UPDATED 4:28 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) On June 2, 2006, Bryan Tullock ran a stop sign in his white Cadillac and was pulled over by police in Montgomery City, Mo., investigators said.
As officer Brandon LyBarger, 25, approached the car shortly after midnight, Tullock shot him four times with a 9-mm handgun and also opened fire on LyBarger’s partner.
The second officer, Jarrod Brooks, returned fire, striking the Cadillac but not Tullock.
When officer Brooks called for backup and went to the aid of his downed colleague, Tullock fled, police said.
Tullock stopped about a block away and broke into the home of Heidi Casagrand. He shot Casagrand twice. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Casagrand, 32, was just just days away from the start of her college career, having recently passed her entrance exams.
Tullock also shot at Casagrand’s husband, David McManus, before leaving the home.
About a block away from the murder scene, Tullock confronted Ricky Fry, 33. Tullock shot Fry eight times outside of his home, leaving him for dead.
A manhunt ensued by Montgomery City Police, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, the Audrain County Sheriff’s Office, Wellsville Police, Jonesburg Police, the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Police captured Tullock at 5:42 a.m., less than six hours after the shootings. The date was June 2, 2006.
On Oct. 2, 2006, four months to the day after the rampage, the state of Missouri recorded the registration of a nonprofit corporation in Tullock’s name.
Records show that AdSurfDaily mainstay Patrick Moriarty was the registrant of the corporation. Moriarty uses the title “Professor,” and also claims to be a minister and “Tax Return Specialist” who also is skilled in “Karma Restoration.”
Both officer LyBarger and Ricky Fry survived Tullock’s rampage. They had been struck by a combined total of 12 bullets, according to witness accounts. Two bullets had been fatal to Casagrand.
After nearly three years, Tullock pleaded guilty to the crimes last month and threw himself on the mercy of the court. He was sentenced to life in prison without opportunity for parole, but could have been sentenced to death. The guilty pleas to multiple crimes, including first-degree murder and shooting a police officer, were not the result of a deal with prosecutors.
Some of his supporters said Tullock had been abused by a priest as a child, insisting that the shootings were an expression of rage against the priest.
Others said Tullock coldly planned the shootings and carried them out in a jealous rage because he was unhappy that his ex-girlfriend was friends with Fry. Casagrand was the best friend of Tullock’s ex-girlfriend.
Moriarty named the nonprofit “Bryan Tullock Org, Inc.” He told Missouri state officials that the organization’s mission was to “protect children from becoming victims of pedophiles and to perform any other legal acts as allowed by Missouri Law and Statutes.”
All proceeds would be distributed to the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), Moriarty said.
Missouri dissolved Moriarty’s nonprofit on Dec. 27, 2007, about 14 months after registration, for failure to file an annual report.
Moriarty, a mainstay in the AdSurfDaily case — and a co-founder in October 2008 of ASD Members International (ASDMI), another nonprofit — was indicted in March on charges of filing false tax returns.
Part of ASDMI’s stated mission was to litigate against the government in the AdSurfDaily case and perhaps even bring criminal charges against prosecutors. ASDMI dissolved itself in January 2009, less than 90 days after registering as a corporation in Missouri.
ASDMI collected money from at least 167 contributors, but never brought any litigation.
UPDATED 3:39 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) “Professor” Patrick Moriarty has been indicted on federal tax charges. Parts of the indictment in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri were filed under seal March 19.
A redacted True Bill charged Moriarty with filing false income-tax returns for the tax years 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. In court filings, prosecutors identified him as the owner of PCM Enterprises.
If convicted on all counts, Moriarty would face up to 12 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million. Moriarty is suffering from cancer. The court is aware of his condition and has been flexible in scheduling proceedings. A Nov. 2 trial date has been set. The charges are felonies.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Thomas F. Flynn, Moriarty’s attorney, described the litigation as “a complex tax fraud case involving allegedly fraudulent returns.”
Moriarty, who fashioned a theory in the AdSurfDaily case that the government was interfering with commerce and espoused the legal theories of Curtis Richmond, was arrested March 24 and is free on recognizance bond.
Richmond is a member of a sham Utah Indian tribe known for filing vexatious litigation, including litigation that resulted in a successful counter-suit brought by Utah public officials under federal racketeering statutes. Although not a lawyer, Richmond holds the unusual distinction of having been banned from the practice of law in Colorado.
Moriarty Allegations
Prosecutors said Moriarty underreported his income by an unspecified amount for the tax year 2002; claimed a false deduction of $30,000 for “legal fees” for the tax year 2003; and claimed a false amount of $23,533 withheld for the tax year 2004 and a false amount of $23,433 withheld for the tax year 2005.
The state of Missouri dissolved PCM Enterprises in 2005 because Moriarty did not file an annual report, records show. The company’s website now resolves to a free hosting domain at tripod.com.
Moriarty, who once sold fake academic degrees on eBay, explaining they were gag gifts, uses the title “Rev” and purports to be the “minister” of the Universal Life Church (ULC) of Troy, Mo. He lists his qualifications as a Ph.D. and a D.D., and notes he also is an accountant and “Tax Return Specialist.”
The credentials are listed on a church-provided website, which includes a link by Moriarty to MLM opportunities at the tripod.com page.
ULC has been the subject of controversy. The church ordains up to 10,000 individuals per month, without charging a fee or holding any classes. Advanced degrees can be obtained for as little as $29.95 with little academic effort, according to ULC’s Wikipedia entry.
The government has published an official notice that it intends to seek the forfeiture of 8 Gilcrease Lane, Quincy, Fla. — the home AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin last was known to be living in.
U.S. Secret Service agents completed a “post & walk” of the home last month, and the government now has advertised the pending forfeiture, according to documents.
