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Category: Ad Surf Daily

  • 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.

  • Split In Bowdoin/Harris Family? Members Described As ‘Very Much’ Divided; At Least One Family Member Said To Have Contacted Federal Prosecutors

    Andy Bowdoin

    UPDATED 12:01 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Has the pressure of being challenged on multiple legal fronts led to a split in the extended family of AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin?

    The depths of any split are unclear, and it is believed that Bowdoin has the continued support of some members of the Bowdoin/Harris family.

    But interviews conducted by the PP Blog and information obtained through sources suggest Bowdoin is unable to travel internationally, no longer is living in Quincy, Fla., does not enjoy the uniform support of the extended Bowdoin/Harris family and has been blamed by some for engulfing them in the flames of a legal nightmare.

    At least one family member has contacted federal prosecutors, according to a source. How prosecutors responded to the overture, which was said to have been made in the summer of 2009, is unclear.

    On Saturday, numerous vehicles were parked at a Florida property associated with Bowdoin’s wife, Edna Faye Bowdoin, according to a source. Edna Faye Bowdoin is the mother of George Harris, the reputed co-owner of Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises and the AdViewGlobal autosurf, as well as the head of ASD’s purported “real-estate” division.

    Several women were present, but Bowdoin was not seen, the source said.

    A second source knowledgeable about the Bowdoin/Harris family described the family as a “family divided.” The PP Blog interviewed the second source in August 2009, and has not published comments from the interview until today.

    The source spoke with the PP Blog on the condition of anonymity, and demonstrated knowledge of the family by voluntarily answering questions posed by the Blog prior to the interview and during the interview. The Blog was satisfied that the source could offer insight into the thinking of certain family members.

    “There is already an unbelievable amount of friction in the family right now because of everything that Andy has done,” the source said. “This is very much a family divided.”

    Less than a month after the Blog conducted the interview, the state of Florida revoked the corporate registrations of ASD and Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises Inc. because neither company filed annual reports despite the continuing presence of active litigation involving both firms and despite being given a five-month window to file required documents.

    Neither Bowdoin nor family members explained why the corporate registrations were permitted to lapse. Only four days prior to the revocation, which could have been prevented by the simple filing of papers, Bowdoin told ASD members in a conference call that he had big plans for ASD.

    On the same date Florida revoked the corporate registrations — Sept. 25, 2009 — federal prosecutors turned up the heat on Bowdoin by accusing him in court filings of trying to lie his way back into the federal forfeiture case against ASD’s assets.

    Prosecutors made a veiled reference to AdViewGlobal in their filings, saying Bowdoin perhaps “was just buying time while searching for a different exit strategy that failed to materialize. Maybe Bowdoin thought that before the government brought its charges he (like some of his family members) could move to another country and profit from a knock-off autosurf program that Bowdoin funded and helped to start.”

    Three days later, on Sept. 28, prosecutors turned up the heat again, filing a Secret Service transcript of an ASD conference call and advising a federal judge that Bowdoin was telling her one story and members another.

    In the weeks that followed, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled that Bowdoin no longer had standing in the case. Bowdoin then attempted unsuccessfully to have Collyer removed as the judge.

    Collyer has granted the government’s forfeiture petition in a case filed in August 2008 involving tens of millions of dollars. Bowdoin now is seeking a reversal of that order, claiming it came as a result of judicial error. Prosecutors, however, said the judge did not err and that Bowdoin’s arguments are “impenetrably illogical.”

    Purportedly headquartered in Uruguay, AdViewGlobal, which crashed and burned in June 2009, had close family, membership and promotional ties to ASD.

    In the August 2009 interview, the source described George Harris and his wife, Judy Harris, as “very worried.”

    “Judy heard that the Secret Service was staring to investigate [AdViewGlobal,]” the source said.

    Certain family relationships are fractured beyond repair, the source said.

    “These relationships are done,” the source said. The source said that paranoia was gripping certain family members and that there were efforts to compartmentalize knowledge and limit use of the telephone.

    “They became very shady,” the source said.

    Andy Bowdoin led family members and members of ASD and AdViewGlobal down the primrose path, the source said.

    AdViewGlobal was described by Bowdoin as a “wonderful idea,” the source said, noting that Bowdoin described the successor autosurf as ASD with tweaks.

    AdViewGlobal launched after ASD’s assets were seized amid Ponzi, wire-fraud, securities fraud and money-laundering allegations.

    Andy Bowdoin wanted to proceed with AVG, according to the source, “because, with a few little tweaks, this company can make it.”

    In June 2009, less than a year after ASD’s assets were seized, AdViewGlobal announced a suspension of cashouts, exercising its version of a “rebates aren’t guaranteed” clause.

    How much money the surf collected and how much it paid out are unclear.

