Pensacola FPC.)

    In August 2008 — after federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia initially filed civil allegations of Ponzi fraud against Bowdoin and ASD after an investigation by the U.S. Secret Service — Bowdoin was defiant. The government was “Satan,” he claimed. And he compared the Secret Service to the 9/11 terrorists.

    Bowdoin was described as a head of a “flock,” a man who had “followers.” What transpired in the years that followed was the stuff of fiction — but it was very, very real. After initially demanding an evidentiary hearing and insisting ASD’s online “program” was not a Ponzi scheme, Bowdoin did not take the stand at the hearing he requested.

    He was “too honest” to testify, explained one of his followers.

    Prosecutors had a different take: Bowdoin, they said, was a recidivist securities swindler with a felony record in Alabama from a previous fraud scheme in the 1990s. One of his business partners also was a veteran swindler who once pushed “prime bank” frauds, according to court filings.

    Other Bowdoin followers planted stories that prosecutors secretly had admitted ASD was not a Ponzi scheme but were clinging to the case in a bid to save face. One follower ventured that a prosecutor should be placed in a medieval torture rack. Another ventured that a “militia” should storm Washington.

    In the bizarre world of ASD, there were efforts to enlist public support for Bowdoin by mailing packets of Kool-Aid to Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. There was a corresponding effort to enlist support for an investigation into a Florida TV station, apparently for having the temerity to cover negative news about ASD. Some of Bowdoin’s followers also wanted to investigate then-Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, apparently for holding the view that ASD was a pyramid scheme.

    On Sept. 11, 2008, the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, some Bowdoin followers prayed for the prosecution to be struck dead.

    By July 2010, purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming had entered the ASD fray. He is now jailed near Seattle on charges of filing false liens against at least five federal officials involved in the ASD case: a federal judge, three federal prosecutors and the Secret Service agent who did the early investigative legwork in the case. Leaming, according to court filings, was harboring two federal fugitives from Arkansas, had tried to pass a bogus “Bonded Promissory Note” for $1 million and assisted in the filing of false liens against other federal officials in cases presumably unrelated to ASD.

    Leaming, prosecutors said, was instrumental in the founding of the so-called “County Rangers,” an armed enforcement wing for a “sovereign” group in Washington state. The “Rangers” carried fake badges, according to court filings. And when Leaming, a convicted felon, was arrested in November 2011 by an FBI Terrorism Task Force on the false-liens charges, several firearms were found.

    One of them was an “AK-47 style assault rifle with a bayonet,” according to court filings.

    afavideosmall1Bowdoin was charged criminally in November 2010, when an indictment was unsealed. By October 2011, Bowdoin was trying to sell a “program” known as OneX to the members he was accused of defrauding in the ASD case. Conference-call listeners were told they could earn $99,000 very quickly through OneX, which federal prosecutors later described as yet another fraud scheme pushed by Bowdoin.

    In May 2012, Bowdoin pleaded guilty to wire fraud, acknowledging that ASD was a Ponzi scheme and that his Florida-based firm had never operated lawfully from its inception in 2006.

    Even after Bowdoin pleaded guilty, some of his followers continued to insist that ASD was a legitimate business. Bowdoin was jailed in June 2012, after prosecutors proffered evidence that he continued to promote fraud schemes even after the Secret Service seized $80 million in the ASD case and even after he was charged criminally.

    Bowdoin spent the early days of his sentence in a District of Columbia jail. Earlier this month, he was listed as a prisoner at a federal holding facility in Oklahoma City.

    And today he apparently has arrived in Tallahassee to serve out the remainder of his 78-month term. [New on Feb. 8: Bowdoin has been transferred to Pensacola FPC.) The prison is only a short [Feb. 8 edit: roughly two-and-a-half hour] drive from Quincy, the town from which Bowdoin pulled off a $119 million Internet fraud.