Forfeiture.gov, the official government website for forfeitures, listed the property on Wednesday. It is unclear if Bowdoin was living in the home at the time. The Secret Service posting included a “Notice of Complaint” and a copy of the complaint against the property, according to court filings this week. The home was targeted for forfeiture in August. Prosecutors said it was part of the proceeds of a criminal enterprise.
Mystery Deepens As Pressure Mounts
Bowdoin has not responded to a racketeering lawsuit filed against him in January by three ASD members who seek class-action certification. The plaintiffs in the RICO case have said in court filings that they have been unable to perfect service of the complaint. Bowdoin’s former paid attorneys said in April court filings that his last known address was 8 Gilcrease Lane.
Why Bowdoin has not responded to the RICO complaint remains unclear.
The Gilcrease Lane home is in the name of Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises, which prosecutors said was a entity set up to permit Bowdoin and his wife, Edna Faye Bowdoin, to hide assets.
Prosecutors said George Harris, Edna Faye Bowdoin’s son and Andy Bowdoin’s stepson, helped his mother set up a bank account in the name of Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises last summer.
More than $177,000 in funds derived from ASD was deposited in the account on June 10, 2008. On June 23, 2008, Harris used more than $157,000 of the deposit to pay off the Tallahassee home he shared with his wife, Judy Harris, prosecutors said.
ASD Ties To AdViewGlobal
Harris is listed as a trustee for AdViewGlobal (AVG), a surf firm with close ties to ASD. The government filed a forfeiture complaint against the Harris home in December. Bowdoin never told members about the December complaint. In January, he submitted to the forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars seized in August, but again didn’t tell members.
In late February — at the same time Bowdoin resurfaced after more than two months of silence and began to file pro se pleadings in the August case without consulting with his paid attorneys — AVG introduced members to Pro Advocate Group, a company that says it can help people practice law without a license.
Bowdoin said in court filings that he changed his mind about submitting to the forfeiture. In March, he advised members through the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum that he had fired his attorneys and had changed his mind about giving up the money after consulting with a “group” to which he’d been introduced by ASD members.
Prosecutors countered by saying Bowdoin had signed a proffer letter in the case and had acknowledged to law enforcement that ASD had been operating illegally. The government did not disclose the contents of the letter or the date upon which Bowdoin had signed it.
Proffer letters sometimes mean the one who proffers seeks to minimize exposure while providing information helpful in the prosecution of others.
AVG’s prelaunch was under way on Dec. 19, the date prosecutors filed the second forfeiture complaint against assets tied to ASD. The assets included the Harris home, a building in Quincy for which Bowdoin had paid $800,000 cash, three automobiles (including one registered to Harris and his wife), an assortment of marine equipment and personal computers.
The December forfeiture complaint does not reference AVG, but a large section of the complaint details how Bowdoin allegedly started one autosurf site (ASD) and ported members owed money when the surf failed to a new site (ASD Cash Generator) — without telling new members their money was being used to pay off members of the original site.
One of the early promoters’ suggestions about AVG was that ASD accounts could be ported to AVG. If this occurred, in whole or in part, it would have reflected the process ASD used when morphing into ASD Cash Generator.
Although AVG expressly denied any affiliation with Bowdoin and ASD in a disclaimer published on its website, the company later announced in articles of association that Harris was a trustee. A previous announcement identified Gary Talbert as its chief executive officer. Talbert is a former ASD executive. AVG also listed Nate Boyd, whom ASD members described as a former ASD employee, as “protector” of the AVG association, which also is known as AVGA.
Meanwhile, the company issued a news release identifying Chuck Osmin, a former ASD employee who had testified on behalf of ASD last fall, as an AVG employee. Some Mods and members of Surf’s Up started a forum for AVG.
On March 20, AVG issued an announcement that Talbert had resigned as chief executive officer. On March 23, AVG announced that its bank account had been suspended. On May 4, AVG announced it had a deal that would enable members to pay for “advertising” via international wire transfer. Three days later, on May 7, one of the companies AVG had cited as being a participant in the transfers denied it had any business relationship with AVG and said it believed it had been targeted in a scam.
On Monday, prosecutors filed papers to begin the process of finalizing the default of more than $14 million seized from Bank of America accounts controlled by Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby and his daughter, Dawn Stowers.
A court clerk today entered a default notice for a total sum of $14,045,598.07. The notice clears the way for the government to take final control of the money.
Golden Panda had five Bank of America accounts, including one that contained precisely $6 million. The company operated in launch phase for only eight days, although Golden Panda also operated in “prelaunch” phase, recording nearly 20,000 members in weeks.
Here is a list of the Golden Panda accounts and the default amounts:
(1) $2,282,999.72 seized from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the
name of Clarence Busby Jr. and Dawn Stowers, DBA Golden Panda Ad Builder Deposit Account;
(2) $1,112,978.42 seized from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of Clarence Busby Jr. and Dawn Stowers, DBA Golden Panda Ad Builder Operating Account;
(3) $1,642,039.08 seized from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of Clarence Busby Jr. and Dawn Stowers, DBA Golden Panda Ad Builder Cashout Account;
(4) $6,000,000.00 seized from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of Golden Panda Ad Builder;
(5) $3,007,580.85 seized from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of Golden Panda Ad Builder.
In court filings, Clarence Busby said Golden Panda was born in April 2008, on a Georgia fishing lake, after discussion with AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin.
“As a social courtesy to Bowdoin, I asked a pastor friend of mine, Rev. Charles Green, if he might bring his boat and join me in inviting Bowdoin on a relaxing fishing trip,†Busby told U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer. “I imagined that operating ASD involved a lot of stress, and I had heard Bowdoin liked to fish. I also wanted a respite from work. The invitation was extended and Bowdoin agreed to join us.â€
“On April 11, 2008, we fished at a lake in Brunswick, Georgia for a day. On that Day Bowdoin surprised me by recommending that I start a Chinese version of ASD,†Busby said. “Bowdoin suggested that I organize the business without him. He said, ‘I can’t handle the business I already have,’ stating that I should be the one to create, own, and operate this Chinese version of ASD.”
