UPDATED 5:42 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) In a flurry of activity in the racketeering lawsuit against ASD President Andy Bowdoin, ASD attorney Robert Garner and Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby, the plaintiffs in the case have formally added two attorneys and filed a motion for more time to respond to Garner’s motion to be dismissed as a defendant.
Filing pro se despite the fact he is an attorney, Garner earlier asked U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer to dismiss him as a defendant, arguing the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had no jurisdiction over him.
New court filings by the plaintiffs suggest Garner has retained paid counsel and that his attorney has agreed to give the plaintiffs until July 6 to respond to Garner’s self-filed dismissal motion. The response had been due tomorrow.
The formal move by the plaintiffs — all of whom are ASD members — balances an earlier move by Bank of America to add two attorneys to its legal team. The bank is a Non-RICO defendant in the case.
Bowdoin, Garner and Busby engaged in racketeering with unnamed others, and Bank of America aided and abetted the scheme, the plaintiffs alleged.
Bowdoin still has not answered the RICO complaint, which was filed in January and amended in April.
An AdViewGlobal (AVG) promoter has shared a strategy that potentially could cause a legal calamity for individual AVG promoters and members. The member posted his strategy on an AdViewGlobal forum set up by some Mods and members of the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum.
AVG, which purports to be headquartered in Uruguay and also is known as AVGA, launched a new website Monday, redefining itself as a full-fledged advertising company with a host of services. Within hours, the surf firm announced that a 200 percent, matching-bonus program would end June 5, not June 29 as originally advertised.
AVG prospects and existing members expressed concern that they would not be able to get their accounts credited with purchases or the bonus before the June 5 deadline. The new deadline shaved 24 days off the original deadline.
One AVG promoter, however, said there was a workaround by which established program sponsors could serve as a conduit for AVG.
Under the workaround, established sponsors could gather money from individual prospects, deposit it in the sponsors’ local banks and then send a check by overnight mail to international payment processors in Canada and Panama.
Alternatively, the sponsors could use their local bank’s wire facility to wire money to the processors, the promoter explained.
Once the offshore payment processors credited the sponsors’ accounts, the sponsors could transfer the money to AVG and use AVG’s internal system to transfer ad packs to the prospects’ accounts in the amounts they desired to purchase, ensuring that the matching bonuses also would be credited by the June 5 deadline.
“Many new members may or may not be able to become verified AND have their account funded in time to qualify for the match,” the promoter said. “So as a sponsor what you can do is bank wire or overnight your payment processor ([SolidTrustPay] or [StrictPay]).
“You are guarantee[d] to have it into your account by Friday. Once it hit[s] your account, log into backoffice and ‘Fund your AVGA account’. This will bring the money into your cash balance. Once it’s in your cash balance, then you can INSTANTLY transfer it to your members. Once money hits their account, they can make a purchase and “BAM” get[] the 200% match.
“You can have your members wire you their funds or whatever the 2 of you decide upon,” the promoter continued.
“Unless [there] is a direct wire to AVGA for funding, this is probably the best way that I can see that you can help all your present AND new members get the 200% match,” the promoter said.
Such an approach potentially brings many issues into play at the individual level, including mail fraud, wire fraud, money-laundering, tax evasion, selling unregistered securities and acting as a securities broker-dealer without a license.
Some members of AdSurfDaily, a Florida company accused of wire fraud, selling unregistered securities and operating a Ponzi scheme, also gathered money directly from prospects and used ASD’s internal system to transfer credits.
ASD’s internal laxity and inability to post purchases in timely fashion led to assertions that individual promoters could use the company to make tax-free side deals with prospects. If a promoter already was in “profit” and had a stockpile of ad-packs on the books, he or she could sell the ad-packs at a discount to prospects, transfer the ad-packs to prospects using ASD’s internal system and pocket the cash.
The prospects would “earn” at ASD’s advertised rate, even though they paid less than others for ad-packs by purchasing through sponsors and bypassing the company. Other ASD members who had paid full price through ASD would inherit the burden of paying for the discounted ad-packs and their full “earning” potential.
Collecting money from prospects and transferring ad-packs using AVG’s internal system may be problematic even if the ad-packs aren’t offered at a discount. The government views the autosurf business model as foundationally corrupt, and makes no secret that participants are subject to prosecution under securities, wire-fraud, mail-fraud, money-laundering and racketeering statutes.
