Multiple media outlets — including Bloomberg News, the Associated Press and Business Week — are reporting that the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation are investigating Stanford Financial Group.
At issue is the extraordinary rate of return advertised by Stanford International Bank Ltd. (SIB), an Antigua-based arm of Stanford Financial Group. Stanford Financial Group is an investment firm headquartered in Houston. It is run by billionaire R. Allen Stanford, whose fortune was estimated at $2.2 billion by Forbes magazine.
SIB’s certificates of deposit, for instance, have been advertised to return double or even triple the rates of U.S.-based CDs. The FBI now has joined the probe, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The question on the lips of reporters is whether Allen Stanford in the next Bernard Madoff. Fueling concern have been the reports of financial analyst Alex Dalmady. Take a minute to read Dalmady’s report if you’ve been following the AdSurfDaily case. Antigua is a Caribbean nation and favored spot for U.S. residents to move money offshore.
AdSurfDaily Inc., an alleged $100 million Ponzi purveyor, had more than $1 million on deposit in an Antigua bank, according to Aug. 25 court filings.
“[Andy Bowdoin] told the Secret Service that an Antigua account (in another name), holds over one million ASD dollars,” federal prosecutors said.
Perhaps ASD members would be wise to ask Bowdoin the name of the Antigua bank in which the funds are deposited.
But, getting back to SIB . . .
SIB has a strong presence in Florida. Dalmady, the financial analyst, has been asking some troubling questions and relating some troubling observations. One of the things that bothered him about SIB was the “unsophisticated” appearance of its website
It’s an observation mindful of reactions to the ASD website.
Reports now are circulating that SIB reserved the right to refuse early CD redemption requests, which has a whiff of some of the language ASD used to protect what federal prosecutors said was a Ponzi scheme. It’s not quite “rebates aren’t guaranteed,” but why restrict access to customers’ money, especially when you’re operating offshore? It only raises red flags.
Stanford Financial is blaming the probe on disgruntled employees; ASD blamed bad press it was getting on disgruntled MLMers.
It’s early. No charges have been filed against Stanford Financial Group.
While some members of the “Surf’s Up” Pro-ASD forum are sending letters to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D.-Vermont)Â in a bid to get him to endorse Ponzi schemes, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is working with legislators to strengthen securities and fraud laws.
And McCollum also is working with AARP to strengthen the laws. Last year, Surf’s Up members tried to organize a campaign to solicit AARP’s support for Ponzi schemes — after earlier waging a campaign to have McCollum and a Florida TV station charged with deceptive business practices for shining the light on ASD.
McCollum has joined forces with state Sen. Garrett Richter and state Rep. Tom Grady to introduce legislation that would broaden state authorities’ ability to investigate and pursue securities fraud and enhance the registration requirements for investment advisors, dealers and others.
The proposal would permit McCollum to participate in civil investigations with the approval of the Office of Financial Regulation (OFR).
“Recent headlines and alleged fraud have clearly identified the need to have an ‘all hands on deck’ approach when helping protect Floridians and their investments,†McCollum said. “I appreciate the legislative leadership on this initiative.â€
OFR would have enhanced enforcement powers under the proposal, authorizing “the emergency suspension of persons and firms for failure to provide financial books and records to OFR,” McCollum’s office said.
Such a measure could be a killer to autosurfs.
The autosurf trade’s existence depends on not revealing financials because they reveal the Ponzi nature of the programs. The surf model further depends on not registering as securities dealers and not registering the securities themselves. Virtually all autosurfs that employ the ASD model try to skirt securities laws by saying they’re selling “advertising,” not investments.
OFR also could apopt sanctioning guidelines for registrants who violate the Florida Securities and Investor Protection Act.
“These enhanced capabilities — plus the Attorney General’s ability to engage in civil investigations — will help prevent and discourage future bad acts by a financial advisor or firm,” McCollum’s office said.
Grady (R.- Naples) is a securities attorney and expert in securities regulation. He drafted the bill and is sponsoring it in the House.
“In order to have a strong economy, investors must have confidence in the market. By increasing the tools available to the state to prosecute violators of our securities laws, we protect investors and foster needed trust in the system,†Grady said.
Richter (R.- Naples) is a banker. He is chairman of the Senate Banking & Insurance Committee, and is sponsoring the bill in the Senate.
“The integrity of our markets is critical to building a strong economy. This legislation will reinforce our regulatory system and bolster investor trust,†Richter said.