  • BULLETIN: Grand Jury Returns Superseding Indictment Against AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Kenneth Wayne Leaming

    americaatrisk4BULLETIN: (UPDATED 4:38 P.M. EDT U.S.A.) A federal grand jury in the Western District of Washington has returned a superseding indictment against AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming.

    It is the second superseding indictment against Leaming. The first was filed in 2012.

    The new indictment was returned yesterday, a day after the White House and the Justice Department referenced “sovereign citizens” in a policy announcement that pointed to an FBI site that defined “sovereign citizens” as “anti-government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or ‘sovereign’ from the United States. As a result, they believe they don’t have to answer to any government authority, including courts, taxing entities, motor vehicle departments, or law enforcement.”

    Leaming is 57. His alleged onetime business colleague David Carroll Stephenson, 57, also is named in the superseding indictment. The indictment formally accuses Leaming of filing false liens against a federal judge, two former federal prosecutors and a U.S. Secret Service agent who had roles in the ASD Ponzi case. The liens were filed in August 2010 and November 2010, according to the indictment.

    Meanwhile, the indictment accuses Leaming and Stephenson of filing false liens against two U.S. prison officials in July 2011.

    Leaming, meanwhile, was further accused of harboring two federal fugitives in 2010 and of being a felon in possession of six firearms.

    At the same time, the indictment accuses Leaming of passing a bogus “Bonded Promissory Note” for $1 million in March 2008, in a bid to defraud the United States.

    Leaming and Stephenson are being held at the SeaTac federal detention center near Seattle.

    ASD was a $119 million Ponzi scheme brought down by the Secret Service in August 2008. Leaming reportedly was performing legal work for some ASD members, even though he is not an attorney.

    Leaming was arrested in Spanaway, Wash., by an FBI terrorism Task Force in November 2011. He has been jailed since then. Stephenson already was serving a federal sentence for a tax crime when Leaming was arrested.

    Leaming has an existing federal felony conviction for piloting an aircraft without a license.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Federal Judge Denies Motion To Appoint ‘Examiner’ In Zeek Ponzi Case; Court Rejects Contention By Alleged Zeek ‘Winners’

    breakingnews72URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen has denied a motion by Zeek Rewards affiliates aligned with Robert Craddock to appoint an “examiner.”

    Craddock’s Fun Club USA and Zeek members and alleged “winners” David Sorrells, David Kettner and Mary Kettner asked for their attorney — Michael Quilling of Dallas — to be appointed examiner late last year. Mullen said no today.

    “First of all, it is readily apparent to the Court that such an examiner would be unable represent the interests of both the net winner and net loser affiliates, two groups with inherently adverse interests,” Mullen said in an order dated today. “Secondly, the Court is of the opinion that appointing an examiner would cause unnecessary and significant depletion of the assets of the receivership.”

    Although Craddock has sought to demonize Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell, Mullen today said the court had “utmost confidence” in Bell.

    “The receiver is working diligently to maximize and protect the assets and the Court has utmost confidence in the receiver’s efforts,” Mullen wrote.

    The Kettners and Sorrells potentially have about $1.94 million in combined clawback exposure, according to court filings.

    Both the SEC and Bell opposed the appointment of Quilling.

    In a blistering memo in December, the SEC accused Craddock of encouraging Zeek affiliates “not to cooperate” with Bell. Craddock has not been charged with wrongdoing.

     

  • Extraordinary Drama Unfolds In California; Manhunt Under Way For Ex-Cop Who Allegedly Authored ‘Manifesto’ Promising ‘Unconventional And Asymmetrical Warfare’ Against Law Enforcement; Suspect Allegedly Tied To Double Homicide And Ambush Shootings Of Police Officers

    christopherdornerAn extraordinary drama is unfolding in Southern California involving a former Los Angeles police officer identified as Christopher Dorner. The photo of Dorner (left) was supplied by the Irvine Police Department, which identified Dorner as the suspect in the Sunday shooting deaths of Keith Lawrence and Monica Quan, a college-basketball coach.