Federal prosecutors have asked U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer for an order that would finalize the forfeiture of more than $14 million seized from Golden Panda Ad Builder last year as part of the AdSurfDaily case.
Golden Panda, whose president was Clarence Busby, amassed the amount in only days. The final sum, taking credits and offsets into account, was $14,048,598.07. The government seized five Golden Panda accounts in all, including one that contained precisely $6 million.
If Collyer signs the order, it would mean that the government gets final possession of the money. It also would mean that the government would be one step closer to implementing a refund procedure for for members who certified they were crime victims.
A timeline for the full implementation of a refund program is far from clear because ASD President Andy Bowdoin and various pro se litigants are still fighting the forfeiture.
More than $65.8 million was seized from Bowdoin accounts, including three accounts that contained the exact same amount: $1,000,338.91.
Bowdoin’s largest account contained more than $31.6 million. Another Bowdoin account contained more than $23.7 million. A third Bowdoin account contained more than $4.99 million. (An additional $107 would have made it an even $5 million.)
A promotional email sent today by the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf hotlinks to servers from Forbes.com, the Washington Business Journal and The Business Review.
The email reproduced logos of the publishing companies, pulling the images off the companies’ individual servers and creating the impression that the companies were endorsing the controversial surf firm. URLs that identify the servers are contained in code hidden on the page. The code is visible when viewing the properties of the email.
Separately, individual AVG members used a Forbes logo and links to Forbes to promote the surf. AVG issued a news release through PR Newswire today, and Forbes published the PR Newswire feed. Forbes’ logo also appeared on a forum frequented by AVG members.
It was not immediately clear if Forbes, the Washington Business Journal and The Business Review had authorized use of their logos or the hotlinking, which consumes bandwidth at the expense of the companies.
In the email, AVG did not link to the PR Newswire URL for the news release. Instead, the surf linked to a Forbes URL that republished the PR Newswire feed.
AdSurfDaily (ASD), a surf firm with close ties to AVG, was accused last year of operating a $100 million Ponzi scheme from a former flower shop in Quincy, Fla. Promoters claimed that ASD President Andy Bowdoin had received a special award from the White House for business achievement, but Bowdoin actually was a convicted felon who received an award from the National Republican Congressional Committee for campaign contributions, prosecutors said.
Some ASD members also claimed Google had entered into a partnership with ASD, but the claim proved to be a click-fraud attempt in which ASD members were encouraged to click on ads so ASD could earn fees.
Meanwhile, AVG announced that it was ending a 200-percent, matching-bonus program on June 5, twenty-four days earlier than advertised. The surf previously told members the promotion would end June 29.
AVG has advertised matching bonuses as high as 250 percent. During a 200-percent promotion, a promoter claimed $5,000 spent with AVG turned into $15,000 “instantly!”
The surf purports to be headquartered in Uruguay, but today’s PR Newswire release carried a dateline of Tallahassee. The promotional email AVG sent said the email originated in Uruguay.
EDITOR’S NOTE: There are plenty of reasons to avoid the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf, not the least of which is that the government views the autosurf business model as foundationally corrupt. Autosurf operators and promoters are subject to prosecution under federal securities, wire-fraud, mail-fraud, money-laundering and racketeering statutes, and the surfs typically operate as Ponzi schemes. They also are subject to prosecution under state laws.
Readers should not infer that numbered items in the Top 5 list below are ranked in order of importance. Some of the information below is being published for the first time today.
1. AVG may be operating as a “ghost” enterprise. Research suggests that AVG, which purports to be headquartered offshore, may be using at least one U.S.-based company to funnel money to itself through complex wire transfers. The owner of the company filed a corporate bankruptcy petition in 2004 for a separate company he owned. In 2005, the owner filed a personal bankruptcy petition, listing nearly $1.4 million in liabilities and only $3,500 in assets.
The 2005 bankruptcy petition listed the owner’s address as an apartment, specifically using the abbreviation “Apt.” The apartment address, however, appears to have been the address of a UPS Store that once operated as a Mailboxes Etc.
A former business partner of the owner committed suicide in 2002, after members sued the former partner amid concerns that a large sum of money was missing from a co-op venture. Prior to taking his own life, the man made inquiries about banking in Switzerland and the Caribbean, according to court filings.