Under the bill, OFR will be permitted to increase the penalties for violations of the Florida Securities and Investor Protection Act. Penalties may include suspending or permanently barring violators from doing business in Florida.
“It will also strengthen the licensure registration process by providing additional grounds for denial of a registration, including imposing disqualifying periods for persons who have been convicted of certain crimes,” McCollum’s office said.
“There is a need to reinforce our regulatory framework. The proposed legislation will provide the Office with the means to take swift action against violators,†said Alex Hager, Interim Commissioner of OFR.
Florida senior citizens are constant targets of scammers, and AARP said it supports the legislative initiative.
“AARP welcomes these important efforts by Sen. Richter, Rep. Grady and Attorney General McCollum to crack down on these fraud artists,†said Jack McRay, advocacy manager for AARP’s Florida state office. “Even one criminal fraudster can wreak havoc on countless older Floridians’ security, destroying many lifetimes worth of hard work and prudent saving.â€
Some Surf’s Up members have championed “Professor” Patrick Moriarty’s idea to write letters to Leahy, chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, in a bid to get him to investigate the prosecutors in the ASD case.
Leahy is a former prosecutor. In 1974, prior to his Senate days, he was named one of the top three prosecutors in the United States.
In a North Dakota Ponzi case, former insurance salesman Larry Atkins was charged with 78 felonies. Authorities said he ran a Ponzi scheme that stole more than $3 million from at least 30 victims, including senior citizens and vulnerable adults.
Some of the elements of the Atkins’ Ponzi are similar to the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi, which roped in senior citizens and others across the United States based on assurances that everything was legal.
Atkins, 65, apologized for his behavior — and then proceeded to explain how he was the victim in the case. All of this was too much for the presiding judge, who scolded Atkins in open court, according to InForum, a news site for Fargo and Moorhead.
It also infuriated Adam Hamm, North Dakota Insurance Commissioner. Hamm immediately revoked Atkins’ license after the judge sentenced Atkins to eight years in prison and issued a statement on the commission’s website.
Among the felony counts upon which Atkins was convicted were selling unregistered securities and exploiting a vulnerable adult.
“Mr. Atkins’ behavior was utterly reprehensible,†Hamm said. “He violated the trust that people gave him and caused disastrous results to their lives.â€
“[Atkins’] total and complete breach of ethical behavior is truly shameful,” Hamm said.
UPDATED 10:34 A.M. EST (U.S.A.) The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit (Pasadena) has denied Curtis Richmond’s bid to have criminal contempt of court charges for threatening federal judges dismissed.
Richmond argued that he was denied his right to a speedy trial.
The appeals court rejected his argument, but the effect of the ruling was not immediately clear.
In 2007, Richmond was convicted of criminal contempt of court for threatening federal judges. He was sentenced to six months’ home confinement with electronic monitoring, a $1,000 fine and five years’ probation.
He is now a central figure in the AdSurfDaily case and has threatened to bring charges against U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor, Assistant U.S. Attorney William Cowden and others.
Richmond argued in court briefs that he’d already served the home-confinement portion of his sentence even though he hadn’t been formally detained at home and was out on bail, pending trial.
His argument appears to suggest that he satisfied the requirement of six months’ home confinement before the trial on the charge even was held.
He told the court that the fact he was not permitted to leave San Diego County under the terms of his bail meant that he was in custody and had satisfied his six-month sentence at home.
“The Petitioner recently learned in talking to the Tribal Atty. General that he had already served his 6 months of Custody and where he needed to go to get the Legal Evidence,” Richmond said in November 2007 court filings.
Richmond is a member of a sham Utah Indian tribe tied to bizarre litigation and threats to imprison federal judges.
“The Petitioner was Arrested on May 17, 2006, Jailed, and was brought for arraignment on May 18, 2006 when he was allowed to be out On Bail but Could Not Leave the County Without the Court’s Permission and was Under The Control of the Probation Department” Richmond said.
“Any Restraint of one’s Liberty of Movement Is Considered Custody[,] which means the Petitioner’s 6 Months Arrest & Sentence Expired Nov. 17, 2006,” he argued.
But the actual trial on the contempt charges wasn’t held until February 2007, two years ago this month.