  • While Asking Members To Input License-Plate Numbers And Citing U.S. Based AMBER Alert In Promos, Data Network Affiliates Lists Domain-Registration Address In Cayman Islands

    UPDATED 2:37 P.M. ET (March 5, U.S.A.) If the United States or any U.S. based police agency were to purchase database entries from Data Network Affiliates (DNA), the government and the agencies would be purchasing information from a company that uses a Cayman Islands address.

    Even as it suggests the U.S.-based AMBER Alert program is wasting taxpayers’ money and encourages U.S. residents to write down the license-plate numbers of their neighbors for entry in a database, DNA is using a service in the Cayman Islands to keep the registration data of its domain name hidden.

    The street address in the registration data is used by an untold number of businesses, including porn sites and malware sites, according to Google search results. On May 4, 2009, President Obama specifically cited the Cayman Islands in remarks on his initiative to combat offshore tax fraud.

    Using capital letters on its website, DNA said the U.S.-based AMBER Alert system had recovered “ONLY” 492 abducted children, saying “DNA could help in such safe recoveries at a fraction of cost of Amber Alert.” Meanwhile, a DNA pitchman in a conference call questioned AMBER Alert’s effectiveness, even as DNA was using an address in the Cayman Islands.

    “I’m pretty sure you heard of AMBER Alert,” he said. “It saved over 497 people. But guess what? AMBER Alert, I think, costs about over $100 million a year or some kind of astronomical number.”

    The same pitchman also has suggested that U.S. church parking lots and the parking lots of giant retailers such as U.S.-based Walmart were places DNA members could harvest license-plate numbers for entry in DNA’s database.

    Why the company chose a Cayman Islands address for its website is unclear. Also unclear is why DNA would at once criticize AMBER Alert while repeatedly using its name to generate business for a company that lists its address as George Town, Grand Cayman, the capital city of the Caribbean nation in the British West Indies.

    AMBER Alert is managed by the U.S. Department of Justice. Its secondary program is managed by the U.S.-based National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

    Like Narc That Car — another company that is urging members to write down license-plate numbers — the DNA pitchman implored prospects to view the company as an excellent tool for “law enforcement.”

    “We’ll be able to reunite families,” he said. He did not reference the Cayman Islands domain registration in his pitch.

    DNA says it has an “Executive Power Team,” identifying Dean Blechman as its chief executive officer, board chairman and founder.

    “In the early 1990’s Mr. Blechman served as Director and Board Member of the National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA),” DNA says on its website. “Mr. Blechman was a key strategist and lobbyist for the NNFA and was influential in the team that was responsible for the passage in 1994 of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act through the United States Congress and Senate. This bill still stands today as one of the most important pieces of legislation in the Health Food and Natural Food Supplement Industry.”

    Troy Dooly, a multilevel-marketing (MLM) aficionado who runs the MLM Help Desk website, issued a Scam Alert on DNA yesterday. Dooly’s Scam Alert followed on the heels of an earlier one he issued for Narc That Car, which is the subject of an inquiry by the BBB in Dallas and an inquiry by the district attorney of Henderson County, Texas.

    “Data Network Affiliates aka DNA makes Narc That Car look like saints,” Dooly said on the MLM Help Desk website.

    Meanwhile, MLM aficionado Rod Cook, who was threatened with lawsuits for publishing information on AdSurfDaily, which later was implicated in a $100 million Ponzi scheme, also has labeled Narc That Car a scam.

    Narc That Car is “one of the cutest pyramid tricks ever pulled!!!!” Cook exclaimed on his MLM Watchdog website.

    Separately, a You Tube site featuring a Jeff Long video for Narc That Car in which Long informs viewers that he recorded 100 license-plate numbers for Narc That Car on his iPhone as he strolled though a Walmart parking lot, now says that he has jumped ship to DNA.

    In the Narc That Car video, Long said he collected so many license-plate numbers at Walmart that he could give some way to Narc That Car prospects, perhaps even enough for them to qualify for a $55 payout without leaving home.

    Long, though, now has turned sour on Narc That Car, according to a screaming message on the YouTube site.

    “This video talks about NARC That Car,” a message on the YouTube site says. “IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON MARKETING THIS BUSINESS ON THE INTERNET DO NOT JOIN!!!!! NarcThatCar CANCELED AND DISABLED My distributorship because I put this video YouTube…I’m now the #1 leader and sponsor in their BIGGEST COMPETITOR’S BUSINESS…DataNetworkAffiliates. Again…don’t join NarcThatCar if you plan on marketing on the internet!!!!!! JOIN DNA WITH ME FOR 100% FREE!”

    Long’s name was referenced in a recent DNA conference call.

    In other Narc That Car news, promoter “Jah” says he has received a check for $70 from Narc That Car.