One of the key selling points of AVG is its purported offshore location. The company claims to be headquartered in Uruguay. Its servers resolve to Panama. Regardless, the company has used “gmail” addresses from U.S. based Google to communicate with members and perform certain customer-service functions.
A company with ties to AdViewGlobal uses the address of this U.S. office building.
Research suggests a company with which AVG has a close association is headquartered in a modern office building in the United States. The building was constructed in 2003. Office functions and conferencing can be rented by the hour. Two large airports are nearby, and a major Interstate highway is situated one mile from the building.
We are declining to publish the address of the building or identify its specific geographic location. We have confirmed through public records and other sources, however, that the company lists an address at the building, that the business has made inquiries about international wire transfers and that two international financial-services companies have established a tie to AVG and blocked wire transactions because of the AVG tie.
2. Two forfeiture cases against AdSurfDaily and a RICO case are still active. AVG launched in the wake of two forfeiture actions brought by the government against assets tied to AdSurfDaily and a racketeering lawsuit brought against ASD by individual members. AVG has close family, management and promotional ties to ASD (see No. 3 below), and the multiagency federal probe into ASD’s business practices is ongoing.
It is known that the U.S. Secret Service, the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Department of Justice are involved in the investigation, and it is believed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Securities and Exchange Commission have at least peripheral involvement. At the same time, it is known that the office of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is involved in the probe, and it is believed that other Florida agencies also are involved.
It also is known that various state attorneys general, state banking regulators and state securities regulators have knowledge about the ASD case.
Your AVG sponsor or his or her upline sponsor could be a target of the ASD investigation, which means you could be doing business with a person the government views as a participant in a criminal enterprise. Forfeiture complaints were filed against assets tied to ASD in August and December. The government views ASD as a criminal enterprise. All money collected by ASD and all “profits” derived from ASD are viewed as the proceeds of a crime.
Meanwhile, the RICO complaint brought by ASD members in January alleged that ASD was engaged in racketeering with unnamed co-conspirators. Some of the alleged co-conspirators may have ties to AVG.
3. AVG’s “association” structure does not insulate it from prosecution. AVG has shifted to an “association” structure, apparently on the theory that the “association” approach can immunize members from prosecution for violations of state and federal law. Such associations may say their power is derived from the U.S. Constitution. They may publish statements that resemble a loyalty oath and frequently are associated with tax schemes. Even by the incongruous standards of the surf world, AVG is setting a new standard for weirdness.
The AV Global Association (AVGA) is now listing Judy Harris as its “First Trustee.” Harris, the wife of George Harris, replaces Gary Talbert in the role of “First Trustee.” George Harris, the stepson of AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin, is the “Successor Trustee.”
What this means, literally, is that AVG is linking itself to Bowdoin family members identified by the federal government as the beneficiaries of illegal conduct by ASD, after earlier disclaiming any affiliation with ASD and during an active criminal investigation. What it means as a practical matter is unclear because the situation is so bizarre it almost defies description.
Talbert, who is not a Bowdoin family member but is a former ASD executive who filed a sworn affidavit on ASD’s behalf in the August forfeiture case, resigned suddenly March 20 as AVG’s chief executive officer. Three days later, on March 23, AVG announced its bank account had been suspended. AVG has never provided a clear explanation of either event. Talbert’s name now has been removed as an AVG “Trustee.”
Property owned by George and Judy Harris, including a car and a home in Tallahassee, Fla., was seized in the December forfeiture complaint, which alleged the $157,000 mortgage on the Harris home was retired with illegal proceeds derived from ASD.
There has been no public action in the December forfeiture case since the filing of the complaint. Neither George nor Judy Harris has filed a claim to their home. Neither George nor Judy Harris has filed a claim to a car prosecutors alleged was purchased with illegal proceeds derived from ASD.
4. At least one proffer letter exists in the ASD case. In April, in their final response to a series of responses to Andy Bowdoin’s pro se pleadings in the forfeiture case brought in August, prosecutors revealed that Bowdoin had signed a proffer letter. Proffer letters sometimes mean that the one who proffers is willing to provide the government information that is helpful in the prosecution of others.
Bowdoin never told ASD members about the proffer letter. Nor did he tell them about the December forfeiture complaint, which includes extremely specific allegations. Bowdoin waited until March to tell members he had decided in January to submit to the forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars seized in the August complaint.