    Dorner is 33.

    “Irvine Police are seeking the public’s help in finding Dorner,” the department said. “If you see him, please call 9-1-1 immediately. If you have information about his whereabouts, we ask you to immediately call our tip line at 949-724-7192.”

    He is believed to be driving a “Gray Nissan Titan with a roof rack, bed cover and aftermarket wheels, (possibly black/chrome),” the department said. “Vehicle plates have been changed, the new plate is 8D83987 or similar.”

    The fear is that Dorner literally is hunting down specific members of law enforcement or members of their families to shoot and kill. He has a military background and allegedly authored a manifesto in which he threatened “unconventional and asymmetrical warfare” against police.

    Monica Quan’s father is former LAPD Capt. Randy Quan, the LA Times is reporting.

    From the LA Times (italics added):

    . . . the search intensified after three police officers were shot in Riverside County Thursday and Dorner was identified as a possible suspect.

    The first police shooting occurred about 1:30 a.m. Thursday in Corona, where two LAPD officers were providing protection for someone mentioned in Dorner’s manifesto, officials said. One officer suffered a graze wound to the head during a shootout and Dorner fled the scene, police said.

    A short time later, two Riverside officers were shot at the corner of Magnolia Avenue and Arlington Avenue in Riverside. Riverside police Lt. Guy Toussaint said the officers were sitting at a red light when they were ambushed. One was killed, the other was still in surgery Thursday morning.

    News sources:

    Los Angeles Times.

    MyFoxLa.

     

     

  • 4 Charged Amid Allegations ‘Industrial Bleach’ Was Sold On Internet As ‘Miracle Cure’ For Flu, Arthritis And Cancer; Web Chatter References Pro Advocate Group, Same Enterprise Linked To Bizarre Claims In AdSurfDaily Saga

    A YouTube video apparently in support of “Project GreenLife” superimposes an image of FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg against the backdrop of a height chart -- an apparent bid to suggest that Hamburg should be booked at a police station.
    A YouTube video apparently in support of “Project GreenLife” superimposes an image of FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg against the backdrop of a height chart — an apparent bid to suggest that Hamburg should be booked at a police station.

    The PP Blog first told you about “Miracle Mineral Supplement,” also known as “Miracle Mineral Solution” or MMS, in August 2010. The FDA warned that serious harm could come to human beings who consumed it, saying MMS produced industrial bleach when used as directed.

    “Multiple independent distributors” sold the product online, the FDA said.

    Now, the U.S. Department of Justice has announced that four people — two from Oregon and two from Washington state — have been charged criminally.

    Named defendants were Louis Daniel Smith, 42, and Karis Delong, 38, both of Ashland, Ore. Also charged were Chris Olson, 49, and Tammy Olson, 50, of Nine Mile Falls, Wash.

    “Our most vulnerable citizens need real medicine — not dangerous chemicals peddled by modern-day snake oil salesmen,” said Stuart F. Delery, principal deputy assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division.

    Smith and Delong operated a business known as “Project GreenLife” or PGL, the Justice Department said.

    A dissolved Nevada corporation known as PGL International LLC lists “Daniel Smith” as its managing member. A website styled ProjectGreenLife.com now appears to be parked at GoDaddy. Meanwhile, there are references online to ProjectGreenLife purportedly having been a “1st and 14th Amendment Private Membership Association.”

    At least one website that makes the claim makes a companion claim that Daniel Smith used “the help and counsel of the ProAdvocate Group” when contacting the FDA about MMS-related matters. “Daniel based his inquiry on a good-faith understanding of U.S. Supreme Court case law as it pertained to the activities of a private association,” the site claims. “Daniel told the FDA unless they objected within ten days he would assume they had no objection.”

    Pro Advocate Group reportedly was the Texas-based entity that assisted the AdViewGlobal HYIP scam form a “private association” in 2009 in which AVG appears to have tried to insulate itself from examination by the U.S. government by purporting to operate from Uruguay. In April 2012, federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia linked AVG to the $119 million Ponzi scheme operated by Andy Bowdoin of AdSurfDaily.