In his court filings, Busby said he didn’t know Bowdoin “had prior run ins with the law†and had been arrested in Alabama for defrauding investors.
Busby did not say if he told his fishing partner about his own run-ins with the law: The Securities and Exchange Commission said Busby defrauded investors in the 1990s.
“[T]he Commission alleged that Busby violated the antifraud provisions of the securities laws by offering and selling investment contracts in connection with three different prime bank schemes,†the SEC said.
“Using misrepresentations and omissions in each of the three schemes, Busby raised money for purported trading programs in ‘prime bank’ notes by fraudulently representing to investors that the investments were risk-free and that the ventures would pay returns ranging from 750% to 10,000%. In total, Busby raised nearly $1 million from more than 70 investors. None of the investors earned the exorbitant returns promised by Busby,†the SEC said.
Busby settled the case with the SEC in May 1998 by agreeing not to break securities laws. Ten years later, he once again found himself a central figure in a securities scheme, right next to Bowdoin.
An AdSurfDaily downline group known as “oneteam” used the names of U.S. government agencies, a Congressionally chartered insurance entity for depositors and Bank of America in what appears to have been a brazen bid to disarm doubting prospects continuously in advertisements for at least 18 months.
The ads appeared online beginning in February 2007.
Among other things, the ads advised prospects that ASD provided “shelter” from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The FTC, among its many duties, polices false advertising; the SEC regulates the securities industry, prosecuting illegal activities such as securities fraud, the sale of unregistered securities and Ponzi schemes in a securities environment — all of which are activities associated with the so-called autosurf “industry.”
Autosurfs typically call themselves “advertising” companies in a bid to avoid regulatory scrutiny and short-circuit prosecutions. “oneteam’s” ads began to appear one year to the month after the SEC filed fraud charges against 12DailyPro in February 2006, in a widely publicized case that effectively smashed a $50 million Ponzi scheme. ASD was struggling to recruit members when the “oneteam” ads debuted.
“oneteam’s” ads also repeatedly mentioned the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), an independent agency created by Congress during the height of the Great Depression in 1933 to maintain stability and public confidence in the U.S. financial system. One version referenced the FDIC in prominent type in a headline box and included another FDIC reference below, placing Bank of America’s name right next to the FDIC claim.
The web library archive.org archived the ads at a specific “oneteam” URL between February 2007 and October 2007, a period of eight months. The ads, however, appear to have continued for at least 10 months beyond that, according to a screen shot taken Aug. 26, 2008, as part of this Blog’s research into ASD.
‘Damned Determined To Be Rich’
Meanwhile, a second URL associated with “oneteam” styled the group as “Teamed For Integrity,” noting that members were known as the “Damned Determined To Be Rich Bunch.”
The URL “oneteam” created for its ASD ads was active for a minimum of 25 days after the government began the process of seizing tens of millions of dollars from ASD on Aug. 1, 2008, amid allegations of wire fraud, money-laundering and securities fraud in a Ponzi environment. The “oneteam” ad appeared at the URL at least through Aug. 26, 2008. It went missing on a date uncertain after Aug. 26.
The URL — http://oneteam.homestead.com/asdall.html — now resolves to the main page at homestead.com, a hosting service. Previously it behaved as a subdomain, with the URL resolving to the ASD ads.
An archive.org archive from Feb. 9, 2007 (see note below about an earlier archive from a different URL), strongly suggests that “oneteam” was trying to plant the seed that ASD was like no other surf program because member deposits were “insured” by the FDIC. Bank of America’s name appeared directly next to the FDIC claim, the third claim on a numbered list.
Here is a screen shot of “oneteam’s” Bank of America claim, with our notes included in red outlines:
Screen shot of 'oneteam' making claim that ASD deposits were insured by the FDIC, that the company provided 'shelter' from the FTC and the SEC — and highlighting a tie to Bank of America next to one of the FDIC insurance claims.
To see the archive.org archives of “oneteam” ads, visit archive.org and type in this URL:
http://oneteam.homestead.com/asdall.html
To see the archive.org archive of the “Teamed For Integrity” page, visit archive.org and type in this URL:
http://oneteam.homestead.com/index.html
NOTE ABOUT EARLIER ARCHIVE: To see the archive.org archive for yet another URL “oneteam” used to promote ASD, visit archive.org and type in this URL:
http://oneteam.homestead.com/asd.html
The URL that ends with “asd.html” first was recorded by archive.org on Feb. 3, 2007, and lists several captures beyond that. In these versions of the ad, “oneteam” touted ASD “longevity.” The Feb. 3, 2007, version of the ad said ASD was “predicted to go mainstream by 2/23/07!” — making an additional claim that ASD had a “NEW Un-Breakable Business Model.” The “oneteam” group later changed the predicted date ASD would go “mainstream” from Feb. 23, 2007, to May 1, 2007. The earliest archived version of this URL (Feb. 3, 2007) also featured the FDIC claim in a prominent headline box, and placed Bank of America’s name next to the FDIC claim lower in the ad.
FDIC Claim Removed From Headline
The Feb. 9, 2007, ad at “asdall.html” appears to have been pulled quickly — perhaps appearing online for a minimum of one day and a maximum of eight before being edited and restructured. By Feb. 17, Bank of America’s name had been deleted from the numbered list — although the FTC, SEC and FDIC claims remained — and Bank of America’s name continued to appear elsewhere in the ad.
“oneteam” also restructured the ad in other places. The Feb. 9 version, for instance, made the brazen FDIC insurance claim in 14-point Arial type in a headline box near the top of the page. The FDIC claim in the headline box did not appear on Feb. 17, 2007, the date archive.org recorded its next visit to the site.