Bowdoin’s first public comments on his January decision to submit to the forfeiture came in the form of a Bowdoin letter published in March on the pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum. In the letter, Bowdoin triumphantly announced he had changed his mind about submitting to the forfeiture — while ignoring the fact that he never told members about the December complaint or his January forfeiture decision. In essence, Bowdoin blamed his former paid counsel for the trouble he was in and said the federal government was prosecuting ASD illegally.
In his letter, Bowdoin chided federal prosecutors, saying his pro se pleadings “should really get their attention” and urging members to write to President Obama, members of Congress and Fox News personality Glenn Beck.
At 74 — and a convicted felon from a 1990s securities scheme in which 89 separate instances of fraud were alleged in Alabama — Bowdoin urged his supporters to tell anybody who cared to listen that he was a victim of an out-of-control government. In July 2008, just days before the government seized tens of millions of dollars from ASD, Bowdoin plunked down nearly $50,000 to purchase a new Lincoln, according to the December forfeiture complaint.
A month later he sent his Alabama victims a check for $100, according to the St. Petersburg Times, a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper. The Lincoln alone cost more than the remaining restitution due the Alabama victims.
Even though Bowdoin told ASD members in March that he would hold a conference call soon to explain what was going on, the conference call never materialized. And Bowdoin still has not told members about the proffer letter he signed.
5. General confusion about AVG. One AVG member observed that the firm’s explanations about its business practices have been about as clear as “mud.” Among the current issues are a failed attempt last week by the company to launch a new website, a denial by a company AVG said was facilitating offshore wire transfers that it had any business relationship with AVG, confusion about AVG debit cards and why some AVG members seem predisposed to cheer for the company as though members were taking part in a religious revival.
Loyalists, meanwhile, continue to maintain that AVG members have a duty not to talk about the company in public, insisting that members adhere to “association” rules.
Some AVG members say they want to use a spreadsheet to educate prospects about potential earnings, but others say spreadsheets are one of the things that led to trouble for AdSurfDaily. At the same time, members are trying to stop other members from using the word “investment” when discussing AVG, apparently believing that calling AVG an “advertising” company instead of an “investment” company somehow would insulate AVG from the prying eyes of the government.
Such attempts at forced wordplay not only provide no protection, they also provide evidence of what investigators call “consciousness of guilt.” Indeed, there would be no reason to insist on the forced use of language if promoters didn’t recognize the legal danger they were in — and calling AVG an “advertising” company does nothing to change the simple fact that AVG and surfs that use similar models are vulnerable to charges of selling unregistered securities as investment contracts. The surfs cannot pass a simple test (“The Howey Test”) that became a threshold securities test and litigation benchmark 63 years ago, in 1946, when Harry Truman was President of the United States. The Howey case was on the books 15 years prior to the 1961 birth of Barack Obama, the current President, and 23 years prior to the first moon landing in 1969.
In recent days, some AVG members have been reluctant even to mention the name “AdSurfDaily,” instead referring to the embattled surf with close AVG ties as the “company.” The paranoia is palpable.
One problem with paranoia — and it is a problem AVG is experiencing — is that it does not translate well among people who have no reason to be paranoid. Many entry-level surf participants, for example, don’t understand that they’re being recruited into a wink-nod enterprise. They ask reasonable questions, but are met with paranoid responses and prompts to be less open and more secretive, which only accents the paranoia among those who know there actually is something to be paranoid about — chiefly, that virtually all autosurfs operate as Ponzi schemes and that the government could shut them down without warning at any moment.
One AVG member instructed “international” members of AVG to insert “NA” in a debit-card application when prompted to supply a Social Security number, an instruction that only heightens concerns about money-laundering and wire fraud.
A triumphant AVG announcement about a new debit card the surf intends to offer was met with a thud when some members found out later that the card came with a $30 fee. Loyalists, however, said members should embrace the fee because it creates a new profit center for the company. Other members are complaining that at least one of AVG’s debit cards seems to limit withdrawals to $100.
AVG promoters, meanwhile, continue to lean heavily on exclamation points — rather than straightforward speech — to make their case for the company. An announcement about an AVG conference call was accompanied by three exclamation points:
A newspaper in northwest Pennsylvania published a customer’s classified ad yesterday that called for the assassination of President Obama.
The Warren Times Observer apologized today for publishing the ad and called police. The U.S. Secret Service now has entered the probe.
“May Obama follow in the steps of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy!” the ad exclaimed, listing the names of four assassinated presidents in the chronological order of their assassinations.