    Along with hawking purported private associations, Pro Advocate Group claims on its website that it offers “Pro Se Litigation with Super Appeal” and other services.

    A Justice Department news release yesterday on the charges flowing from Project GreenLife and the sale of MMS did not reference Pro Advocate Group.

    Smith, Delong and Tammy Olson were charged with one count of conspiracy, four counts of interstate sales of misbranded drugs and one count of smuggling. Chris Olson was charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of the interstate sale of a misbranded drug and one count of smuggling.

    The Justice Department said that “PGL provided consumers directions to combine MMS with citric acid to create Chlorine Dioxide, and the instructions told consumers to drink this mixture to cure numerous illnesses. Chlorine Dioxide is a potent agent used to bleach textiles, among other industrial applications. In humans, Chlorine Dioxide is a severe respiratory and eye irritant that can cause nausea, diarrhea and dehydration.”

    Research by the PP Blog shows that Daniel Smith apparently has supporters who’ve issued an appeal to “Please take a stand to help save MMS and Daniel Smith from the FDA.” A headline for video on the site describes the FDA as a “Cult of Tryanny.” A narrator describes the FDA as a “rogue agency” and superimposes the images of FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg and others against the backdrop of a height chart. It appears to be a ham-handed way to suggest that Hamburg and the other purported “rogues” should be booked at a police station.

    From the Justice Department statement (italics added):

    As part of the scheme to manufacture MMS, the indictment alleges that Smith, Delong, and others smuggled sodium chlorite into the United States from Canada using fraudulent invoices to hide the true end use of the product.   In these invoices, according to the indictment, they falsely claimed that the ingredients they were purchasing for MMS were to be used in wastewater treatment facilities.

    According to the charging documents, Smith and Delong were the managing members of PGL Smith co-founded the company, and Delong frequently handled financial transactions for the company and recruited friends and family to participate in the business. The indictment alleges that Smith and Delong paid Tammy Olson to handle all customer inquiries regarding the product.   It is alleged that Tammy Olson continued selling MMS on her own website after federal agents shut down the Project GreenLife website and production facilities.  

     The indictment also alleges that Smith and Delong paid Chris Olson to clandestinely manufacture MMS in a building on his property after regulators from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspected PGL’s original manufacture and shipping locations.

  • Colorado Securities Commissioner Tells Durango Herald: ‘They Want So Badly To Believe In The Tooth Fairy’

    recommendedreading1Joe Hanel, the Denver correspondent for the Durango Herald, has written a series of reports that delves into the symphony of the bizarre surrounding Ponzi schemer Frederick H.K. Baker, who once was immersed in the HYIP world but now is in prison.

    If you’ve been wondering about the psychology of Ponzi schemes — perhaps particularly in the HYIP sphere, where victims may condemn the government for moving against obvious frauds — you’ll find value in the Herald series.

    The first installment is titled, “A man, a plan, a scam.” Part II is titled, “Scammers often earn victims’ trust through shared hopes, dreams, beliefs.” Hanel then delivers Part III, “After the scheme collapses, scammers recede into shadows.” Part IV perhaps has the most memorable title of all, “For a Ponzi payout, call the tooth fairy.”

    Part IV gets its title from a comment by Fred Joseph, Colorado’s securities commissioner. “They want so badly to believe in the tooth fairy,” Joseph told the paper.

    What sparked the comment was a recollection by Joseph that he once had to work hard to convince a resident of the state “not to send $50,000 to Belgium for the promise of getting millions in return,” according to the Herald.

    Here’s hoping the Herald series gets high readership.

    A snippet from Part I of the series (italics added):

    A few million dollars spent the winter in sunny Los Angeles with a company whose president now is on death row. When the law closed in, Baker moved the money to Portugal, placing it in the trust of a company registered in New Zealand, with an address in Panama and directors in the United Kingdom.

