PatrickPretty.com

Category: Ad Surf Daily

  • DONATION-BUTTON POST: A Word Of Thanks And A Word Of Remembrance As The PP Blog And Its Author Continue To Face Challenge Of Keeping Publication Online

    Dear Readers,

    Another new month is approaching. There are bills to pay — and the usual lack of funds to pay them.

    As I noted in July, I am passing the hat reluctantly — but pass it I must.

    These posts always are the hardest to write. Although the Blog is highly relevant in the lives of its readers, it barely made it last month. Day after day, Ponzi scheme victims read the Blog to see if there is anything new about their cases. Media outlets visit the Blog, as do researchers, attorneys, financial institutions and law-enforcement agencies.

    Scammers don’t like the Blog, of course. Neither does a person who calls himself “Mr. Protector.” The Blog has been on the receiving end of hostility, passive-aggressive posturing and, from time to time, delusional rants. I’m not entirely certain if the level of willful blindness and voluntary obtuseness in the world ever has been higher.

    A Remembrance

    A person sent me an email today and asked me to call. I am acquainted with this person, and I returned the call quickly. The news that came out of the other end of the line was a pure joy to hear. It made me emotional instantly for a couple of reasons: First, the person was thrilled that justice was taking shape in a particular Ponzi scheme and that victims had a reason for hope. Second, the person commented that the Blog has been an important part of her life.

    This is what makes the struggles worthwhile.

    Today’s events reminded me of something that happened in May 2001, more than 10 years ago now. Since about the middle of April of that year, I’d been covering a  flood of inexplicable foreclosures for a newspaper. I met with the editors each morning and wrote about two stories a day for the next six weeks, poring through documents and visiting the homes of lots of people in foreclosure.

    I told their stories. And their stories were supplemented by stories about the impossible mathematics of the situation. Not much seemed to be happening on the law-enforcement front.

    But on that day in late May something did happen: The government filed suit in state court. I obtained a copy of the lawsuit and headed for the office of a man who’d been helping me crunch the numbers — much to the dismay of some of his colleagues in the real-estate trade. They apparently believed it was better to say nothing than to have law enforcement looking under rocks to determine why widows were losing their homes.

    By the time I left the man’s office, tears were welling in his eyes. He’d been trying unsuccessfully to get somebody to do something for two years. Somebody finally did do something on that day in late May of 2001.

    As the summer progressed, more people did more things. The Feds got involved. It was the first forfeiture case I ever wrote about: cash and a Rolls-Royce.

    So, I’d like to thank the reader who contacted me today for her readership and warm thoughts. But most of all I’d  like to thank her for making me remember that day from more than a decade ago, the pure joy that surfaced on the faces of the victims. That day represented the beginnings of justice for hundreds of people and will remain with me forever — as will this one.

    Patrick

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: AdSurfDaily Remissions Distributions Are Beginning

    URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: UPDATED 5:21 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Remissions payments to AdSurfDaily members fleeced in an alleged global Ponzi scheme are beginning, a source tells the PP Blog.

    It was not immediately clear how Minnesota-based Rust Consulting Inc. — the government-approved claims administrator — would roll out the compensation plan and how long it would take for all members with approved claims to be notified that their payment will be on the way.

    But the PP Blog has confirmed that an ASD member in Minnesota has received a formal notification that the member’s claim has been approved and that funds will be electronically deposited within the next 15 days. (See screenshot below.) The payments are being funded from money seized by the U.S. Secret Service in the civil portion of the ASD case.

    Separately, AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin — who faces criminal charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities — continues to flog away on Facebook and a separate fundraising site to raise $500,000 to pay for his criminal defense. After nearly two months of nonstop fundraising, Bowdoin reportedly has fallen 95 percent short of his goal.

    He’ll now be issuing his appeals even as ASD members he is accused of defrauding are receiving remissions payments from the proceeds of his alleged $110 million Ponzi scheme. In sworn court filings, Bowdoin has claimed the money seized in the case belonged to him.

    At least 11,000 people have identified themselves as victims of Bowdoin’s Ponzi scheme, according to court filings.

    Screenshot: Remissions payments to AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme victims are beginning, according to this letter the PP Blog obtained today from a source.

  • Accused Ponzi Scheme Felon Andy Bowdoin Launches Facebook Page, Asks Members To ‘Like’ Him And ‘Share’ Link To Defense Fundraising Site ‘Right Away’

    After weeks of delays, a Facebook “Fan” page for accused Ponzi schemer Thomas Anderson “Andy” Bowdoin finally has launched. The site includes a link to “Andy’s Fundraising Army,” the web venue at which Bowdoin’s bid to raise $500,000 to pay for criminal lawyers has fallen 95 percent short of its goal.

    Bowdoin, 76, was arrested in Florida in December 2010 and freed on bail. Federal prosecutors described him as a recidivist securities huckster who’d presided over Quincy-based AdSurfDaily.

    ASD was an “autosurf” Ponzi scheme disguised as an “advertising company,” and Bowdoin used some of the money sent in by members to make campaign donations to the National Republican Congressional Committee, prosecutors said.