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was assassinated in 1865; James Garfield, the 20th president, was assassinated in 1881; William McKinley, the 25th president, was assassinated in 1901; and John F. Kennedy, the 35th president, was assassinated in 1963.
The newspaper said its advertising department did not “make the connection among the four other presidents mentioned and mistakenly allowed the ad to run.”
Even though it is regarded as one of the premier law-enforcement agencies in the world because of its immensely difficult, twin duties of safeguarding the U.S. Treasury and the life of the president of the United States, the Secret Service is not universally admired.
The agency has been under attack for months by some members of a Florida company known as AdSurfDaily.
Some ASD members accord ASD President Andy Bowdoin hero status despite Secret Service allegations he orchestrated a $100 million Ponzi scheme.
The Secret Service entered the ASD probe after ASD members falsely claimed Bowdoin, a convicted felon, had received an award from President George W. Bush for a lifetime of business achievement, prosecutors said.
ASD members sent one Secret Service agent more than 50 certified letters demanding he produce “legal evidence” against ASD — and then accused the federal prosecutors and federal judge involved in the case of conspiring against them.
Filing as a pro se litigant even though he is an attorney, Robert Garner argued in court filings today that he should be dismissed as a RICO defendant in a complaint brought by members of AdSurfDaily because U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has no jurisdiction over him.
In the motion, Garner argued that he has no ties to Washington, D.C., saying his only visit to the district in recent memory was to attend a dinner that had nothing to do with the ASD case. Garner disclosed no other details about the dinner, including a date or time.
Garner also argued that ASD President Andy Bowdoin is uniquely responsible for the company and that Garner ceased being a director of AdSurfDaily in May 2008, about three months prior to the seizure of ASD’s assets.
As part of his argument, Garner produced a document showing that Bowdoin had registered ASD as a Nevada “foreign corporation” in Florida on May 23, 2008. Bowdoin’s entire Florida filing is in longhand, signed by Bowdoin and listing Bowdoin as registered agent for ASD, secretary, chairman, president and the sole director of the company.
Bowdoin used the address of 13 S. Calhoun Street, Quincy, Fla. — an address federal prosecutors said was bogus — eight times in the Florida filing. The filing itself may explain in part why the plaintiffs in the RICO case have been unable to perfect service of the complaint on Bowdoin: Bowdoin listed himself as registered agent at an address that doesn’t exist.
Meanwhile, ASD’s corporate registration in Nevada is marked “default,” and ASD does not appear to have filed a new slate of officers or the identity of a registered agent who could accept process.
Bowdoin is the sole RICO defendant not to have responded to the complaint, which was filed Jan. 15 and amended in April. Although he has appeared in a video for a firm known as PaperlessAccess, filed multiple pro se pleadings in the ASD forfeiture case brought by the government and promised in March to hold a conference call to update ASD members on developments, Bowdoin has not held the conference call and never has explained why he has not answered the RICO complaint.
The RICO plaintiffs, all of whom are ASD members, accuse Bowdoin, Garner and Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby of engaging in racketeering with unnamed co-conspirators.
AdViewGlobal website launch scrubbed. Amid much fanfare, the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf announced it would launch a new website Saturday — and to celebrate AVG would provide what it deemed an “unprecedented” 250-percent matching bonus for members and a corresponding 200 percent match for sponsors.
Problems dogged the launch and members grumbled. The new site appeared online briefly, but members said passwords no longer worked and that data seemed to be missing from the back office.
At least one graphic on the new site — a “walking fingers” logo to which the acronym “AVGA” had been added — potentially raises international trademark and intellectual-property concerns.
Beyond that, however, the use of the “walking fingers” logo commonly associated with “Yellow Pages” sometimes signals a scam. Selling “Yellow Pages” listings on the Internet to create the impression that customers have purchased an ad in well-known, local print publications is one variant of the scam.
Another variant is to send businesses a bogus bill for “Yellow Pages” listings. Because firms frequently purchase such listings and associate the “walking fingers” logo with legitimate print and online publishers, they often pay the bill without looking.
Yet another variant of the scam is to send what appears to be a small “refund” check to businesses for overpayment of a “Yellow Pages” bill. When recipients endorse the checks, they actually are entering into a contract and agreeing to be automatically billed for advertising purchases.