Later versions of the ad also dropped the FDIC claim from the headline, while maintaining the claim lower in the ad and not mentioning Bank of America in the context of FDIC insurance. The final archive entry is dated Oct. 5, 2007.
“oneteam’s” pitch was supplemented in forum posts that also used Bank of America’s name. Here is a claim from Feb. 25, 2007, that cites the “oneteam” URL, Bank of America’s name and a sign-up link for ASD.
At one time, the first external link on the “oneteam” page at “asdall.html” resolved to this URL: http://www.adsurfdailytraining.com
ASD President Andy Bowdoin is listed as the adsurfdailytraining.com domain owner. The domain was registered on Oct. 12, 2006. It listed an address — 13. S. Calhoun Street, Quincy, Fla. — federal prosecutors later said was fraudulent. Heardy Myers of Marietta, Ga., is listed as the technical contact for the domain. The URL now resolves to a parked GoDaddy.com page.
Virtually every claim made in the “oneteam” ad is dubious or demonstrably false, including the apparently toned-down version that deleted Bank of America’s name from the numbered slot next to the FDIC claim. Some of the claims — the references to the SEC, FTC and FDIC, for instance — can be described aptly as utterly preposterous.
Although the Bank of America reference in the numbered list next to the FDIC claim was deleted, subsequent versions of the ad continued to reference the bank lower in the copy, using these words:
“*USA – Direct Deposits can be made through Bank of America*.”
The asterisks led to a prompt to “*Please get back to the person who invited you to this page for their Web Site Link*.” A confusing claim also was made that Dallas Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones had provided a testimonial, apparently for a non-Bank of America debit card somehow connected to ASD.
Even as Bowdoin — whom prosecutors described as a “convicted fraudster” — was suspending pay-outs and blaming problems on a script that purportedly overpaid members and drained ASD’s resources in early 2007, “oneteam” positioned ASD as “well-capitalized” with “top management.”
“oneteam” also repeatedly heralded (for months) an imminent ASD name change and, at one point, asserted that ASD had been marketing itself “all wrong.”
Some of the claims border on the bizarre, because they are so obviously untrue. The references to “shelter” can be construed as a bid to make ASD appear to be legal or a safe option — unlike 12DailyPro, which was smashed by the SEC in February 2006, one year prior to the appearance of “oneteam’s” ASD ads.
Meanwhile, the FDIC claims can be construed as a bid to fool customers into believing that money they invested in ASD was insured against investor losses, meaning there was no way to lose money with ASD.
Here is a screen shot taken by this Blog Aug. 26, 2008, of a “oneteam” ASD ad that appeared live at the “asdall.html” URL:
Screen shot of a second version of 'oneteam' claim. This ad eliminated the FDIC insurance claim in the headline (while preserving it lower in the copy) and dropped Bank of America's name from the slot next to the FDIC claim. Bank of America's name, however, appeared elsewhere in the ad (not pictured).
Oddity One: As first reported here yesterday, Andy Bowdoin had the exact same amount on deposit in three separate Bank of America accounts: $1,000,338.91.
Such an oddity seems impossible, if not deliberate. Could the $338.91 tacked on the end of all three sums be interest on individual deposits of exactly $1 million each all made on the same day — not long before the Aug. 5 formal seizure?
If so, why would ASD need three accounts containing precisely $1 million each opened on the same day?
Oddity Two: Back in January, this Blog made a video of AdViewGlobal graphics appearing in a webroom operated by ASD and then disappearing. Yesterday the YouTube system emailed us about a comment left at the video site by a person who identified himself as “AVGACompliance” and “Juan.”
Here is the comment left by “AVGACompliance” and “Juan” (italics added):
Please remove this video ASAP as you are using unauthorized material and this is part of our terms & service. If you don’t remove this information your account will be terminated.
Thanks
Juan
We did a quick search of videos about the AdViewGlobal autosurf, and found that the exact same comment signed by “AVGACompliance” and “Juan” had been left elsewhere at YouTube. We also noticed that AVG now appears to have its own officially endorsed video.
Assuming “AVGACompliance” and “Juan” have a real tie to AVG and that their aim is to make sure only the officially endorsed video gets shown on YouTube under the threat of an account termination at AVG, we have to wonder if “AVGACompliance” and “Juan” actually even watched our video.
We don’t have an account at AVG for Compliance to terminate. The title of our video is, “Ad Surf Daily Ponzi Scheme Tie To Ad View Global.”
So much about AVG is hard to explain. At one time, the surf said it had no ties to ASD, after prelaunch promoters for weeks did their best to tie together the two firms, even suggesting that ASD credits could be transferred to AVG.
AVG and ASD have common ties, common management and common promoters. Just last week AVG said it had a deal that would enable customers to wire money offshore to pay for “advertising.” Trouble was, a company AVG said was involved in the transfers said it had no business relationship with AVG, said the surf’s claims were false and added that it was conducting an investigation because it believed it had been targeted in a scam.
As anticipated, the government has filed papers to finalize the forfeiture of more than $14 million seized from Bank of America accounts controlled by Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby and his daughter, Dawn Stowers.
Busby surrendered claims to the funds in September. Earlier today the government set the official total of funds seized from Golden Panda at $14,045,598.07.
Golden Panda’s largest account contained exactly $6 million, prosecutors said. Another account contained more than $3.007 million. A third account contained more than $2.282 million. A fourth account contained more than $1.642 million. Golden Panda’s smallest account contained more than $1.112 million.
Unofficially, Golden Panda operated only eight days.
Other than to formalize official amounts seized from AdSurfDaily in the same case, the government has not sought an entry of default and litigation continues. Prosecutors seek more than $65.8 million seized from ASD President Andy Bowdoin.
Prosecutors, however, included a footnote in this afternoon’s Golden Panda filing that said it intended to oppose any attempts for nonparties to intervene in the ASD case.