    An early version of Bowdoin’s alleged $110 million Ponzi scheme collapsed in 2007, leaving members holding the bag, according to records. After weeks in limbo, ASD switched the URL from which the purported “program” operated and relaunched under the new name of ASD Cash Generator, sucking in a new crop of victims, prosecutors said.

    The accounts and unpaid redemptions of participants active at the time of the 2007 collapse were rolled into the new scheme, and incoming members were not told about the original Ponzi failure and that members were getting paid with recycled cash, prosecutors said.

    ASD eventually gained momentum by creating a video lie about the program’s purported legality and by arranging “rallies” in U.S. cities. In late 2007, Bowdoin added a second autosurf Ponzi known as LaFuenteDinero — Spanish for “the fountain of money” — to his criminal tool kit, and compounded his deception, prosecutors said.

    In 2008, Bowdoin and Clarence Busby Jr. of Acworth, Ga., struck up a partnership that resulted in the creation of an autosurf known as Golden Panda Ad Builder, describing it as ASD’s “Chinese” option, according to records.

    The SEC has described Busby as a prime-bank swindler implicated in three securities schemes in the 1990s. Busby has described himself as a minister and real-estate professional. Records suggest he has lost property in Georgia to foreclosure, was the operator of yet-another surf scheme known as BizAdSplash (BAS) and was on the receiving end of an IRS tax lien.

    BAS went missing in early 2010, after positioning itself as a purported offshore business. Its web servers resolved to Panama.

    Like Busby, Bowdoin also was implicated in securities schemes in the 1990s, according to records. He narrowly avoided prison time in Alabama by agreeing to make restitution to defrauded investors.

    Bowdoin has asked Facebook members to “like” his site. The Facebook site does not mention that three ASD members filed a prospective-class action lawsuit against Bowdoin in 2009, accusing him of racketeering and disguising the nature of ASD’s business.

    Nor does the Facebook site reveal that ASD and related businesses have been on the receiving end of at least three civil-forfeiture judgments totaling about $80 million. In August 2008, the U.S. Secret Service seized about $65.8 million from 10 personal bank accounts of Bowdoin through which he was operating the ASD business, according to records.

    The seizure occurred after ASD members falsely claimed that Bowdoin had received an award for business acumen from then-President George W. Bush, prosecutors said. Bowdoin filed two appeals when forfeiture orders were entered against his assets, but lost both. His new appeals for cash are targeted at the people Bowdoin is accused of defrauding: the ASD membership base.

    In the aftermath of the 2008 seizures, Bowdoin described federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia — the venue in which the forfeiture actions were filed — as “Satan.” Bowdoin’s use of the word “Satan” occurred just weeks after he described himself at a company “rally” in Las Vegas as a Christian “money magnet.”

    Bowdoin also compared the seizures to the 9/11 attacks, saying the actions against ASD by the Secret Service were “30 times worse” in some ways than the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington.

    One of the Washington victims of the 9/11 attacks was Barbara Olson, an author, television commentator and former assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) in the District of Columbia office. Olson was the wife of former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson.

    In commemoration of the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, prosecutors in the District of Columbia dedicated a national-security conference room in Barbara Olson’s memory last week.

    “As an AUSA in [the District of Columbia] office, and throughout her career, Barbara proved that her convictions ran deep, and that her fidelity — to the values she held dear, the principles she fought to defend, and the countless people whose lives she touched — was unshakeable,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said last week.

    ASD is known to have so-called “sovereign citizens” in its ranks. Two ASD figures — Kenneth Wayne Leaming and Christian Oesch — sought unsuccessfully to sue the government for its actions in the ASD case, apparently seeking the staggering sum of more than $29 trillion, more than twice the U.S. Gross Domestic Product in 2009.

    Leaming was accused in Washington state in 2005 of practicing law without a license. Records show he also was involved in a lawsuit that sought more than $9 billion against a local hospital in Washington state. Filings in the case show that Leaming sought liens against the hospital and even sought to attach it water and mineral rights. At least two notaries public in Washington state with ties to Leaming have had their licenses revoked. The names of both notaries appear on the docket of U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer in the District of Columbia.

    Collyer is presiding over the ASD-related forfeiture actions and the criminal case against Bowdoin. Bowdoin twice has tried to have Collyer removed from the case. Both efforts failed, and the U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld the forfeiture orders she issued in the case.

    Sixty-two people (as of the time of this post) have “liked” Bowdoin’s Facebook fan page. It is unclear if Bowdoin’s fans have followed the ASD case closely.

  • BULLETIN: New Jersey Ponzi Scheme Figure Jenifer Devine Pleads Guilty To Wire Fraud; Case Was Brought By Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force

    A New Jersey woman accused of operating an $8 million Ponzi and investment-fraud scheme has pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

    Jenifer Devine, 39, of Fair Lawn, was accused in November 2010 of ripping off investors in a purported wholesale business  known as Devine Wholesale, which purportedly offered clothing and electronics.

    But it was a promissory-notes Ponzi scheme that featured bogus inventory lists and caused investors to lose more than $2 million, federal prosecutors said.