    Jah, who says he has a Narc That Car team of 100 members, posted a video of the check on YouTube.

    In May 2009, Obama announced a crackdown on offshore fraud. On the same date — May 4 — the AdViewGlobal autosurf announced it had secured a new international wire facility. AVG crashed and burned in June 2009. The company it identified as its facilitator — KINGZ Capital Management Corp. (KCM) — later was banned by the National Futures Association (NFA) amid allegations that it failed to uphold high ethical standards and failed to supervise its operations.

    NFA’s specific ban on KCM centered on Minnesota Ponzi scheme figure Trevor Cook, who allegedly managed a KCM investment pool. Cook is one of two central figures in an alleged Ponzi scheme and financial fraud involving at least $190 million. The other central figure is Pat Kiley, a former host on Christian radio.

    Promotions for Narc That Car have appeared on the former Golden Panda Ad Zone forum, now known as the Online Success Zone. A pitch for DNA also appears on the site, as well as a promoter’s link to DNA conference calls.

    Golden Panda was implicated in the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme.

    At least three promos for Narc That Car and DNA have appeared on the former Golden Panda forum in recent days. One of the promos for Narc That Car was deleted. Two remain: one for Narc That Car, another for DNA.

    “UPDATE: D.N.A – FREE Method of Earning GOOD Money…Just surpassed 19,000 Members and Climbing,” says the headline in the DNA promo on the former Golden Panda site.

  • Feds Charge Husband And Wife In Alleged Work-At-Home Scheme; Philip Pestrichello Is Recidivist Offender

    EDITOR’S NOTE: Recidivism, the tendency to continue committing crimes or breaking laws even after getting caught and perhaps even going to prison, is a common theme in the scam universe. It has been an element in many recent cases we’ve written about, including the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme case (principals Andy Bowdoin and Clarence Busby had previous run-ins with securities regulators); the Frank Constantino securities-fraud case (Constantino had previous run-ins with securities regulators in Georgia and Missouri); the Edmundo Rubi foreclosure-rescue case (Rubi had a previous conviction in a Ponzi/pyramid case and spent time in federal prison).

    Meanwhile, it has been an element in the Philip R. Lochmiller Ponzi scheme case (Lochmiller previously was sentenced to three years in a California state prison for a fraud scheme); the Kenneth W. Lee Ponzi scheme case (Lee spent five years in a Texas prison in a previous fraud scheme and also had a $3 million judgment against him); the Thomas L. Labry securities-fraud case (Labry had been ordered by five states to cease and desist from selling unregistered securities); the Brian David Anderson Ponzi scheme case (Anderson was linked to multiple fraud schemes and clashed with law enforcement in the United States and Canada); the Bruce Namenson mortgage-fraud case (Namenson, formerly an attorney, already was in jail for an insurance scam when charged in the mortgage case); the Troy A. Titus Ponzi scheme case (Titus, a former attorney, was disbarred for writing bad checks for huge amounts before his Ponzi scheme conviction).

    At the same time, recidivism has been an element in the Trevor Cook Ponzi and financial-fraud case (Cook had a run-in with the National Futures Association before his spectacular run-in with the SEC and the CFTC);  and the Arthur Nadel Ponzi scheme case (Nadel, a former attorney, was disbarred decades ago amid allegations he raided client funds to pay off loan sharks).

    There are other recent examples, of course.

    Here is a new one . . .

    A New Jersey man implicated in fraud schemes dating back to the early 1990s has been arrested in a new, work-at-home fraud scheme, federal prosecutors said.

    Part of the scheme centered on telling participants that the companies involved had good reputations and weren’t shady, “get-rich-quick” schemes, prosecutors said.

    Philip Pestrichello, 38, of Bayville, N.J., is a recidivist offender who served three years in federal prison after being convicted in 2003 of mail fraud in a work-at-home scheme known as “IMXT & Co.”

    Pestrichello was on supervised probation when he hatched his new scheme — for which his wife, Rosalie Florie, 38, also was arrested. Prosecutors said the husband-and-wife team collected more than $1 million, operating the scheme through entities known as “Preferred Platinum Services Network LLC” ;”PPSN LLC”; “Home Based Associate Program;” and “Postcard Processing Program.”

    “Work-at-home scams prey on some of the most vulnerable in our society — the economically disadvantaged, the unemployed, the disabled, and the elderly — who are trying to supplement their income by working from home,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

    Bharara assigned the Complex Frauds Unit to the case. The FTC and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service also are playing pivotal roles.

    Pestrichello’s post-prison scheme began in June 2007, prosecutors said.

    Consumers were duped into sending money to Pestrichello and Florie “under the pretense that the consumers were enrolling in a program that would allow them to earn income at home,” prosecutors said. “In fact, the consumers typically got nothing in return for their payment.”