“Some former participants of the ASD operation have sought to challenge the government’s forfeiture case against ASD funds,” prosecutors said. “These would-be interveners maintain that some of ASD’s funds belong to members who were exercising ‘a constitutional right to contract with ASD’ for the wealth ASD promised to them — regardless of the source of the payments.”
Bowdoin has conceded that ASD was operating illegally at the time of the forfeiture. Prosecutors said last month he signed a proffer letter in the case.
Golden Panda Seizure Numbers
Prosecutors certified these Golden Panda seizure amounts:
(1) $2,282,999.72 seized from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the
name of Clarence Busby Jr. and Dawn Stowers, DBA Golden Panda Ad Builder Deposit Account;
(2) $1,112,978.42 seized from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of Clarence Busby Jr. and Dawn Stowers, DBA Golden Panda Ad Builder Operating Account;
(3) $1,642,039.08 seized from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of Clarence Busby Jr. and Dawn Stowers, DBA Golden Panda Ad Builder Cashout Account;
(4) $6,000,000.00 seized from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of Golden Panda Ad Builder;
(5) $3,007,580.85 seized from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of Golden Panda Ad Builder.
UPDATED 5:13 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Federal prosecutors have filed papers that formalize the official total of deposits seized from Bank of America accounts held by AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin and Golden Panda President Clarence Busby.
The amounts appear to be significantly higher than believed initially and take into account “credits, and net of offsets that occurred,” prosecutors said. The amount cited in the August forfeiture complaint was approximately $53 million.
After reconciliation, the actual amount seized totaled more than $79.88 million. Prosecutors said the money was being held in a U.S. Customs Suspense account.
It was not immediately clear if the total takes into account cashier’s checks seized as part of the investigation into allegations of wire fraud, money-laundering, engaging in the sale of unregistered securities and operating a Ponzi scheme.
After the Department of Justice announced the figure of approximately $53 million last year, the U.S. Secret Service announced that it ultimately found more than $93.5 million, which led to speculation that the cashier’s checks had totaled approximately $40 million.
Bowdoin’s 10 accounts — all of which were in his name as a sole proprietor doing business as AdSurfDaily — contained $65,838,999.70 in total, prosecutors said. The largest Bowdoin 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.)
Three Bowdoin accounts contained the exact same amount: $1,000,338.91. Three other accounts contained smaller amounts, and one additional account contained more than $1.088 million.
Busby’s five Golden Panda accounts — some of which also included the name of his daughter, Dawn Stowers — contained $14,045,598.07 in total, prosecutors said. The largest account contained exactly $6 million. Another Busby account contained more than $3.007 million. A third Busby account contained more than $2.282 million. A fourth Busby account contained more than $1.642 million. Busby’s smallest account contained more than $1.112 million.
Seizure Totals
Here are the seizure totals listed by prosecutors today:
Andy Bowdoin
(a) $1,088,246.48 from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of
Thomas A. Bowdoin, Jr., Sole Proprietor, DBA ADSURFDAILY;
(b) $31,674,039.13 from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of
Thomas A. Bowdoin, Jr., Sole Proprietor, DBA ADSURFDAILY;
(c) $937,470.18 from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of
Thomas A. Bowdoin, Jr., Sole Proprietor, DBA ADSURFDAILY;
(d) $13,286.89 from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of
Thomas A. Bowdoin, Jr., Sole Proprietor, DBA ADSURFDAILY;
(e) $403,791.04 from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of
Thomas A. Bowdoin, Jr., Sole Proprietor, DBA ADSURFDAILY;
(f) $4,999,893.00 from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of
Thomas A. Bowdoin, Jr., Sole Proprietor, DBA ADSURFDAILY;
(g) $23,721,256.25 from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of
Thomas A. Bowdoin, Jr., Sole Proprietor, DBA ADSURFDAILY;
(h) $1,000,338.91 from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name
of Thomas A. Bowdoin, Jr., Sole Proprietor, DBA ADSURFDAILY;
(i) $1,000,338.91 from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name
of Thomas A. Bowdoin, Jr., Sole Proprietor, DBA ADSURFDAILY;
(j) $1,000,338.91 from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name
of Thomas A. Bowdoin, Jr., Sole Proprietor, DBA ADSURFDAILY;
Clarence Busby/Golden Panda
(k) $2,282,999.72 from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of
Clarence Busby Jr. and Dawn Stowers, DBA Golden Panda Ad Builder Deposit
Account;
(l) $1,112,978.42 from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of
Clarence Busby Jr. and Dawn Stowers, DBA Golden Panda Ad Builder Operating
Account;
(m) $1,642,039.08 from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of
Clarence Busby Jr. and Dawn Stowers, DBA Golden Panda Ad Builder Cashout
Account;
(n) $6,000,000.00 from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name
of Golden Panda Ad Builder; and
(o) $3,007,580.85 from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name
of Golden Panda Ad Builder.
AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin still hasn’t responded to a Jan. 15 racketeering lawsuit filed against him by three ASD members seeking class-action certification.
Meanwhile, Bank of America, a non-RICO defendant accused in the complaint of aiding Bowdoin and others in a fraudulent scheme, has added two additional attorneys who specialize in complex financial litigation to its legal team.
At the same time, Steven Berk, an attorney for the plaintiffs, has notified U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that he has left the law firm of Chavez & Gertler and has started his own firm, Berk Law LLC of Washington, D.C.
Berk filed papers yesterday to ask the court to delay the due date until May 26 for the plaintiffs’ response to a motion to dismiss Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby as a defendant in the case. The response had been due May 11, but Busby’s attorneys have agreed to a 15-day delay.
Like Bowdoin and ASD attorney Robert Garner, Busby was named a RICO defendant, amid allegations he engaged in racketeering with Bowdoin, Garner and unnamed others. Bowdoin is the sole named RICO defendant who hasn’t responded to the complaint.