    Investors were lured by promises of returns of up to 25 percent every 30 to 60 days, but Devine’s company was fraudulent and she spent some of the money on a Royal Caribbean cruise and purchases at luxury retailers such as Burberry, Gucci and Coach.

    Devine faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

    The case was brought by elements of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force and prosecuted by the office of U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman.

     

  • UPDATE: His Fundraising Goal 95 Percent Short Of The Mark, Accused Felon Andy Bowdoin Asks The People He’s Charged With Defrauding For ‘Positive’ Testimonials; ‘I Warmly Invite You To Write Your Personal Viewpoint’

    Andy Bowdoin

    A Florida man’s weeks-long, nonstop efforts to raise defense funds from the people he is accused of defrauding in a $110 million Ponzi scheme have fallen flat, leaving him 95 percent short of his $500,000 goal.

    But AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin says he still wants members to send him money — and he’s asking for one more thing: “positive testimonials . . . for a new page on the fundraising website.”

    In a strangely worded email filled with bizarre bullet points some ASD members have received, Bowdoin said this:

    Each of you, who have already donated to the Legal Defense Fund, are thanked by me, and I warmly invite you to write your personal viewpoint and testimony in answer to one, or more or all of the following topics:

    • Why you want to help us fight back against the Govt injustices.
    • Why you think this Fundraising Army is an excellent way to join forces and do something about it.
    • Why you donated your small contribution and why you think all ASD members should do the same quickly.
    • Why you feel positive and hopeful that I can win my court case AND be found “Not Guilty” by the Jury.
    • Why proving to the jury that ASD is not a Ponzi Scheme is so important.
    • Why you want us to win the case and what you will do when ASD gets back in business again.
    • Why you are hopeful that ASD members can get their advertising money back from the US govt.

    The accused felon said in the email that he’d gathered only $24,400 of the $500,000 needed. His formal bid to raise funds began on July 26 after weeks of prelaunch hoopla for his website, which is known as Andy’s Fundraising Army.

    In August 2008, the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars from Bowdoin amid allegations he was presiding over a massive international fraud caper. Federal prosecutors say Bowdoin is well aware he was conducting a Ponzi scheme.

    The money was seized in civil-forfeiture actions, and U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer issued final orders of forfeiture and judgments in the government’s favor last year. Prosecutors have established a remissions program from which victims of ASD will receive compensation from seized funds.

    More than 11,000 people have filed remissions claims, prosecutors said in court filings.

    Bowdoin claimed in court filings that the seized money belonged to him. In a September 2009 conference call, he told members it belonged to them — despite what he had told Collyer.

    The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld Collyer’s forfeiture orders.

     

  • Attorney General Visits U.S. Attorney’s Office In District Of Columbia To Commemorate 10th Anniversary Of 9/11 Attack; Justice Department Dedicates National Security Conference Room In Memory Of Barbara Olson, Terrorist Victim And Former AUSA

    EDITOR’S NOTE: The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia brought both the civil and criminal prosecutions in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case. In 2008, ASD President Andy Bowdoin compared prosecutors in the office to “Satan,” saying that what happened to ASD was “30 times worse” in some ways than what happened on Sept. 11, 2001. The 9/11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people.

    Barbara Olson, a former assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) in the District of Columbia office, was killed on 9/11 when American Airlines Flight 77 — the plane she was aboard — slammed into the Pentagon. Today the Justice Department dedicated a national-security conference room in the D.C. office in her memory.

    Olson was 45 at the time of her death. She was the wife of former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson.

    Here are the remarks U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder delivered today in the office of U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. in the District of Columbia. Holder once was U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

    Attorney General Eric Holder

    Thank you, Ron [Machen], for your kind words, and for your outstanding leadership of an office that is very special to me – and an essential part of our nation’s Department of Justice.

    As Ron just mentioned – and as many of you remember firsthand – I once had the privilege of leading this office. I understand the unique jurisdiction, and the vital national security prosecutions, that place you at the center of the Justice Department’s efforts to protect the safety of the American people. In a very real sense, you serve on the front lines of this fight. You’re helping to advance our most critical priorities. And you’re doing extraordinary work.

    Let me assure you – Ron never misses an opportunity to brag about his team, and to tell me just how much you’re accomplishing. Especially as we commemorate the tenth anniversary of the most devastating terrorist attacks ever carried out against the United States, it’s clear that this work – your work – has never been more important, or more urgent.

    That is one of the lessons of September 11th, 2001 – a day that transformed our entire nation and touched each of our lives. And I know that many of you experienced the human cost of 9/11 in a deeply personal – and painful – way.

    The nearly 3,000 innocent victims of 9/11 included a remarkable, and cherished, alumna of this office. Some of us had the chance to work with Barbara Olson – to learn from her example, and to count her as a friend. She reached many others with her professional commentary, her bestselling books, and the enduring impact of her contributions.

    Barbara was a wonderful woman – a dedicated public servant, a brilliant attorney, and a loving wife. As an AUSA in this office, and throughout her career, Barbara proved that her convictions ran deep, and that her fidelity – to the values she held dear, the principles she fought to defend, and the countless people whose lives she touched – was unshakeable.