    The scheme operated though the U.S. mail, the Internet and classified ads. Participants
    were charged what they believed to be “one-time” enrollment fees of up to $90 and promised “the opportunity to earn a ‘weekly paycheck’ by labeling postcards that advertised a product called the ‘Mortgage Accelerator Program,’” prosecutors said.

    Consumers were told they could earn $1 for each postcard they labeled, but the story changed after they sent their money.

    “[A]fter consumers paid their enrollment fee, they were asked for more money to remain in the program,” prosecutors said. “Typically, consumers learned for the first time after paying the enrollment fee that they had to pay an additional fee, usually $40, for a new batch of 100 postcards for processing.”

    To keep the scheme churning, prosecutors said, the scammers pressured participants “to return their first set of labeled postcards ‘within 5 days’ or risk delays with their paychecks.

    “This caused many consumers to send in money for second and third batches of postcards before they received payment for the first batch,” prosecutors said. “By the time they realized they were not receiving any paychecks at all from PPSN, many consumers had already sent PPSN between $150 and $350.”

    Among the advertising claims were (italics added):

    “Would you like an opportunity to earn a $475 check from home processing Mortgage Products Postcards for our company?”

    “EARN $1.00 PER POSTCARD”

    “Rest assured, this is NOT a gimmick or some shady ‘get rich quick scheme.’ Our company has a rock-solid reputation . . . As one of our Home Based Associates you could earn $1.00 (one-dollar) for each Postcard you process and we conveniently offer you weekly
    compensation directly by Company Check each Friday.”

    “The vast majority of consumers ultimately received no money at all, after paying the up-front fee and labeling and returning the postcards as instructed,” prosecutors said. “Even those few individuals who were paid did not receive anything near the promised payments of $1.00 per postcard.”

    And, prosecutors asserted, the rules continued to change, thus putting consumers in the impossible position of clinging to the program in an effort to get back the money they paid in.

    “After consumers complained to PPSN that they did not receive the weekly paycheck, they either received no response from the company or were then told, contrary to PPSN’s earlier representations regarding the operation of the program, that the program was a ‘commission’ program, and that they would receive a commission only if and when the postcards they sent out generated a sale on the ‘Mortgage Accelerator’ product advertised in the postcards,” prosecutors said.

    “In fact, the Mortgage Accelerator Program itself appears to have been a sham, non-existent product,” prosecutors continued. “Although the work-at-home program was marketed as offering a ‘100% Satisfaction Policy’ guaranteeing consumers a refund in the event they are not fully satisfied with the program, refunds were rarely, if ever given. If a refund was in fact given, it was typically only after a consumer had complained to law enforcement authorities.”

    Pestrichello was in repeated trouble even prior to his 2003 criminal conviction, prosecutors said.

    “Between 1992 and 2002, Pestrichello was the subject of numerous enforcement actions by the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, the Office of the Attorney General in the State of Florida, and the FTC, in connection with his operation of other consumer fraud schemes. Those actions resulted in permanent injunctions barring Pestrichello from engaging in the type of conduct and business alleged in the Complaint.”

  • PROSECUTORS: Man Operated Identity-Theft Fraud Scheme While Out On Bond In Ponzi Scheme Case; Bryant R. Filter Sentenced To 135 Months In Federal Prison

    While completing its investigation of Bryant R. Filter for operating an insurance Ponzi scheme, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service discovered Filter was operating a second fraud scheme, federal prosecutors said.

    Filter, 39, of Mars, Pa., now has been sentenced to 135 months in federal prison for the Ponzi fraud, and a second scheme in which he stole the identities of customers to obtain fraudulent loans.

    Through a company known as Filter and Associates, Filter fraudulently secured financing for insurance premiums by fabricating “an insurance relationship with a nonexistent representative of an insurance company, and a fictitious underwriter,” prosecutors said.

    He obtained more than $8 million in the insurance scheme, which prosecutors dubbed a “Ponzi” type loan scheme.

    Even as the Ponzi case was before the court and Filter was pleading guilty in April 2009, Filter was knee deep in a second scheme, prosecutors said.

    “Unbeknownst to the Court and the government, Filter committed a second wave of fraud offenses, which resulted in his arrest on May 21, 2009,” prosecutors said.

    In the second scheme, Filter used a company known as Three Rivers Business Group LLC to obtain “personal information from clients seeking to sell or purchase a business and seeking the financing to do so.

    “Filter used the clients’ personal information without their permission to obtain financing proceeds in their names for himself,” prosecutors said.

    As part of the second scheme — and while Filter was out on bond in the Ponzi scheme — Filter “attempted to defraud a bank when he applied to obtain a $50,000 home equity loan in the names of unsuspecting victims, without their authorization, using their house as security.”