Although it has been reported that the “walking fingers” logo has fallen into generic use in the United States, companies that use it invite scrutiny from state attorneys general simply because there are so many scams involving the sale of “Yellow Pages” listings.
Moreover, “Yellow Pages” is a registered trademark of Telstra, an Australian communications giant. Telstra, as a means of protecting its brand, has been known to zealously enforce its intellectual-property rights and employs attorneys to guard against misuse on the Internet.
Unable to pull off its website launch, AVG reverted to its old site. Some members now say the 250-percent, matching-bonus offer has been replaced by a 200-percent offer that will run through June 29.
AVG and its members have engaged in some curious marketing practices. At least one promoter advertised AVG on a business-exchange website operated by Business Week magazine, by posting a link to a YouTube video for AVG.
In an article last year, Business Week reported on the seizure of AdSurfDaily’s assets, noting that video was one of the things that contributed to the expansion of ASD’s membership roster, before federal prosecutors seized the assets of ASD President Andy Bowdoin amid Ponzi allegations.
The AVG video on YouTube referenced in the promoter’s Business Week ad has been removed, but the ad itself remains.
A Florida man identified as a “Compliance” employee of the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf was sued twice last year for not complying with federal laws in a business he owns.
Gerald Castor and his company, 1st Credit Solutions LLC of Bradenton, Fla., settled one of the cases last month. The lawsuit was brought in June 2008 by an employee who accused Castor of federal labor-law violations, alleging that workers were not paid wages at “time and one-half” for work in excess of 40 hours per week.
In a joint dismissal motion April 6 by the plaintiff and the defendants, the parties said the plaintiff had received “payment in full for all of her claims, including claims for overtime, liquidated damages and attorney’s fees and costs.”
The payment amount and the date of the payment were not disclosed. Mediation for the case had been set for June and was canceled. A judge did not review the settlement because the plaintiff acknowledged it was not a result of a compromise and that “all” of her claims had been met.
A second labor-law complaint against Castor and 1st Credit Solutions filed by a different employee was dismissed by a federal judge in March when the plaintiff did not follow up on the claim.
On March 23, AVG announced in a statement signed “The AVG Management Team” that its bank account had been suspended because too many members had wired transactions in excess of $9,500.
In a March 25 announcement under Castor’s name as a member of AVG’s “Compliance” department, the surf reported its banking problem was on the way to being “rectified” without explaining how the company intended to fix the problem.
Regardless, the company used a three-exclamation point headline — “AVGA Breaking News: Thanks and Good News!!!” — to report sales were brisk despite the problem.
“Tuesday member purchases continued to be good thanks to those purchases made with cash balances,†Castor’s announcement said. “We appreciate your continued cooperation and purchases through cash balances through the end of the week.”
The company then cited unspecified banking regulations, claiming changes in the regulations limited online purchases to $2,500.
Castor owns another Florida company — Living Legacy One LLC. Court records show that a process-server in the lawsuit against 1st Credit Solutions initially had trouble serving Castor, but eventually located him at the Bradenton building that serves as headquarters for both 1st Credit Solutions and Living Legacy One LLC.
On May 4, AVG announced its banking problems had ended as a result of a deal that would enable customers to wire money to an offshore bank to pay for AVG “advertising” purchases. Three days later, however, one of the companies AVG named as a facilitator of the transfers issued a public denial that it had any business relationship with AVG.
The company, KINGZ Capital Management Corp., said it had discussed business matters with Living Legacy One — but not AVG — and that it believed it had been targeted in a scam. AVG did not inform members about the denial. Rather, the surf said the sudden absence of a wire facility it had just announced came as a result of “negotiations” that had failed.
See an October 2008 court record from a federal lawsuit against Castor and 1st Credit Solutions in which a process-server reported initial trouble locating Castor, but later found him at the building that serves as headquarters for 1st Credit Solutions and Living Legacy One LLC, according to records in Florida.
See our March 25 story in which AVG, which purports to be headquartered in Uruguay, identifies Gerald Castor as a member of the “Compliance” department.
See April 6 stipulated dismissal of lawsuit against Castor and 1st Credit Solutions in which the plaintiff acknowledged she had received payment in full on her claims on an unspecified date.
See the annual reports of both 1st Credit Solutions and Living Legacy One LLC that were filed with the Florida Department of State by Castor on the same day — April 29, 2009.