    That’s when it disappeared.

     

  • UPDATE: Sentencing For Legisi HYIP Operator Gregory McKnight Postponed Again Pending Depositions; Now Set For May 7

    Gregory McKnight. From PDF of federal court file.
    Gregory McKnight. From PDF of federal court file.

    Sentencing for Gregory N. McKnight, the operator of the Legisi HYIP Ponzi scheme, has been postponed until May 7. McKnight had been scheduled to be sentenced today. The postponement marks at least the fourth in the case.

    McKnight pleaded guilty to wire fraud a year ago this month. The docket of the case in federal court in the Eastern District of Michigan notes that today’s sentencing was postponed because McKnight is participating in depositions. Although federal prosecutors have asked for a 15-year sentence for McKnight, filings suggest that McKnight hopes to earn a sentencing reduction for assisting the court-appointed receiver in the case recover money for victims of the $72 million fraud.

    On Jan. 31, U.S. District Judge Mark A. Goldsmith denied a motion by McKnight to be removed from a tether. Although details were not immediately clear, tethering is a form of electronic monitoring.

    Legisi was promoted on Ponzi scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup. The SEC charged McKnight and Legisi in May 2008. A criminal charge followed.

    The U.S. Secret Service and state authorities in Michigan also were involved in the Legisi probe.

    See Nov. 28, 2012, PP Blog story.

  • Woman Sentenced To 80 Years In Texas State Prison For Felony Theft In Case That Flowed From Ponzi And Fraud Scheme

    Karen Patricia Bowie: Source: Collin County Sheriff's Office.
    Karen Patricia Bowie: Source: Collin County Sheriff’s Office.

    Karen Patricia Bowie, whom the SEC described in 2009 as a citizen of Canada who bought a house in Maine with fraud proceeds from the Titan Wealth Management LLC Ponzi scheme in Texas, has been sentenced to 80 years in Texas state prison.

    The Texas State Securities Board described Bowie, 61, as a “foreign notes scammer,” saying she “personally benefited from $2 million of investor funds.”

    Bowie was prosecuted criminally under Texas state law for felony theft by the Collin County District Attorney’s Office.

    Thomas Lester Irby II, whom the state described as a Bowie business partner, was sentenced in 2010 to 24 years in state prison. Irby was Titan Wealth’s owner. The company was based in Plano, Texas.

    Judge Benjamin N. Smith of the 380th State District court in Collin County sentenced Bowie after a week-long trial, prosecutors said.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Gary Calhoun, MPB Today Operator, Pleads Guilty To Racketeering Charge In Florida

    Gary Allen Calhoun
    Gary Allen Calhoun

    URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (UPDATED 1:06 P.M. ET U.S.A.) Gary Calhoun, the operator of the the MPB Today MLM “program” and a companion grocery-delivery business known as Southeastern Delivery, has pleaded guilty to a state-level racketeering charge in Florida. He was charged in December.

    Calhoun, 56, of Pensacola, was not immediately sentenced. But he is expected to turn in his passport to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement “within 48 hours,” according to the docket of the case in Escambia County. The docket also notes correspondence from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida and references a “voluntary forfeiture agreement.”

    In July, federal prosecutors filed a forfeiture complaint for a property at 8812 Grow Drive, also known as Grow Road, in Pensacola. The property is the business address of Southeastern Delivery and also the address of a Calhoun-controlled entity known as WL Property Holdings LLC. The property also is the address of MPB Today.

    MPB Today was among a number of “programs” pitched on Ponzi-scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

    The Calhoun guilty plea represents the second time in 24 hours that the name of a “program” operator whose “opportunity” was pitched on the Ponzi boards has surfaced in the news, either as a current prison inmate or potential one.