Owing to the nature of Richmond’s appeal filings, a federal judge ordered that a public defender be appointed to represent him. An attorney was appointed in December 2007. About 6 months later, the attorney petitioned the court to withdraw as Richmond’s counsel, but the court refused to let him withdraw.
The denial by the 9th Circuit was Richmond’s second loss in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the past month. His appeal in the 10th Circuit (Denver) was rejected because he failed to follow procedures. The case in the 10th Circuit dealt with a finding by a federal judge that Richmond and co-defendants from the sham Utah tribe had engaged in rackeetering by pestering public servants and filing vexatious litigation.
UPDATED 4:30 PM EST (U.S.A.) We believe the AdSurfDaily case never has been as complex as it sounds. The root of it is Andy Bowdoin’s greed and instinct to scam. He has no more control over it than he does the color of his own eyes.
Andy Bowdoin is not a brilliant or gifted man. Like many con men, he excels at the niceties and can spout phrases by rote that serve as a substitute for wisdom he doesn’t possess. People easily can invest in false wisdom, words that sound prophetic or inspirational. An example of such a phrase can be found at the Surf’s Up site:
“No more prizes for predicting rain. Prizes only for building arks.”
Such phrases are key tools of people inclined to separate other people from their money by using linguistic sleight-of-hand. The phrases sound nice, but their purpose is to minimize dissension and discourage questioning.
The Target Audience
Andy Bowdoin’s target audience is people less intelligent than he or of equal intelligence; he can reel in “average people” — fundamentally honest average people — by the thousands. But the problem is that his net is so wide that it also reels in people who are much more intelligent than Bowdoin and are his equals or superiors in terms of dishonesty.
Like Bowdoin, some of them have criminal intelligence, only theirs is on steroids. They can see how to make even more money by adding additional layers of deception, and they take their ideas to Bowdoin.
The folks who possess steroidal criminal intelligence are smart enough to make Bowdoin do their bidding. They behave like spouses who know how to get what they want by planting an idea and letting their spouses take credit for it. Credit for the idea is what fuels Bowdoin and gives him oxygen for the stage. The steroidal criminals understood this right away. Bowdoin was the face of the organization, the stage presence, the charming spokesman. They were the puppeteers.
This is another thing they knew right away: Bowdoin was stupid enough to attach his own name to the autosurf business, which prosecutors abhor. Bowdoin’s public presence insulated the master puppeteers from detection while setting the stage for the organization to become a cash cow by ramping up the criminality.
The master puppeteers, however, made a serious miscalculation: ASD pulled in so much money that it had no real place to put it without drawing unwanted attention. Bowdoin wasn’t smart enough to manage a criminal operation at this level. ASD died the very day a banker closed an ASD-connected account, citing Ponzi fears.
Checks Led To Checkmate For ASD
Checks backed up in ASD’s office not because they couldn’t be recorded promptly; they backed up because Bowdoin knew that depositing them made them subject to seizure. It was the classic dilemma money-launderers encounter, and the precise situation that money-laundering, wire-fraud and mail-fraud laws contemplate.
In some ways, the checks are the best evidence of criminality. No legitimate company sits on tens of millions of dollars of undeposited checks.
ASD died the very day last summer a banker said “Ponzi scheme.” It is likely that Bowdoin compounded the problem by continuing to collect money — even as he knew there was no place to put it.
A CEP Tie
Based on our research, we believe Andy Bowdoin was a member of the CEP Ponzi scheme and borrowed heavily from the model. He was smart enough to see what a cash cow the business could become, and began to contemplate owning his own autosurf. He likely was a low-level player in CEP and other surfs, saw the criminal beauty of the model, and didn’t take the clue when the Feds began to shut down surfs while using phrases such as “Ponzi scheme” and “unregistered security.”
CEP had its own payment processor, something Bowdoin imagined himself having. And there were claims online that CEP was investing in real estate.
Bowdoin registered a corporation called “World Payment Systems Inc.” in December 2006, about two months after founding ASD. Before the lights went out at ASD, the company started buying real estate and talking about its vision of owning an interest in a bank, but the purchases themselves only weighted the Ponzi more heavily against rank-and-file ASD members.
Insiders, including members with steroidal criminal intelligence and Bowdoin family members, were extracting disproportionate shares of proceeds at virtually the instant big money began to roll into ASD. Only the true insiders knew the real truth. Bowdoin sustained the deception after the August seizure because he still needed something from the members he’d just fleeced: testimonials to submit to the court.