    On the morning of September 11th, 2001, Barbara boarded American Airlines Flight 77 – which soon was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists, and plunged into the western side of the Pentagon.

    Like so many others on that fateful day – in Arlington, Virginia; in my hometown of New York; and in a field outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania – Barbara’s life was cut tragically short.  But – one decade later – as we gather to reflect on the events of 9/11, and to remember those who were taken from us so suddenly, I believe that – thanks to the heroic efforts of so many law enforcement officers and military service members; the vigilance of dedicated public servants like you; and the extraordinary resilience that the American people – today, our nation is not only safer, but stronger, than ever before.

    Despite the best efforts of our enemies, our resolve has never wavered or weakened. Our commitment to doing not just what is necessary, but what is right – to protect the safety and the civil liberties of those we serve – remains certain. And, over the last 10 years, we have proven this nation’s ability to respond to terror threats, but never – never – to submit to them.

    That’s why, at its core, the anniversary we observe every September 11th is about far more than the buildings that our enemies brought down, or the damage that they inflicted on our fellow citizens. It’s about honoring the heroism we witnessed. It’s about offering our strongest support to law enforcement officers, military service members, and the families of every victim. And it’s about renewing our commitment to upholding the uniquely American values that have always defined and strengthened this great nation.

    In this spirit – and in honor of our fallen colleague – I am proud to join you in dedicating a national security conference room to Barbara’s memory, here in the critical office where she once served.

    As we carry on her work – and build on the record of achievement that each of you has helped to establish – let us draw inspiration from all those who have dedicated their lives to the service of others, and whose memories remind us of the quiet power of compassion, patriotism, and selflessness that shone through the smoke and the wreckage of 9/11.

    These values have always given our nation strength – even in our darkest moments. Let us continue to honor them. And let us continue our work to ensure that – in our own time and in the work of future generations – the lessons of September 11th, and the rich legacies of those we lost, will never be forgotten.

    Thank you.

  • UPDATE: Club Asteria, Cherry Shares, ‘JustBeenPaid’ Promoter ’10BucksUp’ Falsely Claims PP Blog Posts As ‘ISPY’ On MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi Forum; HYIP Apologist Taunts U.S. Law Enforcement In Bizarre Post

    The bizarre descent into chaos of a failing “program” that claimed to be moving to “offshore” servers and once made its participants swear they were not government spies or media lackeys has gotten stranger yet.

    Poster “10BucksUp,” who’s now flogging the JustBeenPaid “program,” falsely claimed on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum today that the PP Blog posts on MoneyMakerGroup as “ISPY” and published a link to the Blog on the forum to discredit him.

    The PP Blog is not “ISPY” and does not post on MoneyMakerGroup under any identity. Nor does the Blog communicate with “ISPY” in any fashion, know his (or her) identity or encourage  “ISPY” directly or indirectly to post links to the Blog. The Blog has never encouraged any member of MoneyMakerGroup — or any other Ponzi scheme forum — to post links to the Blog.

    It is somewhat common for posters on Ponzi boards, including so-called “naysayers,” to post links to the Blog’s coverage of schemes-in-progress or schemes gone bust. It also is somewhat common for Ponzi board promoters to exhibit paranoia about the Blog’s reporting and even claim the Blog is part of a U.S. government operation.

    Prior to asserting that “ISPY” was the PP Blog, “10BucksUp” accused ISPY of threatening him. ISPY denied threatening “10BucksUp.”

    “10BucksUp” rose to Ponzi forum prominence as a pitchman and apologist for ClubAsteria, which became the subject of a probe by the Italian securities regulator CONSOB in May, had its PayPal account frozen, slashed weekly payouts to members and then eliminated the payouts.

    Meanwhile, “10BucksUp” also acknowledged today that he was a member of the collapsed Cherry Shares HYIP. In June, Cherry Shares was referenced in freeze and trade orders brought by The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), the securities regulator for the province of Quebec in Canada.

    The acknowledgement by “10BucksUp” of his Cherry Shares involvement means that he was participating in a second “program” that had come under government scrutiny — but nevertheless plowed headlong into JustBeenPaid.

    Earlier this month, “10BucksUp” advised members of JustBeenPaid that late-entry members were engaging in hurtful and “drastic measures” if they filed disputes with AlertPay. Among other things, JustBeenPaid has asserted it is a “private association.”

    The AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf made the same claim prior to its collapse in June 2009. AVG was one of the so-called AdSurfDaily clones — each of which launched (and collapsed) after the August 2008 seizure by the U.S. Secret Service of tens of millions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme investigation.

    Today’s false MoneyMakerGroup claims about the PP Blog also occurred against the backdrop of a securities fraud case brought by the SEC against Jody Dunn, an alleged pitchman for Imperia Invest IBC. Imperia Invest also was promoted on MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold, and the SEC charged that Dunn had promoted it blindly and relied on claims made by the purported opportunity, rather than conducting any actual due diligence.

    Millions of dollars directed at Imperia Invest went missing, the SEC charged.