    A federal judge revoked Filter’s bond and jailed him when the second scheme was discovered.

    The identity-theft case involved financing for bogus accounts receivable and the “fraudulent acquisition of an $18,000 check after Filter purported to sell his leased vehicle and obtain clear title,” prosecutors said.

    Filter pleaded guilty in November to the identity-theft charges and was sentenced simultaneously on the Ponzi charges.

  • 3 Plead Guilty In Bizarre Shakedown Bid In Anthony Vassallo/EIMT Ponzi Case; 1 Pleads To Conspiracy To Impersonate An Officer

    Three individuals who attempted to shake down the operators of a hedge fund associated with the alleged Equity Investment Management and Training Inc. (EIMT) Ponzi scheme have pleaded guilty in California for their roles in the shakedown bid.

    Craig Anderson, 39, of Chicago, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to impersonate a federal officer and employee; Cassandra Moore, 26, of Beverly Hills, Calif., pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of unlawfully possessing false documents, as did Sean Smartt, 41, of Sacramento.

    The FBI described the crime as “bizarre,” when the shakedown charges were announced in May 2009. In announcing the guilty pleas today, federal prosecutors said the shakedown attempt occurred after a fake meeting was arranged in March 2009 under the guise that a wealthy investor wanted to meet figures associated with EIMT.

    Also participating in the shakedown scheme was Michael David Sanders, 41, of Fair Oaks, Calif., prosecutors said. Sanders has pleaded not guilty. His trial is set to get under way next month.

    “Once the individuals were inside the office, Anderson tapped on the window with an identification badge to gain entry,” prosecutors said. “Sanders, Anderson, Moore, and Smartt entered, wearing bulletproof vests, earpieces, and credentials falsely bearing identification information and the authentication feature of the United States.

    “They carried handcuffs, badges, and some carried radios and appeared to be armed leaving the impression that they were federal law enforcement agents,” prosecutors said.

    Anderson, Moore, and Smartt now “admit that Sanders and Anderson paced around the office, exposed their weapons, and blocked the entrances and exits of the office suite,” prosecutors said. “One of the co-conspirators told the hedge fund operators that the defendants were there to collect funds taken from the . . . (EIMT) account on behalf of fraud victims.”

    Anderson, prosecutors said, “told the hedge fund operators that they had until noon on Monday, March 9, 2009, to wire $378,300.16 to a Patelco Credit Union account in the name of the ‘Spirit Foundation’ and to send an e-mail confirmation,” prosecutors said. “The defendants left a sheet of paper with the wiring instructions, routing number, account number, bank name, amount, and an e-mail address.”

    Anderson faces a maximum of five years in federal prison. His sentencing is set for April 27, before U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez.

    Smartt and Moore are set to be sentenced on April 25 and 26, before U.S. District Judge Gregory G. Hollows. They face up to a year in prison.

    Anthony Vassallo was charged in April 2009, with mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, amid allegations he operated the $40 million EIMT Ponzi scheme.

    Vassallo has pleaded not guilty.

  • FBI Makes Ponzi Arrest In California; Peter Jerald Frommer Faces Up To 233 Years Behind Bars If Convicted On All Counts

    UPDATED 5:23 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) A California man has been arrested by the FBI and IRS criminal investigators in an alleged Ponzi scheme involving $12 million.

    Peter Jerald Frommer was taken into custody this morning, after a federal grand jury returned a 17-count indictment yesterday.

    Frommer, 34, formerly of Malibu, was charged with two counts of mail fraud, seven counts of wire fraud, five counts of money laundering and three counts of failing to file federal income-tax returns.

    Prosecutors said he faced a maximum sentence of up to 233 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

    “Frommer operated a bogus investment scheme under the names ‘Cap Exchange’ and ‘Cap X’ that purported to trade in surplus property of defunct companies,” prosecutors said. “[He] told numerous victims throughout the United States that he used commercial auction websites to purchase large lots of equipment for resale at higher prices.”

    Between January 2004 and August 2006, prosecutors said, Frommer allegedly solicited “at least $12 million from victims by promising ‘guaranteed’ returns of 8 percent to 15 percent during cycles as short as six weeks.”

    Investors were told Frommer would use their money “to buy the distressed assets for Cap X, and then would share profits from the subsequent sales,” prosecutors said.

    “In addition to personal promissory notes, Frommer issued account statements that purported to show returns in the Cap X investment,” prosecutors said.

    More than 50 investors were targeted in the scheme, including residents of California, Oregon, Virginia, Illinois and Massachusetts, prosecutors said.

    Frommer did not purchase distressed assets with the victims’ money, prosecutors said.

    “Instead, [he] allegedly misappropriated this money to maintain his lavish personal lifestyle and to make Ponzi payments to victims, while falsifying Cap X account statements to lull victims into believing that their money was safe and earning high returns,” prosecutors said.