Although he is an attorney, Garner filed a pro se pleading asking to have until May 22 to respond to the complaint. It is unclear if he intends to continue to represent himself or if he’ll retain counsel.
Busby, through his attorneys, said he should be dismissed from the RICO case because he already has settled a separate case filed by the government in August 2008.
Why Bowdoin hasn’t responded to the RICO complaint, which was filed in January and amended April 27, is unclear. He filed at least four pro se motions in the government forfeiture case in February and March and authored a special statement to ASD members released through the pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum that said other filings he planned “should really get” the attention of prosecutors.
Prosecutors, however, said Bowdoin had signed a proffer letter in the case and had acknowledged to law enforcement that ASD had been operating illegally. Proffer letters sometimes mean that the one who proffers is trying to minimize exposure while providing information that may help in the prosecution of others.
Bowdoin’s pro se litany began at the same time the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf introduced members to Pro Advocate Group, a company that says it can help people practice law without a license. Pro Advocate Group is associated with Karl Dahlstrom, who was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison in the 1990s for securities fraud.
Securities fraud is one of the allegations cited in the government’s August forfeiture complaint against assets tied to ASD and Golden Panda. Both Bowdoin and Busby have had previous run-ins with securities regulators. In separate cases in the 1990s, Bowdoin was almost jailed in Alabama, and Busby was ordered in Georgia not to break securities laws after the SEC alleged he had pushed three fraudulent prime-bank schemes.
AVG has family and promoters’ ties to ASD. Bowdoin’s stepson, George Harris, is listed as an AVG trustee. The government filed a second forfeiture complaint against assets tied to ASD in December, implicating Harris and his mother — Edna Faye Bowdoin, Andy Bowdoin’s wife — in the ASD scheme.
Also in March, Andy Bowdoin appeared in a video for an upstart surf firm known as PaperlessAccess, which he positioned as a company that could help ASD members earn back funds seized by the government in August.
Bowdoin’s PaperlessAccess video went missing after only a few days, and Surf’s Up reported he had been misled by the company. While all this was happening, AVGÂ announced the sudden resignation of Gary Talbert, its chief executive officer and a former ASD executive.
Talbert’s March 20 resignation was followed three days later by an AVG announcement that its bank account had been suspended. Earlier this week, AVG announced that it had struck a deal that would enable customers to wire money for advertising purchases to an offshore bank, but a company AVG identified as the beneficiary of the funds — KINGZ Capital Management Corp. — issued a denial that it had any business relationship with AVG.
Michael P. Krywenky, president and chief executive officer of KINGZ, said the company was “very shocked” and “appalled” by the claims, noting that attorneys for KINGZ were monitoring the situation.
Krywenky said KINGZ believed a scam of some sort was under way at AVG.
AVG yesterday ignored Krywenky’s denial, instead issuing a statement that advised members it was looking at other wire “options” and expected to announce “additional funding solutions within the next 2 weeks.”
Late last month, the plaintiffs in the RICO case alleged that ASD had hired the “majority” of the staff of Bank of America’s branch in Quincy, Fla., as ASD employees, paying the Bank of America employees more than other ASD employees doing the same work.
One of the plaintiffs’ arguments was that Bank of America knew its employees also were working for ASD and should have detected that the company was up to no good.
Bowdoin promised ASD members in March that he would have a conference call to update members. The call never occurred, and Bowdoin has not explained why he has not responded to the RICO complaint.
After announcing Monday that it had a deal for members to purchase “advertising” beginning Tuesday through international wire transfers, the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf now says it had no such deal.
Rather, the surf said in a note signed “AVGA Management,” negotiations were “ultimately unsuccessful.” AVG did not explain how a deal described as completed — up to and including instructions and account numbers for customers to use — had suddenly become the casualty of unsuccessful negotiations.
The explanation may not sit well with members — and it may not sit well with KINGZ Capital Management Corp., which expressly denied yesterday that it had any business relationship with AVG and said it believed it was a victim of a fraud attempt.
AVG announced Monday that customers could wire money to The Bank of N. T. Butterfield and Son Ltd. Customers were provided instructions to list KINGZ as the beneficiary and given KINGZ’ account number.
The AVG claim came to the attention of KINGZ President and Chief Executive Officer Michael P. Krywenky, who said yesterday the claim was false and that KINGZ was conducting an investigation.
“KINGZ Capital Management Corporation nor any of its affiliates have any relationship with AdViewGlobal,†Krywenky said. “Also, I have already confirmed with our bank in Barbados that we are NOT accepting any funds from anyone at, or any clients of, AdViewGlobal.â€
AVG did not address Krywenky’s denial or even tell members about it.
Here is what AVG, which also is known as the AV Global Association or AVGA, told members (italics added):
“Wire Transfer Option: The wire transfer option in the member back office has been disabled. The negotiations were ultimately unsuccessful. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our members. Please be aware that we have identified multiple options that will better serve our members and AVGA. These new options will be less cumbersome as well as more cost efficient. We expect to announce the additional funding solutions within the next 2 weeks.
“Thanks and have a wonderful weekend.
“AVGA Managementâ€
Krywenky said yesterday that KINGZ believed that a scam of some sort was under way at AVG.
KINGZ , he said, had discussed services with a firm known as Living Legacy One LLC.
Public records show that a corporation by that name was registered in Florida April 18, 2008, and filed an annual report on April 29, 2009. Living Legacy One LLC lists Gerald Castor as its managing member.
AVG, in a March announcement to members concerning the suspension of its bank account, identified Gerald Castor as an employee of its “Compliance†department.
U.S. regulators say autosurf companies sell securities but call themselves “advertising†companies to avoid scrutiny by agencies such as the SEC. In recent months, autosurfs have been highlighting purported “offshore†locations, and some promoters say the surfs can hide members’ income from the IRS and “shelter†them from the SEC, the FTC and state attorneys general.