    David Merrick, the operator of the Trader’s International Return Network (TIRN) fraud scheme that was promoted from the Ponzi boards in 2008 and 2009, was sentenced in 2012 to 97 months in federal prison and was handed additional civil sanctions and a restitution order yesterday totaling more than $22.8 million.

    MPB Today was promoted on the Ponzi boards in 2010.

    Some individual MPB Today promotions were bizarre, including one that cast President Obama and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as Nazis. Another MPB Today promoter videotaped himself making a deposit of his MPB Today commissions at an FDIC-insured bank. At least one of MPB Today’s banks was operating under an FDIC consent agreement.

    Still other MPB Today affiliates taped commercials for the enterprise inside Walmart stores. Some promoters asserted Walmart was affiliated with MPB Today and approved by the government. One MPB Today affiliate videotaped a UPS driver making a delivery of a television set.

    The video’s narrator said the TV has been purchased “kind of, indirectly” with a Walmart gift card from MPB Today. Other MPB Today affiliates claimed a one-time purchase of $200 in groceries from Southeastern Delivery set the stage for MPB Today affiliates to receive free groceries and gasoline for life.

    Clinton once sat on Walmart’s board of directors. Why some MPB Today affiliates apparently believed it prudent to attack Democratic politicians in a bid to sign up MPB Today affiliates remains unclear.

    Promos for MPB Today were targeted at foreclosure subjects, Food Stamp recipients and the poor — and victims of the Florida-based AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme. In 2010, Walmart declined to comment on MPB Today-related claims.

    Some MLM “opportunities” are infamous for implying in promos that they’re endorsed by famous business people or famous companies. MPB Today used images of Donald Trump and Warren Buffett in promos, and affiliates regularly implied that Walmart had endorsed MPB Today.

    From our files:

    1.

    mpbtodayobamalarge11

    2.

    mpbtodayupsdrivesmall

    3.

    mpbtodayfreedomsmall2

  • Judge Orders More Than $22.8 Million In Penalties, Restitution For Trader’s International Return Network (TIRN); ‘Program’ Was Pitched On Ponzi Boards

    breakingnews72David Merrick, the operator of Trader’s International Return Network (TIRN) fraud scheme, already is serving a TIRN-related, 97-month prison sentence for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and securities fraud, plus one count of money laundering.

    And now a federal judge has imposed addition sanctions, ordering Merrick and TIRN — a presence on Ponzi boards such as MoneyMakerGroup — to pay more than $22.8 million in civil penalties and restitution.

    One September 2008 post on MoneyMakerGroup declares this: “If you send money to TIRN using SolidTrustPay you will recive [sic] money on your account in a couple of hours!”

    The CFTC charged Merrick and TIRN civilly in October 2009. Though a onetime resident of Apopka, Fla, Merrick, 65, is serving his prison sentence in Minnesota, according to federal records.

    TIRN purported to operate from Panama as a “private investment club,” according to the CFTC.

    “TIRN has been soliciting U.S. residents, and directing them to deposit their funds in U.S. bank accounts,” the CFTC said in 2009.

    SolidTrustPay was among the financial vendors for Zeek Rewards, which also was promoted on the Ponzi forums. In August 2012, the SEC called Zeek a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud.

  • BULLETIN: Alabama Governor Says Killer Who Took Child Hostage After Shooting School-Bus Driver Is Dead

    BULLETIN: (UPDATED 6:05 P.M. ET U.S.A.) “Shortly after 3:00 p.m., I spoke with Colonel Hugh McCall of the Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security Director Spencer Collier,” said Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley in a statement.  “They informed me that law enforcement had breached the bunker, the child was safe and the abductor was killed.”

    From CNN (italics added):

    FBI Special Agent in Charge Steve Richardson at the scene said negotiations had broken down with the child’s abductor and the kidnapper was “observed holding a gun.”

    Believing the child to be in imminent danger, an FBI team entered the bunker at 3:12 p.m. CT (4:12 p.m. ET) and rescued the boy, Richardson said, adding that the hostage-taker is dead.

    See PP story from last week.