See May 5 report on AVG’s May 4 announcement that it had a deal by which customers could pay for “advertising” purchases by wiring money to an offshore bank. The surf announced the deal on the same day the Obama administration announced it was cracking down on offshore fraud.
See May 7 report in which KINGZ Capital Management, a company AVG announced was involved in wire transactions for AVG “advertising” purchases, denied it had any business relationship with AVG. KINGZ said it believed it had been targeted in a scam, noting it had discussed business with Living Legacy One, not AVG.
KINGZ said it acted immediately to ensure no money would get to AVG via wire transfer.
Signs of the apocalypse? Some members of the AdViewGlobal autosurf are openly fretting that the company’s behavior could be a signal that all is not well.
But one AVG loyalist insists things are just fine and that AVG’s problems are being caused by the “greed” of people who know that the surf poses “a threat to their income stream.”
AdSurfDaily made a similar claim last summer, just prior to the federal seizure of its assets.
Just this morning, an AVG forum operated by some of the Mods and members of the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum went on a delete-fest, nuking posts in which members purportedly shared information AVG deemed private.
Wire Flap
On May 4, AVG, which also is known as AVGA, announced it had a deal with an offshore bank to accept member deposits for the purchase of “advertising.â€
Three days later, one of the companies AVG said was facilitating the transfers to The Bank of N.T. Butterfield and Son Ltd., issued a public denial that it had any business relationship with AVG and said it believed it had been targeted in a scam.
AVG did not inform members of the denial by KINGZ Capital Management Corp., instead explaining the sudden removal of a wire facility it had just announced was a result of failed negotiations.
KINGZ, however, said it had never discussed business with AVG, but had discussed business with a Florida company known as Living Legacy One LLC. Living Legacy One lists its managing member as Gerald Castor, whom AVG once identified as a member of its “Compliance” department.
The implication of KINGZ’ claim was that AVG tried to create a backdoor route to funnel money to AVG through Living Legacy One. KINGZ said it acted immediately to prevent AVG from receiving any money via wire through its systems.
“Nothing has ever been accepted from [AVG], nothing has been — and nothing will be,†said Michael P. Krywenky, president and chief executive officer of KINGZ. “We are very shocked, and we’re appalled [by the AVG claims].â€
AVG’s claims were “extremely bizarre,†Krywenky said, adding that the company had started an investigation and was consulting with its attorneys.
New, Matching Bonus Program
Last night, AVG announced that it was offering an astonishing, 250-percent, matching- bonus program. The program also provides a mind-boggling, 200-percent match for sponsors. Under the math of the program, a member who paid AVG $1,000 would be credited with a purchase (and the earning power) of $2,500, and the member’s sponsor would be credited with a purchase (and the earning power) of $2,000.
Although the company said the program was implemented to celebrate the upcoming launch of a new website, some AVG members now are openly questioning whether the firm is having cash-flow problems and is trying to raise money quickly to forestall a disaster.
AVG’s move came on the heels of reports that it paid out higher-than-normal paper profits over the weekend, a possible indication that it was trying to paint a picture that all was well so members would be more inclined to throw money at the surf when the new, matching-bonus program was announced.
The surf simultaneously is promoting an “80/20” program. Such programs are designed to minimize cash outflows and keep money in the system.
An explanation of the company’s behavior left at this Blog yesterday by a member named “Chris” sounded very much like defenses for AdSurfDaily that populated websites last summer.
Here is part of what what Chris said:
“We do have outside revenue and therefore we do not need to use members money to pay for the incentives,” Chris said.
“Kingz Corp stopped all realtionships (sic) with us because they were being threatened with bad publicity if they continued. Now this cannot be proven and I know that is what your (sic) going to say, but their (sic) are those who do not like our advertising model and they want to see us shut down.
“The reason they want us shut down is because of greed!” Chris said. “They know we are a threat to their income stream and they don’t like it.”
People who questioned AVG management were hurting the company, Chris said.
“The truth is ASD was doing very well before they were shut down and now we are doing well and you can continue to battle us that’s ok, we can take it! We are not going to give up the fight! Google can make millions every day and no one bats an eye lash (sic).”
Chris said the fact ASD President Andy Bowdoin is not in jail demonstrates the government has nothing on him.