Describing himself and KINGZ as astounded by AVG’s claims, Krywenky said yesterday that attorneys for the firm were monitoring the situation.
“It’s extremely bizarre,†he said.
AVG members are complaining about low rates of return after the company, which purports to be an offshore “advertising’ service, promoted a 200-percent, matching-bonus offer for weeks — even after its bank account had been suspended.
At the “low” rates of return, some AVG members now say they’ll neither earn back the money they spent on advertising by viewing ads nor emerge with a profit through rebates.
Members also have complained about unclear explanations from AVG.
“But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil.” — From 1 Timothy 6:9-10
He was hailed a Christian “genius,” and AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin often invoked God during his sales pitches.
“We need to have an attitude of gratitude with God,” Bowdoin told an ASD gathering in Las Vegas last year. “And I always say, ‘Thank you, God, for developing me into a money magnet.’ And I see myself as a money magnet in attracting money and, I say, attracting large sums of money.”
Many of his admirers portrayed him as the forward-thinking inventor of a miraculous business system for “good Christian people.” To prosecutors who had seen it all before, however, he was neither a genius nor an inventor.
Bowdoin, they said, was nothing more than a felonious imitator who had modeled his business on at least one multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that had traded on dreams before regulators reduced it to ruins.
AdSurfDaily almost wasn’t called AdSurfDaily. “Initially,” prosecutors said, “Mr. Bowdoin had intended to operate” under a different name.
It is little known, but on Aug. 24, 2006, Andy Bowdoin registered that name with the state of Florida. It used two of the three words that comprised the title of the infamous 12DailyPro autosurf Ponzi scheme — and, as it turned out, one of two words that comprised the title of the infamous PhoenixSurf autosurf Ponzi scheme.
The highly imitative name Bowdoin selected for his venture was “DailyProSurf,” according to records in Florida.
In a widely publicized case, 12DailyPro had been accused just six months earlier by the Securities and Exchange Commission of operating a $50 million Ponzi scheme from Charlotte, N.C. The allegations against 12DailyPro were brought on Feb. 20, 2006.
Two days later — on Feb. 22, 2006 — PhoenixSurf launched from the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, Ga. The surf collected more than $41.9 million before flaming out three months later, in May 2006. In 2007, it became the subject of yet another SEC Ponzi scheme investigation.
During its brief run, PhoenixSurf averaged nearly $14 million a month in revenue. Like 12DailyPro, PhoenixSurf purported to be an “advertising” service and was charged with the sale of unregistered securities as investment contracts.
SEC Introduces World To The Autosurf Ponzi . . .
The SEC’s prosecution of 12DailyPro in 2006 made headlines. The context of the case was alarming, and the numbers were jaw-dropping. A woman operating out of an apartment in North Carolina had managed to disguise a securities business as an advertising service, collecting more than $50 million on the Internet in only eight months’ time while allegedly siphoning $1.9 million into her own bank account and paying old customers with money received from new members.
The SEC announced the 12DailyPro prosecution on Feb. 27, 2006, issuing a news release on the SEC website and providing a copy of the complaint. Perhaps like no Internet fraud case before it, the 12DailyPro case demonstrated it was possible for hucksters to deploy technology to collect staggering sums quickly and convert all or part of the proceeds to their own use.
12DailyPro and PhoenixSurf took in a combined amount of at least $91.9 million in only months of operation, prosecutors said. Bowdoin’s ASD, at its peak, collected tens of millions of dollars weekly. Federal agents conducted a raid in August 2008 and found at least $93.5 million. After a slow start, ASD had surpassed both 12DailyPro and PhoenixSurf as a cash machine.
What new ASD members by the thousands didn’t know, prosecutors said, was that they were paying for abuses Bowdoin had built into the system and for liabilities he had accrued when at least one previous iteration of the surf had gone bust.
To explain slow or absent ASD payouts during the many dark days before ASD took off, Bowdoin at one point told some members that $1 million had been stolen from ASD by “Russian” hackers, but he never filed a police report, prosecutors said.
Naturally the claim led to questions about whether hackers actually had stolen the money — or whether it had been stolen by somebody else.
Bowdoin deliberately set up his program so ASD insiders effectively could steal from the company and pass along the cost of the thefts to the latest crop of recruits, prosecutors said in December.
DailyProSurf Domain Appears Online During Height Of 12DailyPro Craze, Then Vanishes Mysteriously
It is unclear if Bowdoin ever registered a website in the name of DailyProSurf, operated a forerunner to ASD under that name or benefited from from an operation that used the DailyProSurf name.
What is clear is that someone registered .com and .net sites in the DailyProSurf name — and that DailyProSurf references continue to appear alongside references to 12DailyPro in search results even to this day. It also is clear that DailyProSurf graphics were ordered and delivered by a company that catered to surf sites — including autosurf script sales — and autosurf promoters pushed traffic to the sites in early 2006, during the height of the 12DailyPro craze and while PhoenixSurf was just getting off the ground.
The presence of DailySurfPro raises an intriguing question: Did ASD have a predecessor site?
The DailyProSurf domain name was operational — and affiliates were pushing the site — at least eights months before Bowdoin registered the DailyProSurf name with the Florida Department of State.
Bowdoin registered the DailyProSurf name in Florida in August 2006. But references to DailyProSurf.com from as early as January 2006 appear online. References later in 2006 include a report about members not getting paid and a theory the surf was a “scam” that had ceased operations and gone offline. One web service captured a screen shot of a “suspension” notice from the hosting company for DailyProSurf.com. Both the .com and .net domain names now appear to be available for repurchase.
It also is known that both DailyProSurf and ASD used the same format to create affiliate links — the domain name, followed by a slash and then followed by code in this format: ?ref=[affiliate ID number]
In early 2006, the affiliate ID numbers for DailyProSurf were low numbers such as 30 and 75, which means the program was just getting started, likely using the same script that powered other autosurf sites. (Type dailyprosurf.com/?ref= into Google to see some of the search results. You’ll also see 12DailyPro affiliate links using the same format in the search results.)