    It has been a busy week for Ponzi prosecutors in California.

    Miguel Salazar, 36, of West Covina, pleaded guilty to mail fraud Tuesday. Prosecutors said Salazar ran a Ponzi scheme “that took nearly $700,000 from victims who thought they were investing in latex gloves, which were portrayed as being in high demand following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.”

    Salazar’s former partner, Carlos Flores, 43, of Lakewood, pleaded guilty to mail fraud in December.

    In other Ponzi news, an auction company is preparing to sell six vehicles linked to the alleged Trevor Cook/Pat Kiley Ponzi and financial-fraud scheme in Minnesota.

    Among the items set to go up for bid Feb. 13 is a 1989 Rolls Royce Silver Spur linked to Cook. The Cook/Kiley scheme is alleged to be a fraud of at least $190 million.

    In Utah, meanwhile, prosecutors said that Jeffrey Lane Mowen — accused in both a Ponzi scheme and a murder-for-hire plot in which potential Ponzi witnesses were to be killed — used Morse code as part of the murder plot.

  • Frank Constantino Convicted Of Racketeering-Related Charges In Georgia Securities Fraud Case With Ties To Belize; Victim In $2.7 Million Scheme Was 83-Year-Old Woman

    A Georgia man potentially faces decades in prison after being convicted yesterday of racketeering-related charges.

    Frank Constantino, 65, of Marietta, was a recidivist securities offender previously disciplined in Missouri for a Bahamas-based scheme and also linked to a scheme in Belize, officials said. He now faces up to 95 years in prison after his conviction on charges of fleecing an elderly woman in a $2.7 million scheme.

    Constantino was convicted of violating the Georgia Securities Act, theft and exploitation of an elderly person. Records show he first clashed with Georgia securities regulators in 1997, in a case that featured allegations that he claimed investments in a candy company were guaranteed against loss.

    Prosecutors said Constantino had a history of creating shell companies such as Atrium Secure Annuity, Atrium Global Partners and Atrium Investment Partners to fleece investors.

    Now facing up to 95 years in prison, Constantino already has been in the Cobb County jail for 349 days. He lost a Georgia Supreme Court battle in October in which he sought release pending trial, arguing he was in poor health and not a threat to flee.

    Prosecutors argued he posed a “significant”  flight risk because “he did not own any assets in this country, he owned assets in Belize and Nicaragua, and he traveled to Belize on a regular basis.”

    In rejecting Constantino’s bid to be released pending trial, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed a lower-court ruling that Constantino “posed a significant risk to flee” in part because of an alleged history of funneling “significant amounts of money to investments in Belize.”

  • FBI: Investigators ‘Wrapping Up’ Decade-Long Probe Into ‘Pump And Dump’ Penny-Stock Schemes That Caused ‘Hundreds Of Millions’ In Losses

    Source: FBI

    UPDATED 2:46 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) And to think a cheerleader for AdSurfDaily once boasted online that Megalido was “offshore” and therefore safe from government meddling, after earlier suggesting that ASD members who did not support the company after Ponzi allegations surfaced perhaps would get dragged off in handcuffs while supporters remained free.

    To further chill ASD defectors, the cheerleader even shared his version of lyrics from the television program “COPS.”

    “Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha Gonna Do?” he chanted on the now-defunct AdSurfZone forum, a predecessor site to the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum. “Whatcha Gonna Do>WHEN<THEY COME FOR YOU ?!!!”

    Could an adult be so out of touch he actually believed law enforcement did not have a clue about how fraudsters operate and had no experience at all investigating intricate and elaborate crimes that touched all 50 U.S. states, Canada, the Caribbean and other parts of the world?

    The plain answer is yes.

    Even as the apologist chanted, however, the FBI was in the seventh year of one of the most intricate and exhaustive probes in its history, a history that dates back to 1908.

    Now the FBI, which has 456 satellite offices in the United States and 60 offices overseas, says it is “wrapping up” a penny-stock investigation “that was so massive it took the better part of a decade to unravel.”

    Operation “Shore Shells” included probes into 40 separate schemes and, to date, has resulted in 40 convictions, the agency said. The FBI and partner agencies chose the “Shore Shells” name because the probe originated on New Jersey’s Atlantic coast and involved “fake” companies or “shell” firms.

    Targeted in the probe were CEOs, stock brokers, CPAs, financial advisers and attorneys who conspired to pump up the price of penny stocks with bogus news releases, false postings on Internet forums and fraudulent information delivered in newsletters, the FBI said.

    Perhaps the most notable conviction to date was that of Robert P. Gordon, 57, of
    St. Petersburg, Fla. Gordon was sentenced in New Jersey to 20 years in prison, after a jury found him guilty of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money-laundering.