“Why is it that Andy is not in jail right now?” Chris inquired. “Mr. Maddoff (sic) is heading there. Why don’t they arrest Mr Bowdoin if he indeed has done a ponzi and taken peoples money? Why? Please explain that to me? I will tell you why, because they can’t. They can take the money and possessions but not Andy becuase (sic) they don’t have evidence of a ponzi scheme plot, people were getting paid, money was being distributed slowly but getting to the people nonetheless.”
A poster at the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum has just made brief posts in 11 separate threads in a period of only minutes. The effect of the posts was to knock a post pertaining to this Blog’s coverage of the indictment against ASD mainstay “Professor” Patrick Moriarty off the front page at Surf’s Up.
The poster punctuated his burst of activity by starting a thread titled, “Overrun With Rats, Bed Bugs, Maggots, Cockroaches And Everything Else.”
In the thread, he advised readers about what he had just done.
“This is what happens when you leave a forum go on by itself,” he said. “What would you do if this forum was shut down[?] Would you miss it????”
The move came on the heels of recent deletions at Surf’s Up that referenced our reporting on the ASD case. Surf’s Up announced Friday that it had a “poof!” policy with respect to this Blog.
Mention the Patrick Pretty.com Blog at Surf’s Up and your post may go “poof!” It even may go “poof!” if you do not mention the name of this Blog, if the Mods can ascertain that the information might have originated here.
Two such threads on prosecutors’ recent actions in the ASD case went “poof!” over the weekend, and yesterday an individual post that referenced our reporting Sunday on the Moriarty indictment went “poof!”
A different member, however, started a new Moriarty thread later yesterday in which another Surf’s Up member referenced our Sunday and Monday reports — and it survived for hours, before being knocked to the second page this morning in a furious burst of posts.
Surf’s Up management, so far, has chosen to say nothing about the Moriarty indictment or even inform members about it.
Here is the official explanation for the “poof!” policy from Surf’s Up Mod Barb McIntyre. McIntyre announced the policy Friday night.
“[P]osting PP BS is nothing but stirring trouble so I am calling the other mods and don’t be surprised if it goes ‘poof!’” McIntyre said.
McIntyre, along with Moriarty, was one of five co-founders of a defunct organization known as ASD Members International (ASDMI). The organization registered as a Missouri nonprofit in October, making the strange claim that it would litigate against government entities involved in the AdSurfDaily case — even if they were behaving legally. If lawsuits didn’t work, then perhaps ASDMI would see about having prosecutors charged with crimes.
ASDMI existed for less than 90 days — Oct. 30, 2008 through Jan. 26, 2009. The process of dissolving the entity actually began on Dec. 10, about 41 days after its founding. Formal papers were signed Jan. 21, and the dissolution was recorded Jan. 26.
ASDMI gathered contributions from at least 167 ASD members before dissolving itself. No lawsuit was filed. Even after ASDMI ceased business, Surf’s Up continued to promote Moriarty. McIntyre sent an email to members, announcing an important letter Moriarty had written to Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Despite the fact ASD’s assets were seized as the proceeds of a criminal wire-fraud, money-laundering and Ponzi-scheme operation, Moriarty advised Leahy that the Senate should set its sights on the prosecutors who prevented the scheme from mushrooming globally — not Andy Bowdoin, the person responsible for organizing the scheme
“Over 50 individual and notarized DEMAND[S] FOR LEGAL EVIDENCE were sent to Jeffrey Taylor, US Attorney; William Cowden, Assistant US Attorney; and Roy Dotson, Special Agent, US Secret Service,†Moriarty said in the February letter to Leahy.
“Not once did any of these three Government Servants respond,†Moriarty said.
“Innocent Americans have suffered and continue to suffer because of these incredulous and despicable acts†by prosecutors, Moriarty said.
Yesterday this Blog reported that, in 2006, Moriarty set up a nonprofit in the name of a man accused of breaking into a woman’s home and murdering her. The man also shot a police officer four times and another man eight times. The man pleaded guilty to first-degree (premeditated) murder last month.
The Power Of ‘Poof!’
If you have some money — and if you believe anything you read on the PatrickPretty.com Blog — McIntyre will sell you a bridge in Arizona, she said.
“Comes with ocean frontage,” McIntyre added.
Posting a reference to PatrickPretty.com is an act consistent with “trouble makers” and inconsistent with adult behavior, McIntyre advised.
“We fixed the forum so that the trouble makers could not harass and most of you are not troublemakers and do not need babysitting…or so we thought,” she said.