    “You want to arrest me? [G]o ahead,” 10BucksUp wrote on MoneyMakerGroup today. “Send a Secret Service/US Seal/intergalactic commando force in my little 3rd world village. Afterall, that is what some Americans think of us right? We all should live under your whims, at what you dictate as legal and not illegal. And then when somebody else invoke that ‘power’ against you, you cry ‘dont tread on me’ or ‘taxed enough already[.”]

    “Go ahead with your crusade, Mr ISPY/Patrick Pretty/Twerp,” 10BuckUp continued. “Clean up the world of garbages like us. There are millions of us. I hope you can finish up in your lifetime.”

    10BucksUp did not say whether he believed U.S. and other world citizens unwise to the ways of the Ponzi pitchman should simply remain silent after they recognize they’ve been scammed and permit fraudsters to steal their money. Nor did he say whether he believed the U.S. government was making a mistake in prosecuting fraudsters who have disappeared with tens of millions of dollars in recent cases such as Legisi and Pathway to Prosperity — in an era of terrorism and economic uncertainty.

    The combined haul of the Legisi, Pathway to Prosperity and ASD “opportunities” was about $250 million, according to court filings. Separately, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said last year that Genius Funds, a collapsed HYIP, had gathered $400 million.

    Like Club Asteria, JustBeenPaid and Cherry Shares, Legisi, Pathway To Prosperity, ASD, AVG and Genius Funds were promoted on the Ponzi boards.

    FINRA specifically warned last year that HYIP fraud schemes spread on the Internet through social media and forums.

    “10BucksUp” said today that he used a “a free, blogger blog” to promote Club Asteria. Blogger is part of Google’s Blogspot platform.

    “Now everybody knows ISPY = Patrick Pretty,” 10BucksUp falsely asserted today.

    MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold are referenced in U.S. federal court filings as places from which Ponzi and fraud schemes are promoted.

  • Image Of Famed Actor And Grammy-Winner Will Smith Appears In Club Asteria House Organ Just Above ‘JOIN NOW’ Button; No Immediate Comment From His Publicist

    "ABOUT US" and "JOIN NOW" buttons — each punctuated with exclamation points — appear below this image of actor Will Smith in Club Asteria's September 2011 house organ. The PP Blog has cropped this screen shot not to show Smith's face, but his face appears in the Club Asteria promo.

    UPDATED 1:47 P.M. EDT (U.S.A. OCT. 29, 2011.)  An image of famed actor and rapper Will Smith appears in Club Asteria’s September house organ, an online glossy used by the firm to recruit affiliates across the world. It was unclear if Smith had knowledge of the promo or had authorized Club Asteria to use his likeness.

    A link to the publication featuring the image of Smith appeared on the TalkGold Ponzi forum yesterday. TalkGold is referenced in federal court filings as a place from which international fraud schemes are promoted.

    Smith’s publicists at the 42West agency in Los Angeles had no immediate comment on the promo when contacted today by the PP Blog, which provided a link to the Club Asteria publication. The entertainer’s image appears on Page 7 of the September gusher.

    Buttons using the words “LEARN MORE!”  “ABOUT US! and “JOIN NOW!” appear a short distance below the image of Smith. But readers who press the buttons do not receive information about Smith. Rather, the buttons forward to Club Asteria’s website. The “JOIN NOW” button, for instance, takes readers to Club Asteria’s registration page.

    The presence of the image of Smith, the wording and design of the page and the positioning of the buttons lead to questions about whether the “Independence Day” and “Men in Black” star had endorsed the purported Club Asteria opportunity or whether Club Asteria was trying to create the impression among readers that he was a spokesman for the company.

    In May, Club Asteria promotions were banned in Italy by the Italian securities regulator CONSOB. The agency has published its orders and findings on Club Asteria affiliate websites in Italy.

    It is common for shady promoters of multilevel-marketing (MLM) “opportunities” to plant the seed in promos that a particular product or service is endorsed by a celebrity when no actual endorsement exists.

    A headline of “Will Smith Inspires the World With Enthusiasm for Life, Work & People!” appears above the image of Smith in the Club Asteria promo.

    A deck below the headline uses these words, “An Interview With Will Smith,” suggesting that Club Asteria itself had a direct connection to him. In a short blurb below the deck, readers are told that the “interview” and “discussion” with Smith will inform them about the wisdom he gained “throughout his journey to success” and that Smith will explain “the importance of extraordinary dreams.”

    A button to a video —  apparently one that appeared on YouTube and is being reframed inside the house organ — appears below the image of Smith. When clicked, the video loads footage of an interview with Smith conducted by 60 Minutes reporter Steve Kroft (NOTE: This paragraph was edited on Oct. 29, 2011, to reflect that Kroft, not Scott Pelley, conducted the 60 Minutes’ interview.) As the video proceeds, it loads footage of Smith being interviewed by broadcaster Charlie Rose. It then works in footage of a Smith interview on NBC’s Today show and a Smith interview on the “Ellen” show. Footage from other shows also are spliced into the video.