    Investors lost $15 million in the pump-and-dump scheme, which included company names such as TeleServices Internet Group Inc. (TSIG) and Phoenix Information Systems Inc.

    “Gordon and several of his co-conspirators executed fraudulent agreements between TSIG and offshore entities, which they secretly controlled,” prosecutors said. “Typically, the offshore entities were located in the Cayman Islands.”

    The elaborate scheme involved fraudulent consulting agreements with other entities, and co-conspirators “caused millions of shares of the TSIG stock to be issued in the name of the entities,” prosecutors said. The conspirators attempted to skirt securities laws, and
    fraudulently received shares that were laundered in Canada and the United States.

    “Afterward, the ill-gotten proceeds were often laundered by wire transferring those funds from the brokerage accounts to an attorney trust account located in Denver and then dispersed to the co-conspirators,” prosecutors said.

    Investors dump their life savings into pump-and-dump schemes, which deliberately are designed to be elaborate to line the pockets of insiders.

    Now the FBI has disclosed some details about the victims — the people the AdSurfZone poster would have ASD members believe were the “Bad Boys” for not cheerleading for the international scammers.

    Here, according to the FBI, are some victims’ stories in brief:

    • A man suffering from multiple sclerosis. His stockbroker liquidated the man’s pension and IRA, “and left him nearly penniless.”
    • A woman who invested her savings and pension. She also took out a second mortgage to bolster her stake, and “lost everything.”
    • A husband and wife who both developed dementia during the probe. FBI agents spent hours with the victims and their family members at a nursing home, while also meeting with the victims’ accountants to reverse-engineer their losses.
    • A physician from a “prestigious hospital.” The doctor “began suffering from severe depression after learning of the scam and became unable to work.”

    As operation “Shore Shells” expanded, it grew to include more than 100 seizure and forfeitures actions totaling more than “$70 million in cash, artwork, jewelry, homes, cars, and other valuables.”

    The real “Bad Boys” have been ordered to pay more than $130 million in restitution.

    “We expect millions more to be forfeited and repaid to the victims,” the FBI said. “We spent years interviewing more than 600 mainly elderly victims, painstakingly documenting their sometimes heartbreaking losses.”

    Others convicted in operation “Shore Shells” include Gary Brown, 61, of Sarasota, Fla.; Joseph Morgan, of St. Pete Beach, Fla.; and Gary Brown, also of Florida, for their roles in a scheme involving a company known as Skylynx Communications.

    Brown pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. His sentencing is set for for May 7.

    “At his plea hearing, Brown admitted that beginning in May 2002 and continuing through October 2005, he operated a sophisticated scheme, involving more than five co-conspirators, which used deceptive and manipulative practices in connection with the fraudulent issuance, purchase, and re-sale of shares of stock of Skylynx Communications,” prosecutors said.

    More than 50 Skylynx investors were defrauded. Brown admitted that he conspired with Morgan, who already has been sentenced to two years in prison, and McPhee, whose sentencing is pending, prosecutors said.

    Brown agreed to forfeit about $650,000, as part of his plea.

    Read more about operation “Shore Shells” and pump-and-dump schemes.

  • POSTAL INSPECTORS: Ponzi Scheme Targeted Filipino Community In New York; Razel Canedo Arrested In Atlantic City In ‘Nanny’ Ponzi Scheme

    EDITOR’S NOTE: If you’re keeping a “Bubba Blue” notebook on the ways to have a Ponzi scheme as opposed to having shrimp, here’s one you might want to list: an alleged “Nanny” Ponzi scheme.

    In yet another case that couples Ponzi and affinity fraud, Razel Canedo was charged with targeting Filipino immigrants in Greater New York City in an alleged $1 million scheme that sold promissory notes by suggesting the proceeds would be used to pay expenses of nannies and nurses from the Philippines who wanted to work in the United States.

    The scheme also used religious references, prosecutors said.

    Canedo, 41, was charged with mail fraud and wire fraud. She was arrested in Atlantic City. Investigators said she used the aliases of “Razel Torres” and “Razel Agravante,” while operating companies known as “Lady of Lourdes” and “K&K Nannies.”

    But Candeo did not invest the victims’ money in Lady of Lourdes or K&K Nannies, prosecutors said. Instead, she put the “bulk” of it in “overseas bank accounts or deposited it into domestic accounts and withdrew it as cash.”

    “Ponzi schemes often target religious or ethnic groups to defraud them of their hard earned money,” said Ronald J. Verrochio, inspector-in-charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service. “Working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the community, the Postal Inspectors will combat these frauds to protect everyone in our community from falling victim.”

    As often is the case in Ponzi schemes, investors were promised huge returns.