The testimonials did not persuade either the prosecutor or the judge of ASD’s legitimacy, but Bowdoin still had to demonstrate he was “fighting” for the members.
We believe that, as part of this “demonstration,” Bowdoin or others closely connected with ASD and with knowledge of other autosurfs to come, offered an incentive for certain suporters to stay loyal. These people were co-opted by greed into becoming racketeers because they had visions of prospering in AdViewGlobal or other autosurfs.
They now find themselves in the impossible position of defending Bowdoin despite everything that has happened — and some of them are doing it for “consideration.” The consideration could be anything from free “ad packs” to a guaranteed return on ASD funds seized by the government.
The true ASD braintrust is busy trying to port the model to Central America and South America. All three of the new surfs were registered after the ASD seizure:
Aug. 18, 2008: Domain name for AdGateWorld registered.
Sept. 22, 2008: Domain name for AdViewGlobal registered.
Nov. 7, 2008: Domain name for BizAdSplash registered.
All three surfs have members and promoters in common; ASD and AdViewGlobal have management in common. During a conference call, Bowdoin made the claim that something had happened to the ASD database, that perhaps the government had erased it. We think it likely that the ASD database was stolen or provided to insiders, and that Bowdoin was trying to cover his tracks by suggesting that government tricksters somehow had a role in the disappearance of the database.
For good measure, he added that ASD had a back-up in a secret location.
There is no way these things amount to a coincidence. And it’s also no coincidence that ASD gave its official endorsement to the “Surf’s Up” forum on Nov. 27, just prior to the launch dates of the new surfs.
Want to ask the AdViewGlobal members of Surf’s Up a question? Ask them to disclose if they received a “consideration” of any type. If they deflect, ask them why. If they deny, ask them why they’re pushing a model that is targeting U.S. customers and plainly is selling unregistered securities to U.S. customers — the same thing ASD is accused of doing.
And then ask them why there are no more prizes for predicting rain — and only prizes for building arks.
These are the people of equal or lesser intelligence than Andy Bowdoin and the same criminal leanings. The honest people are long gone. The people with steroidal criminal gifts are nowhere to be found, but they’re still pulling the puppet strings.
UPDATED 11:23 P.M. EST (U.S.A.) Using a blueprint by Curtis Richmond, an Iowa resident has filed a motion to intervene in the AdSurfDaily case.
As was the case with Richmond’s motion last week, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer added a hand-written note to the cover page of the motion.
“Let this be filed,” Collyer wrote.
The motion was filed by Aaron Wilkey, president of Tingley Chiropractic Center and M.H.M. Inc. of Tingley, Iowa. “M.H.M.” stands for “Midwest Healing Ministries.”
Richmond’s motion last week was filed on behalf of Pacific Ministry of Giving International Inc.
M.H.M. purchased $73,000 in ASD “ad packs” between May 13 and June 15, 2008 to advertise Vemma, according to documents filed along with the motion. Tingley Chiropractic, which also advertised Vemma, purchased $5,000 in ASD “ad packs” on June 15.
Vemma calls itself “quite possibly the most powerful liquid antioxidant program in the world!” Vemma is sold MLM-style.
Wilkey did not explain how the two entities that spent a combined $78,000 to advertise Vemma expected to recapture the expense. But at ASD’s advertised rate of return of 1 percent per day, the firms would have shown a paper return of $780 a day, whether or not they sold a single product as a Vemma affiliate.
M.H.M. Also Contributed To ASDMBA
Although Wilkey used the shell of Richmond’s motion to file his motion, he appears also to have had a Plan B.
M.H.M.’s name is listed as a $100 contributor (Aug. 21, 2008) to the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA) Trust-Legal Fund. Aaron Wilkey also is listed in ASDMBA documents as an individual contributor to the Trust in the amount of $100 (Aug. 14, 2008). The names and amounts appear on Page 9 of an ASDMBA list of contributors. The ASDMBA contributor’s list is dated Dec. 22, 2008.
ASDMBA was one of at least three entities that collected money from ASD members and announced intentions to enter the litigation. Some ASDMBA members have challenged Bob Guenther, who helped organize ASDMBA, to explain in precise detail how ASDMBA spent the money it collected from ASD members and to explain precisely how the organization intends to proceed. No ASDMBA litigation has been filed, but ASDMBA representatives did meet with federal prosecutors in Washington.
