Category: Alleged Ponzi Schemes
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BREAKING NEWS: SEC, CFTC Seek To Smash Alleged Florida-Based Ponzi Scheme With Ties To Panama; David F. Merrick Charged With Unlawfully Acting As Investment Adviser And Operating An Unregistered Foreign Investment Firm From Inside The United States
UPDATED 12:39 A.M. EDT (OCT. 16 U.S.A.) In twin actions that may send shockwaves across the offshore autosurfing “industry,” the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission have gone to court to stop an alleged Florida-based Ponzi scheme that claimed a presence in Panama. Today’s announced actions by the SEC and…
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EDITORIAL: Our Best Wishes To ‘Gomer Pyle,’ AUSA
William R. Cowden is the man some supporters of AdSurfDaily Inc. love to hate. Cowden’s middle name is “Rakestraw.” Such a name posed an altogether too enticing opportunity for one ASD apologist. The apologist opined that Cowden, a federal prosecutor acting on behalf of victims of an alleged $100 million Ponzi scheme, should be placed…
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Street Address Of ASD Site That Made Odd Claims Before Vanishing Tied To Major Insurance-Fraud Investigation
The street address listed for the domain ASD2Day.com appears in Florida records as the address of a woman charged with patient brokering and solicitation in a major insurance-fraud sting. Records show that a woman named Barbara Cruz was charged with four felony counts of insurance fraud in 2000. The name Barbara Cruz was listed as…
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Site That Used ASD’s Name And Made Odd Claims While Bowdoin Was Negotiating With Prosecutors Goes Offline
A website known as ASD2Day.com that was registered Aug 19 in the name of a Florida woman now is throwing a server error and appears to be offline. ASD President Andy Bowdoin was in negotiations with federal prosecutors when the ASD2Day domain name was registered, and some ASD members were participating in a PR campaign…
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Government Revokes Plea Offers In Case Against ‘Professor’ Patrick Moriarty; Prosecution Says It Has Seven Binders Of Evidence, Including Evidence From A ‘Casino’
Federal prosecutors have revoked plea offers made during discussions with a federal public defender representing AdSurfDaily mainstay “Professor” Patrick Moriarty. Moriarty has hired a new attorney, and prosecutors have advised the attorney that they have “voluminous” evidence, including seven 4-inch binders of records. Part of the evidence came from records at an unspecified casino, according…
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BREAKING NEWS: Receiver In FTC Case Against Parent Company Of Noobing Autosurf Seeks Wholesale Demolition Of Firm; Asks Judge To Approve Plan To Sell Assets — Right Down To Restroom Wastebasket
Assets of the parent company of an autosurf firm that targeted customers with hearing impairments would be sold at auction — up to and including a stainless-steel wastebasket in the women’s restroom, according to a plan proposed by the receiver in the case against Affiliate Strategies Inc. (ASI) and other companies. ASI is the parent…
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EDITORIAL: Andy Bowdoin’s ‘Caddyshack’ Problem
The AdSurfDaily case began in the strangest of ways: Within hours of being notified in August 2008 that his bank accounts would be seized, ASD President Andy Bowdoin recorded a message advising callers to the purported advertising firm that God was on its side. Two months earlier, Bowdoin had exhorted an ASD crowd in Las…
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Richard M. Harkless, Ponzi Scheme Figure, Sentenced To 100 Years In Prison; Judge Says He Showed No Remorse
A California man convicted of wire fraud, mail fraud and money-laundering in a $60 million Ponzi scheme has been sentenced to 100 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $35.5 million in restitution. Separately, Richard M. Harkless was ordered to pay $42 million in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties in a case brought…
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BREAKING NEWS: Bowdoin Attorney Says Client ‘Not Happy’; Claims Government’s Position ‘Indefensible’
UPDATED 4:58 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) ASD President Andy Bowdoin is “not happy” and recent filings by the prosecution and the U.S. Secret Service are “indefensible,” Bowdoin’s lawyer said in court filings today. Charles A. Murray, Bowdoin’s attorney, argued again that Bowdoin had been ill-served by a previous attorney when he agreed to surrender claims to…
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TEA LEAVES: AdSurfDaily Case About To Come To A Head?
EDITOR’S NOTE: Reading the tea leaves in court cases often is an iffy proposition, and there often is no way to know what will happen when. Readers are advised to keep those thoughts in mind when considering the information in this story. UPDATED 7:03 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Recent court filings suggest — although it is…
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U.S. Employment Numbers Worst Since 1983; Social Security Takes A Hit From Discouraged Early Retirees; FDIC Seeks To Recapitalize In Wake Of Nearly 100 Bank Failures In 2009
When the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf — now failed — was in prelaunch phase in December 2008, it positioned itself as an offshore cure for what ails the U.S. and world economies. Less than two years earlier, promoters of the AdSurfDaily autosurf — which has close ties to AVG — implied that the individual surf accounts…