    Club Asteria reportedly recruited more than 300,000 members in a worldwide promotional blitz that traded on the name of the World Bank. Hundreds — if not thousands — of promos for the firm claimed Club Asteria was a program that provided a weekly return on investment of between 3 percent and 10 percent. The offers were targeted at the world’s poor, with Club Asteria positioned as a company that could lift them out of poverty.

    Club Asteria was widely promoted on forums associated with Ponzi schemes and the sale of unregistered securities. Members said Club Asteria first slashed weekly payouts to members in the spring and then eliminated them. Club Asteria announced in May that its PayPal account had been frozen, a development it blamed on members.

    In various promos prior to the PayPal freeze, Club Asteria affiliates preemptively denied Club Asteria was operating a Ponzi scheme. Club Asteria managing member Andrea Lucas, whom the World Bank said in March once held a staff position at the bank, last worked for the bank in 1986 — 25 years ago.

    Lucas was described in promos for Club Asteria as a former “Director,” chairman and vice president of the World Bank. Images of Hank Needham, another Club Asteria principal, appeared in 2008 promos for AdSurfDaily.

    In August of that year, the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars from the personal bank accounts of ASD President Andy Bowdoin, alleging that he was presiding over an international Ponzi scheme.

    Bowdoin was arrested on criminal charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities in December 2010. His trial is pending. Like Club Asteria, ASD also was promoted on Ponzi boards such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup, which is listed in federal court filings as a place from which the alleged Pathway To Prosperity and Legisi Ponzi schemes were promoted.

    ASD, Pathway To Prosperity and Legisi created tens of thousands of victims globally and fraudulently obtained a combined total of about $250 million, according to court filings.

  • BULLETIN: Commodities Online LLC Fraud Case Takes Unexpected Turn; Federal Judge Says Defense Attorney Accused Her Of ‘Trampling’ On Client’s Constitutional Rights In Issuing Order To Turn Over $1.45 Million To Court-Appointed Receiver

    James Clark Howard III

    BULLETIN: A federal judge in Florida who says she was accused of “abusing” her discretion and “trampling” the Constitutional rights of a man implicated in an alleged multimillion-dollar commodities fraud by the SEC has ordered the defense attorney who made the assertions to explain himself and substantiate claims that his client had been denied due process.

    U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz ordered attorney Horecia I. Walker to respond in writing no later than Sept. 9 and explain what kind of investigation he conducted prior to asserting that James Clark Howard III and his counsel present at an Aug. 23 evidentiary hearing did not have adequate time to prepare for the hearing.

    Howard, who appeared at the hearing, was represented at the hearing by attorney Mark C. Perry, according to records. Both Howard and Perry had 11 days to prepare for the hearing, Seitz wrote.

    In an order issued on the same day as the hearing, Seitz directed Howard and Sutton Capital LLC to turn over $1.45 million to attorney David S. Mandel, the court-appointed receiver in the Commodites Online LLC fraud case filed in April by the SEC.

    Seitz gave Howard and Sutton, another firm associated with Howard, until yesterday to turn over the money. It was not immediately clear if either party complied with the order.

    What is clear is that Seitz was not amused by an emergency motion filed by Walker on behalf of Howard and Sutton to stay the Aug. 23 order to turn over the money pending an appeal of the order.

    “Walker has accused this Court of trampling Howard’s constitutional rights and abusing its discretion in entering the turnover Order,” Seitz wrote. “The factual underpinnings for these accusations are that Howard and Perry had insufficient time to prepare for the August 23, 2011, hearing. To avoid running afoul of Rule 11, Walker should have investigated these factual circumstances before relying on them to accuse the Court of a constitutional affront.”

    The judge added that “it appears to the Court that no such investigation occurred.”

    Seitz took issue with Walker’s characterization of the Aug. 23 hearing as an “apparent ‘evidentiary hearing,’” according to an order she issued yesterday denying the stay.

    “Walker posits that the hearing ‘was not an evidentiary hearing at all’ and the Court’s Order requiring disgorgement amounts to an abuse of discretion,” Seitz wrote. “Lost in all of his hyperbole is the simple fact that Howard and Perry received notice of the hearing eleven days before the hearing commenced.”

    Neither Howard nor Perry asked for a continuance, Seitz wrote.

    The Commodities Online case has a link to the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme case brought by the U.S. Secret Service in August 2008.

    SSH2 Acquistions, a Nevada company that listed former ASD member and pro-ASD Surf’s Up moderator Terralynn Hoy as a director, sued Howard and others in September 2010 amid allegations he was part of a massive Ponzi scheme into which SSH2 had plowed $39 million. The lawsuit was filed about six months after the Boca Raton Police Department filed felony charges against Howard in an alleged financial scam that targeted Haitian Americans.

    Surf’s Up was a cheerleading site for ASD, and Hoy later became a moderator of a cheerleading forum for the collapsed AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf.

    While SSH2 claims to be a Ponzi victim of Howard, the Surf’s Up and AdViewGlobal forums both claimed that ASD and AVG were conducting legitimate commerce. With Hoy as a moderator of Surf’s Up, the forum conducted an October 2008 online party complete with images of champagne and fireworks for ASD President Andy Bowdoin.