Within a month of Bowdoin’s October 2006 launch of AdSurfDaily –Â just two months after Bowdoin had registered the DailyProSurf name in Florida — members complained about not getting paid by ASD. ASD provided a number of excuses, according to members, telling participants that script problems were at fault.
By February 2007, ASD was coming apart at the seams. Bowdoin announced the formation of a new corporation that would be known as “AdSalesDaily” — as opposed to “AdSurfDaily” — and he offered “stock” in the company to buyers willing to pay the minimum price of $10,000, according to participants.
A similar pitch had almost landed Bowdoin in prison in Alabama in the 1990s; investigators attributed 89 separate instances of fraud to Bowdoin, including an assertion that he had used money from new investors to pay off older ones, the central element of a Ponzi scheme.
Feeling the heat from early ASD members in February and March 2007, Bowdoin sought to keep them at bay. Bowdoin ventured from Florida to Atlanta to speak with unnamed “leaders” and work on solutions, he told members.
The solution he ultimately arrived at, prosecutors said, was to relaunch the surf under the name of ASD Cash Generator, port old accounts to the new surf — and not tell new members that they were paying for liabilities racked up by the original ASD.
The Beginning Of The End
During the months of February and March 2007 — a full year before ASD began to rake in the kind of money 12DailyPro and PhoenixSurf had raked in — Bowdoin made a catastrophic mistake that ultimately would come back to haunt him and lead to ASD’s undoing: He started donating money to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), even as ASD members were complaining about not getting paid.
In 2008, a false story pushed by ASD members that Bowdoin had received a special award from the White House for a lifetime of business achievement began to circulate online, prosecutors said. What members pushing the story did not know — because Bowdoin did not tell them — was that the award was for NRCC campaign contributions, not business achievement, and that there was a paper trail to prove it.
It is a virtual certainty that Bowdoin’s NRCC contributions came from the proceeds of a Ponzi scheme.
Because of his political donations and business filings, Bowdoin’s name and address appeared in both federal and state databases accessible to any person with an Internet connection.
The paper trail led to the campaign donations — and it also led to what prosecutors called a fraudulent address: 13 S. Calhoun St., Quincy, Fla. It was the address Bowdoin had used for AdSurfDaily, AdSalesDaily and DailyProSurf in public filings. Crucially, however, it was not the actual address of the former flower shop owned by Bowdoin’s wife that went on to become Bowdoin’s headquarters for various businesses, including ASD.
Older filings in the Florida Department of State database listed the address of the building as 11 S. Calhoun, but newer filings in the Florida database and the Federal Election Commission database listed the address as 13 S. Calhoun.
ASD also used the 13 S. Calhoun address on its website.
“[T]he address listed on ASD’s webpage is not a valid mailing address,” prosecutors said. “The address 13 S. Calhoun Street, Quincy, Florida does not exist. A building located at 11 S. Calhoun Street is a now defunct flower shop that used to be run by Bowdoin’s wife. It appears that Bowdoin or one of his associates merely posted the number 13 on another door attached to the same building.
“ASD has been receiving mail there.” (Emphasis added).
Bowdoin, a man who registered a hybrid surf that borrowed from the names of two infamous Ponzi schemes that had raked in nearly $100 million practically overnight, found himself in a trap of his own making because of the allegations he had fabricated a mailing address.
ASD told members it was impossible to operate because the government seized its money and its computers, but prosecutors returned the computers at ASD’s request and did not object to a hearing the company requested to have some of its money unfrozen. ASD lost the hearing because it could not demonstrate it was operating legally. Its clear route out of the Ponzi thicket was to produce an audited balance sheet that demonstrated solvency. ASD did not do so.
Why did ASD not restart after its computers were returned if it truly was an “advertising” business? One of the reasons is that it knew its audience would flee unless it was getting paid to surf, prosecutors said.
But there could be another reason that is equally revealing.
Because Bowdoin allegedly had used a bogus address to set up ASD, had publicized the address on the ASD website and had received mail at the address, any further business activity from the former flower shop involving mail could be construed as additional evidence of mail fraud.
If prosecutors are correct that 13 S. Calhoun was a bogus address, count after count of mail fraud could have piled up had Bowdoin reopened ASD and continued to use the address. Changing the address could have been construed as an acknowledgment that mail fraud had occurred earlier.
Although ASD owned another building in Quincy outright after having paid $800,000 cash for it, prosecutors said the building had been acquired with the proceeds of a crime. Moving wasn’t a good option because it could not undo the damage that had been done by using the 13 S. Calhoun mailing address.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show that Bowdoin, using the name “AdSalesDaily” and the address of 13. S. Calhoun, made the first of his political donations on Feb. 27, 2007, even as ASD members were clamoring for their cash. His first donation was for $250. He matched it in March 2007, with another $250 donation. In 2008, using the name “AdSurfDaily” and the address of 13 S. Calhoun, Bowdoin donated $5,000 to the NRCC.
Missing Dreams Now, ‘See Those Checks’ Then
As was the case with 12DailyPro, many ASD dreams have gone missing.
Although the DailyProSurf domain name also went missing, the public filing Bowdoin made in Florida using the 13 S. Calhoun address did not. And neither did records pertaining to his campaign donations in the names of “AdSalesDaily” and “AdSurfDaily,” both of which also used the 13 S. Calhoun address.
Andy Bowdoin, indeed, demonstrated a remarkable capacity to attract money.
“Thank you, God, for destining me to great wealth,” he exhorted the Las Vegas crowd to internalize and recite during the day.
And he exhorted members to picture themselves wealthy.
“See a big check coming in from AdSurfDaily,” he urged. “I signed a check the other day, about $22,000. See those checks like that coming for you constantly, just flowing to you.”