Wilkey’s Claims
As was the case with Richmond’s filing, Wilkey’s filing accuses Collyer, Clerk of the Court Nancy Mayer-Whittington, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor and Assistant U.S. Attorney William Cowden of conspiring to deny ASD members justice.
It also accuses Collyer and the prosecutors of stealing “Most of the $93 million of ASD Member Ownership Interest.” It further accuses the judge and prosecutors of interfering with commerce, and specifically accuses the judge of dozens of felonies.
The document — as did Richmond’s — also accuses Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of entering into a conspiracy against ASD members. Both Lamberth and Collyer were accused of running a “Kangaroo Court.”
Actions by Collyer, Whittington and the prosecutors prevented an ASD member named Alana Holsted from collecting $30 million from “defendants,” the motion claimed. Richmond made the same claim in his motion.
Richmond is associated with a sham Utah Indian tribe that, in the past, has tried to have federal judges imprisoned. The tribe filed huge judgments against prosecutors and litigation opponents in Utah.
In his motion, Wilkey threatens to charge the judge and prosecutors under federal racketeering statutes if Collyer does not set aside the ASD forfeiture within 30 days.
Screen shot of excerpt from Wilkey motion.
“Justice is going to be Served either quickly and painlessly or the Hard and Expensive Way if the Co-Conspirators believe they are Above the Law,” Wilkey threatened.
Today, members of the Surf’s Up Pro-ASD forum asked members to get involved in a campaign to petition Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to investigate the ASD prosecutors.
“Professor” Patrick Moriarty, who has spoken warmly of Richmond’s litigation methods, wrote a letter to Leahy yesterday. Today Surf’s Up sent out an email asking members to follow Moriarty’s lead in asking Leahy to get involved.
Late tonight, reports were circulating that a link on Moriarty’s website leads to the website of a man who claims to own an asteroid. A link on the website of the man who claims to own Eros, the asteroid, carries a story of how he sent NASA a bill for “parking/storage” of a probe on Eros.
UPDATED 12:21 P.M. EST (U.S.A.) Banks are failing. Unemployment is surging. Housing values are plummeting. Credit markets are tight. The economy is shrinking.
And “Professor” Patrick Moriarty wants the Senate to investigate the prosecutors and a Secret Service agent involved in the AdSurfDaily case, an alleged $100 million Ponzi scheme.
ASD President Andy Bowdoin, the operator of the scheme, already has ceded seized funds to the government “with prejudice.”
“With prejudice” means that Bowdoin intends to submit to the forfeiture and never reassert the claims to tens of millions of dollars seized. Meanwhile, the government is establishing a process by which ASD members can apply for refunds.
Despite the fact the money was seized as the proceeds of a criminal wire-fraud, money-laundering and Ponzi-scheme operation, Moriarty says the Senate should set its sights on the people who prevented the scheme from mushrooming globally — not 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 a letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D.-Vermont. “Not once did any of these three Government Servants respond.”
Leahy is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“Innocent Americans have suffered and continue to suffer because of these incredulous and despicable acts” by prosecutors, Moriarty said.
Moriarty was a founder and former board member of ASD Members International (ASDMI), which registered as a Missouri nonprofit in October and threatened to litigate against the government because of its actions in the ASD case. Moriarty resigned from the ASDMI board in December, citing ill health. The entity now has dissolved.
ASDMI recruited members from within the membership ranks of the ASD Member Advocates Forum, a Pro-ASD site also known as “Surf’s Up.” At least three ASDMI board members also were members of “Surf’s Up.”
Last week, Curtis Richmond filed a motion to intervene in the ASD case, accusing U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer and the prosecutors of crimes and threatening prosecution and lawsuits under federal racketeering statutes.
Moriarty, on his website, touted Richmond’s approach to litigation. Richmond is associated with a sham Utah Indian tribe that has attempted unsuccessfully to have prosecutors and federal judges jailed. At least two people who employed the tactics of the tribe have been sent to prison, and Richmond himself was convicted of criminal contempt of court in California in 2007.
In his letter to Leahy, Moriarty discloses none of this. He also did not inform Leahy that a class-action lawsuit alleging racketeering has been filed against Bowdoin and alleged co-conspirators.
Court filings by Richmond last week claim that an ASD member named Alana Holsted was prevented from “Collecting on an Entry of Default Affidavit for $30 million for each Defendant.”