    The U.S. Secret Service described Bowdoin as an international Ponzi schemer and recidivist felon who’d gathered tens of millions of dollars in the ASD caper — most of it in ASD’s final weeks of life in the late spring and summer of 2008. At least $65.8 million was seized from Bowdoin’s 10 personal bank accounts, according to court records. One account alone contained more than $31.6 million. Three accounts contained the exact same amount: $1,000,338.91.

    It is unclear if ASD members beyond Hoy had any business ties to Howard and invested any money with the accused schemer. Hoy has not been accused of wrongdoing.

    SSH2 said in court filings that it plowed $39 million into the alleged Howard scheme, and received back about $19 million in “fake and fraudulent ‘profits.’” Sutton, Rapallo Investment Group LLC and Patricia Saa also were named defendants in SSH2’s lawsuit.

    Howard was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison in the 1990s on narcotics and weapons charges, according to records. ASD’s Bowdoin, meanwhile, narrowly avoided jail time during the same decade when he was implicated in Alabama in a securities swindle, according to records.

    Clarence Busby Jr., one of Bowdoin’s alleged business partners, was implicated by the SEC during the 1990s in three prime-bank schemes, according to records.

    Some ASD members have been identified as members of the so-called “sovereign citizens” movement. Cheerleading for Bowdoin and ASD continued on the Surf’s Up forum even after it was revealed that Curtis Richmond, one of the purported “sovereign” beings associated with ASD, had a contempt-of-court conviction for threatening federal judges in California and once claimed a federal judge from Oklahoma sitting by special designation in Utah owed him $30 million.

    Richmond was a member of the so-called “Arby’s Indians,” an “Indian” tribe that targeted public officials with vexatious litigation. U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot ruled the “tribe” a complete sham.

    U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer of the District of Columbia is presiding over the ASD Ponzi case. Both Richmond and Bowdoin tried unsuccessfully to have her removed from the case. Richmond accused Collyer of “TREASON” and claimed she may be guilty of 60 or more felonies.

  • SPECIAL REPORT: PROSECUTION: More Than 11,000 Remissions Claims And 150,000 Pages Of Documentation Received In AdSurfDaily Case; Number Of Claims Greatly Exceeds Population Of ASD’s Home Base Of Quincy, Fla.

    Andy Bowdoin

    UPDATED 12:09 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Federal prosecutors effectively advised U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer last month that enough people to fill a small city had filed remissions claims in the AdSurfDaily autosurf Ponzi case.

    Although prosecutors did not reveal a precise number, they said in court filings that more than 11,000 people had filed claims and provided more than 150,000 pages of documentation. ASD was based in Quincy, Fla.

    Remissions is a form of restitution. Prosecutors have said for more than two years that the government intends to compensate ASD victims from funds seized by the U.S. Secret Service in civil-forfeiture actions against ASD-related assets in 2008. Collyer issued civil judgments in the government’s favor totaling about $80 million in 2009 and 2010. Bowdoin was charged criminally with wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities in December 2010.

    ASD created Ponzi victims all over the world, prosecutors have said. The claims number alone greatly exceeds the Gadsden County community of Quincy’s population of roughly 7,000. It also greatly exceeds the population of Perry, the 7,000-inhabitant Florida town in Taylor County Bowdoin once represented as a council member and mayor.

    The claims number would consume nearly 80 percent of combined populations of Perry and Quincy. Looking at the number a different way, had ASD’s membership consisted only of residents of those two communities in separate counties, only one in five inhabitants — 20 percent — would be left untouched by the scheme.  Had the 80 percent of residents who filed claims lost significant sums in ASD, the economies of both cities could have been brought to their knees.

    Among the core dangers of autosurf schemes is that criminals — domestic and international — establish means by which they can tap into bank accounts, payment processing accounts and credit accounts at the local level. When a scheme collapses, it may affect commerce far and wide while also putting banks in multiple communities in possession of tainted cash. By some accounts, large numbers of members of individual churches became ASD members.

    A collapsed autosurf scheme not only may affect individual churches, it may affect the finances of the church itself and the commerce stream in reach of the church and its members. One 2008 promo for ASD and a purported “millionaire” advertising co-op viewed by the PP Blog as part of its reporting encouraged members (verbatim, text coloring added by PP Blog) to:

    Go to your nearest ATM machine
    Use your Debit card to withdraw the necessary cash for your payment OR
    Use your Credit card to make a “cash advance” of the necessary funds for your payment. Note: there is usually a much higher Annual Percentage Rate for a credit card cash advance. Take the cash to your nearest branch of Bank of America and deposit the cash amount in the AdSurfDaily, Inc. account, using the following information:

    The promo appeared on a website linked to Tari Steward, whom Bowdoin has identified as a potential defense witness and the Internet Marketer behind an effort by Bowdoin to raise funds to pay for his criminal defense.

    Screen shot: From a 2008 promo for an ASD millionaire co-op.