    “Candeo told investors that they would earn a return on their investment of anywhere from 3 percent per month to 50 percent per year,” prosecutors said. “[She] told victims that the money invested in Lady of Lourdes would be used to pay for training, immigration expenses, and placement services for nurses from the Phillipines who wanted to work in the United States, and that the money invested in K&K Nannies would be used to pay for similar services for aspiring nannies.”

    U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the scheme was reprehensible.

    “Razel Canedo preyed on members of the Filipino-American community who invested their hard-earned money into what they later learned was merely Canedo’s bank accounts,” Bharara said. “We will continue to work with our partners at the U.S. Postal Inspection
    Service to pursue financial fraud and vindicate its victims.”

    Some investors’ received payouts to sustain the deception, and others received checks that bounced, prosecutors said.

    In recent affinity-fraud cases, former Christian Radio host Pat Kiley was implicated by the SEC and the CFTC in an alleged $190 million fraud in Minnesota. Also charged in the case was Trevor Cook.

    Milton Retana of Huntington Park, Calif., was convicted in a Ponzi scheme that targeted Latinos. Investigators found $3.2 million in cash in the back of a religious bookstore owned by Retana’s wife.

    Meanwhile, John Farahi, a host on Persian-language radio in Greater Los Angeles, was charged by the SEC of operating a financial scheme targeted at Iranian-Americans.

    Investors were told they were investing in FDIC-insured certificates of deposit, government bonds or corporate bonds issued by companies backed by funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

    Elsewhere, Gregg T. Rennie pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts to 13 counts of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud. He potentially faces decades in prison and fines in the millions of dollars.

    Rennie hosted a radio show known as “Your Money” and targeted Christian listeners, prosecutors said.

  • NarcThatCar: Site Operates As MLM, Says Members Earn By Writing Down License-Plate Numbers; Links Itself To Amber Alert Program

    NarcThatCar wants you to pay it $100 up front. For that fee, you become a “consultant” qualified to write down the license-plate numbers of 10 cars per month, input the information into a database and earn multilevel commissions by recruiting. After you pay the $100, you’re then charged $24.95 a month for a website, according to Narc That Car.

    Some members of AdSurfDaily and Golden Panda Ad Builder now are promoting the NarcThatCar program, which says clients such as major automobile manufacturers, companies that have private liens against cars, banks, car dealerships that do their own in-house financing and commercial vehicle companies are interested in purchasing information from the database.

    If the repo man, for example, is looking for a car and the owner is hiding it, NarcThatCar — relying on the input of its team of license-plate gawkers — will sell him a database entry on reported sightings of the car for $99 — and even provide a map of the reported sightings.

    The repo man also has the option of offering a “finders fee for information which leads to the location of your collateral,” Narc That Car says. “This option sometimes helps the process along.”

    NarcThatCar labels its license-plate gawkers “independent consultants.” It appears as though any independent consultant hit by a car or otherwise injured while while gawking at license plates and recording their numbers would need to rely on his or her own insurance.

    The NarcThatCar website does not explain how consultants should proceed if, say, a local merchant calls the police to complain that a strange person appears to be walking around the parking lot and writing down license-plate numbers.

    Who else can use the Narc That Car database?

    “Law-enforcement agencies, government agencies, missing persons and the Amber Alert program,” Narc That Car says in a video to recruit prospects.

    Information on Amber Alerts, which are issued when a child goes missing, scrolls across the bottom of the NarcThatCar website.

    The U.S. Department of Justice, which celebrated the 14th anniversary of the Amber Alert program Jan. 13 and maintains an official website on the program, did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the NarcThatCar program.

    NarcThatCar does not list the names of any clients on its website. Nor does the company disclose information on how many database clients it has and how many of them are paying fees to receive a report on a target vehicle. Also unclear is whether Narc That Car imposes a fee if the government or the Amber Alert program wanted to use its database.

    Narc That Car, however, does disclose that it has rounded up “thousands” of consultants to write down license plate numbers, enter the information in a database and potentially earn MLM commissions at least five levels deep.

    The business is simple, Narc That Car explains.

    “Narc a Few Cars,” the company says. “Teach Others How to Narc Cars.”

    The company says members are required to act in a “lawful, ethical and moral manner” and perform “with honesty and integrity.” NarcThatCar adds that it provides instruction on federal and state privacy laws and “fundamental training on the the proper way to gather information.”

    On “the online success zone,” a forum once known as “The Golden Panda Ad Zone,” a Narc That Car sponsor is promoting the program in a thread titled, “ANYONE CAN DO THIS…write down 10 license plates a month get paid.”

    The Amber Alert program is referenced in the first sentence (18th word) of the Narc That Car pitch.

    “A company out of Dallas needs to grow a data base of license plates to use for Amber Alerts and other reasons,” the pitch begins.