The Utah tribe routinely placed huge, fraudulent judgments against officers of the court or litigation opponents in what victims described as extortion bids. Victims sued under racketeering and mail-fraud statutes. U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Friot ruled the tribe a “complete sham” and ordered members to pay damages and costs of more than $108,000.
Records show that Richmond tried to force Friot to recuse himself from the “Indian” case by claiming the judge owed him $30 million. Friot refused to step down.
“I hope your office can review this situation and lend their support,” Moriarty told Leahy.
Surf’s Up Asks Members To Contact Leahy
Here is an email Surf’s Up members received today, alerting them of Moriarty’s letter-writing campaign to Leahy. The email was signed by Barb McIntire, a Mod at the Surf’s Up forum, and a former ASDMI board member. The email accuses the prosecutors of committing a “legal travesty” and of “incredible and despicable acts.” (Emphasis added):
A message to all members of ASD Member Advocates – Surf’s up Baby!
Hello ASD Members,
If timing is everything, then maybe our time for some type of justice has arrived. On February 8, Senator Patrick Leahy proposed a “Truth Commission” for the Department of Justice.
Mr. Leahy heads the Senate Judiciary Committee. According to the Washington Wire, he has proposed an independent commission to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by the DOJ during the Bush administration. As ASD members know, the warrantless wiretapping, the politically motivated firing of some US attorneys, and the highly controversial memos on treatment of detainees are not the only things the new administration must examine to find out what went wrong with the DOJ.
Please take the time and make the effort to write Senator Leahy about the “legal” travesty that was committed against the 100,000-plus members of ASD by US attorneys Jeffrey Taylor and William Cowden. Explain how they used the DOJ to seize $93-million under forfeiture procedures reserved for drug- trafficking crimes. Explain in your own words how our Constitutional rights were trampled on so the DOJ could control the millions in bank accounts, deposits, and property. We each need to explain how thousands of innocent Americans have suffered and continue to suffer because of these incredible and despicable acts.
If you can, send your letter via USPS certified mail and request a return receipt. It will be the best $5 you’ve spent. Please don’t wait. The timing is right. Just do it!
Emails and phone calls to the Senator’s office are fine, but only after you send that first letter.
If we don’t do this now, we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves.
Please email me back and let me know you will do this. I’m counting on you for this support.
Back in the early days of the AdSurfDaily saga, the ASD Member Advocates Forum — also known as “Surf’s Up, Baby!” — emerged as the preeminent cheerleading site for AdSurfDaily Inc. President Andy Bowdoin.
Yes, the alleged operator of a $100 million Ponzi scheme that fleeced thousands of people, paid employees to surf for favored members (family/insiders) and has caused family to turn against family and church members to turn against church members, actually has a fan club.
But Surf’s Up always has been Grand Central for the absurd. Right now, for example, it is leading cheers for Curtis Richmond in his bid to slap around federal judges and federal prosecutors involved in the ASD litigation. A companion site, the AdViewGlobal Members Forum, is doing the same thing.
Richmond, a member of a sham Utah “Indian” tribe whose certified-mail and “arbitration” practices have led to prison sentences for at least two proponents, is being hailed a hero on both forums. Richmond’s own conviction in California for criminal contempt of court for threatening federal judges is merely an afterthought, if a thought at all.
Posting numbers at Surf’s Up, however, have been on the decline recently. Has its loud — and in-your-face advocacy for the bizarre — finally caught up with it?
Hollywood Here We Come!!!!!
If a movie based on the ASD case gets made, the Surf’s Up forum will be a prominent part of it. It’s where most of the color and flavor of this awkward mix of tragedy and black comedy has played out. Any media campaign surrounding the movie necessarily would include liberal use of exclamation points. The Surf’s Up leadership and some forum members never saw a slammer they didn’t like.
To the best of our knowledge, no grandiose prediction advanced on the forum ever has come true. Bowdoin, for instance, has not been cleared. God has not intervened on his side. The prosecutors are still gainfully employed and haven’t been relegated to fast-food work, and ASD Members International (ASDMI), which invited forum members to do the good work of suing the government back to the Stone Age, didn’t manage even to sue it back into last week.
In fact, ASDMI folded — but not until it had collected money from 167 members, only to discover Andy Bowdoin had folded. Bowdoin didn’t tell members that he’d thrown in the towel: They read about it in the newspaper or on Blogs and forums. His lips were sealed.