    The U.S. government warned in December 2010 that securities schemes such as AdSurfDaily and Imperia Invest IBC that spread virally on the Internet were creating tens of thousands of victims at a time. Imperia, which was smashed by the SEC in October 2010, was targeted at people with hearing impairments and gathered millions of dollars.

    Noobing, an autosurf that became popular after the ASD-related bank-account seizures in 2008 and collapsed in 2009 after the FTC took action against its parent company, also was targeted at the deaf community. Internet-based crimes and scams are creating victims in numbers America’s largest sports stadiums cannot accommodate, according to records.

    ASD gathered at least $110 million in its scheme and may have created 40,000 or more victims, prosecutors have said, asserting in January 2011 that “as far as the Government is aware, there is no available accurate compilation” of all individuals or entities that lost money in the scheme.

    “It appears from the investigation that there may be members who provided funds to ASD but whose information ASD did not enter into its database,” prosecutors said in January.

    Bowdoin, with Steward’s reported assistance, has busied himself since June to raise funds online for his criminal defense from the members he is accused of defrauding. A web entity known as “Andy’s Fundraising Army” has been sending “blast” emails for weeks to a list of ASD members that purportedly contains 77,000 names.

    Bowdoin also announced plans to complement his “Andy’s Army” fundraising efforts with a Facebook site, but no such site appears to have launched on the popular social network. At least three advertised launch dates for the Facebook site were missed.

    Meanwhile, the  “Andy’s Army” bid appears to have fallen flat, with Bowdoin stuck more than 95 percent short of his $500,000 goal after five continuous weeks of formal fundraising. Some ASD members have said they had received multiple fundraising appeals from Bowdoin in a single week.

    Screen shot: From the 2008 "millionaire" co-op promo.

     

  • Document Linked To Company Associated With AdSurfDaily Figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming Is Referenced In Congressional Record As ‘Claim Against The United States Of America’

    Screen shot from the Congessional Record of April 8, 2011. (Also see image and link to full-scale PDF below.)

    UPDATED 6:55 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A garden-variety, lawful protest commonly received in mailrooms within the halls of power? A self-serving, reality-inverting tale of the civil-forfeiture case against the proceeds of an alleged $110 million autosurf Ponzi scheme? A backdoor bid to end-run rulings made by the U.S. Judiciary and hand an invoice to the U.S. Congress for purported damages and financial penalties against public officials sprouting from the government’s alleged mishandling of the ASD case?

    The staff of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, did not immediately respond to a PP Blog request for comment this afternoon on a document apparently tabled by the panel after it was received in April after having been submitted by American-International Business Law Inc.

    AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming, a purported “sovereign citizen,” is listed in Washington state records (as “Kenneth Wayne”) as the chairman and president of American-International Business Law Inc. The firm’s name appears in the Congressional Record of April 8 as the presenter of a “petition . . .  relative to a claim against the United States of America.”

    Among other things, Leaming, who once was convicted of piloting an airplane without a license,  also was accused of practicing law without a license. He has purported to be a specialist in admiralty law — and has advertised the availability of a lower rate for “prepaid” clients.

    Details about the April document were not provided in the Congressional Record entry, and Leahy’s committee staff was unable to provide details immediately. The Blog asked the staff staff to provide a copy of the claim and, if possible, forward it to the Blog. Whether the staff will be able to accommodate the request was not immediately clear.

    Leaming and ASD member Christian Oesch unsuccessfully sought to sue the United States last year in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, apparently seeking the staggering sum of more than $29 TRILLION — more than twice the U.S. Gross Domestic Product in 2009.

    Their lawsuit targeted federal employees who had a role in the civil-forfeiture case filed against tens of millions of dollars alleged to be the proceeds of a massive Ponzi scheme conducted by Florida-based ASD. About $65.8 million was seized by the U.S. Secret Service from the personal bank accounts of ASD President Andy Bowdoin, and federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia scored a clean sweep in forfeiture-related litigation. The government now holds title to about $80 million seized from ASD-related bank accounts.

    The lawsuit came in the form of purported “Certificates of Default” issued against public officials on Feb. 16, 2010, by Tina M. Hall, a notary public with ties to Leaming.

    Hall’s notary license was revoked by the state of Washington in October 2010, about three months after Leaming and Oesch filed their lawsuit. The PP Blog reported yesterday that the license of Kathryn E. Aschlea, a second notary with a tie to Leaming and American-International Business Law Inc., also had her license revoked by the state of Washington.

    When Judge Christine Odell Cook Miller dismissed the Leaming/Oesch lawsuit in December 2010, she noted that the complaint included a claim by Hall that the officials had failed to respond to “claims in admiralty.”

    “At this point the complaint deteriorates into rambling,” the judge wrote  in her dismissal order.

    Whether the Judiciary Committee received a similar rambling narrative from Leaming and Oesch and one or more notaries public is unclear.

    See February 2009 story about ASD-related letter-writing campaign to Sen. Leahy by ASD figure “Professor” Patrick Moriarty. See follow-up editorial by PP Blog. Read May 2009 “Poof Penalty” story. Click here to read a Congressional Record PDF that includes the American-International Business Law Inc. reference.