Indeed, the Surf’s Up forum is the place where old exclamation points go to die. There must be several thousand of them buried over there.
Among other things, Surf’s Up members have advocated for:
Complaint letters to be sent to the Office of Inspector General to stymie prosecutors before there had been a single finding of fact in the case.
A drive to have a Florida TV station charged with “deceptive trade practices” for carrying news unflattering to ASD and Bowdoin.
A “Kool-Aid” campaign to Bill O’Reilly of Fox News. (The advocates were being called “Kool-Aid” drinkers on other forums, and adopted this term of derision as a symbol of unity.)
A petition drive to politicians, advocating for Ponzi schemes in a down economy — and during an election year with bank failures constantly in the news. (Nine banks already have failed this year, including three on Friday alone. Twenty-five banks failed in 2008. By comparison, three banks failed in 2007.)
A “prayer campaign” for a federal judge to do the “right thing” — followed by assertions she was “brainless” and “on the take” if she didn’t see the genius of the ASD business model.
A million-person-strong show of force in Washington — in the form of a protest march on Labor Day weekend, when politicians are all back home in their districts making speeches at holiday picnics. (As a technical matter, the call for a million-person march predated the Surf’s Up forum, but it was the same people. The idea collapsed when it became clear that no one had done any logistics homework at all. If the Pro-ASD forums were taverns, the advocacy would be called “beer talk.”)
A plan to get AARP, which advocates for senior citizens, to advocate for Ponzi schemes.
Accompanying the Surf’s Up forum have been virtually constant claims that special members with “inside information” had kernels of knowledge that would be fatal to the government’s case. None of it came true. A claim that Ponzi allegations against Bowdoin had been dropped in Florida wasn’t true, but Surf’s Up members repeated it as though it were fact. And claims that ASD soon would receive a cash infusion of tens of millions of dollars weren’t true, but were repeated as fact.
Memorably, the Surf’s Up forum held an online party after the Sept. 30-Oct. 1 evidentiary hearing, complete with fireworks and champagne — and claims that ASD’s “Perry Mason” lawyers had destroyed the incompetent “Gomer Pyle” who showed up to ask questions for the government. Several weeks later the judge issued her ruling, which can be summarized in two words:
Gomer won.
It’s not so much that Bowdoin’s lawyers lost; it’s that they had nothing to work with. Their client took the 5th, handed the prosecution ammunition during so-called “conference calls” and basically was just a con man who got caught in lie after lie after lie. The forfeiture element of the case always was virtually unwinnable. Possession is nine-tenths of the law, and the government already was holding the money, along with Bowdoin’s rap sheet for conning investors in a scheme a decade ago. Clarence Busby, a Bowdoin colleague, also was implicated in an investment scheme a decade ago.
The “conference calls” were myths, too. Bowdoin arranged them so members couldn’t ask questions, and he held forth unchallenged on a number of critical issues, including the key need for members to purchase VOIP services from him. Members were out tens of millions of dollars, the Holidays were fast approaching, and Andy Bowdoin responded by trying to sell them telephone service.
Not all of the Surf’s Up members are crackpots. But the leadership is. One couldn’t possibly advocate for these things as loudly and persistently as the leadership and not be a crackpot.
Kudos
Shifting gears briefly, we’d like to address a short note to “Seminole Girl,” with whom we’ve never corresponded: When the dust settles, find a way to go to law school or journalism school. You have impressed us with your reasoning skills, your writing skills and your lucidity. People always are getting ripped off in Florida. You might not make a lot of money as a consumer advocate or a prosecutor, but you could help protect people from the marsh sharks and land wolves at the door.
Bravo, Seminole Girl. Bravo.
A Cryptic Closing
Now, back to the topic at hand: The Surf’s Up site also is known for paranoia.
Based on an analysis of public records and other information, we have concluded that it is more likely than not that the ASD case will take a dramatic turn — and it will give the advocates the shock of their lives.
Here is a clue about a possible — tilting toward probable — ASD development:
“A Ceded Liniments Nut.”
Now, don’t you just hate it when somebody does that!!!!!!!!!!
Is it mere coincidence? Or is “Ponzi scheme operator” so lucrative that people made it a secret career choice years ago and are being outed because of the shrinking economy?
Another senior citizen has been charged in a Ponzi scheme, and this time it’s a woman. Judith Zabalaoui, 71, is accused of an elaborate scheme in which she set up fraudulent investment companies, used UPS stores to trick customers into thinking they were brick-and-mortar firms, created “fictitious employees” and spun a web of deception for years, prosecutors said.
The UPS stores were in Colorado and Delaware, but Zabalaoui ran the scheme out of Alabama and Louisiana, prosecutors said. To pull off the deception, she called UPS mailboxes “suites,” and promised investors “guaranteed” returns of up to 26 percent.
Zabalaoui took in at least $3 million in the scheme. (Read details at Ponzi News.)
Here are the names of several other seniors implicated in recent Ponzi schemes:
UPDATE AND EDITOR’S NOTE 8:07 P.M. EST (U.S.A.) The screen shots below are of actual court documents in litigation involving Curtis Richmond and the sham Utah “Indian” tribe.
If you’d like to view the full PDF of the court filings from which the screen shots were made, please click here. It’s a long but interesting read.
At the bottom of this post, we’ve included a News Release from federal prosecutors about a Hawaii man who was indicted on income-tax charges and convicted. He employed a sham “arbitration” panel linked to the sham Utah “tribe.” The “arbitration” panel was known as the Western Arbitration Council.
In addition to the News Release, you also might wish to view this document. It is the unsuccessful appeal of a Kansas man who also used the certified-mail tactics of the sham “Indian” tribe and its sham “arbitration” panel and was convicted of mail fraud and bankruptcy fraud. The man tried to get a judgment of $500,000 against the bankruptcy trustee, escalating it to a claim of $1.5 million through the “arbitration” panel. When the trustee “defaulted,” the man filed a UCC lien against the Trustee in Kansas and sought to collect by making a claim for more than $500,000 through the trustee’s surety bond. This led to a second charge of mail fraud.
Some members of AdSurfDaily are heralding the entry of Curtis Richmond into the ASD fray. In this screen shot of a document from federal court files, a “Supreme Court” set up by sham Utah “Indian” tribe issues an “Arrest Warrant” for two legitimate federal judges and two litigation opponents of Richmond. The “tribe” held a meeting inside an Arby’s restaurant in Provo, Utah, in 2003, which is why members sometimes are referred to as the “Arby’s Indians.” Meanwhile, the “tribe” listed the address of The Open Hearth Doughnut Shop conference room in Vernal, Utah, as the address of its “Supreme Court.” When issuing documents that purportedy carried the force of law, the “clerk of the court” didn’t bother with the formality of listing a last name or even a formal first name. Documents were signed “Charle” — apparently short for “Charlene.”
2.
“Spirit Walker,” sham “chief” of tribal law enforcement, identifies the “defendants,” determines they’re not present in “court,” notes that they “have violated a Court Order,” and begins the process of ordering legitimate federal marshals and legitimate police officers to arrest the legitimate federal judges and Richmond’s litigation opponents.
3.
Sham “Supreme Court” sanctions legitimate federal judges for “belligerent violations” with fines of $1,000 a day, and tacks on an “additional” 90 days in jail.
News Release From U.S. Attorney For Hawaii Outlining Prison Sentence For Man Who Used Sham Utah ‘Indian’ Arbitration Panel To Harass IRS
December 9, 2008
KIHEI, MAUI REAL ESTATE AGENT/BROKER SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR TAX OFFENSES
HONOLULU, HAWAII – BRUCE ROBERT TRAVIS, age 60, was sentenced yesterday by Chief District Judge Helen Gillmor to 24 months in prison for obstructing and impeding the lawful administration of the tax laws by the Internal Revenue Service and filing a false amended federal individual income tax return for the calendar year 2000. TRAVIS, a Kihei, Maui resident, was also ordered to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $14.958.29, as well as costs of prosecution in the amount of $17,828.95, and a fine of $5,000.
Ed Kubo, the United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, said according to the July 2007 Indictment, TRAVIS, who worked as a real estate agent and broker, conducted his real estate business on Maui through Americorp International Limited, incorporated in the State of Hawaii, for which TRAVIS was the owner, president, treasurer and director before its dissolution around 2004. Also around 2004, TRAVIS became president, partner and manager of Americorp International LLC, through which he continued to conduct his real estate business.
According to the indictment, TRAVIS signed and filed Form 1040 tax returns for 2003 and 2004 wherein he falsely claimed charitable deductions for payments he made to two entities belonging to or operated by Royal Lamarr Hardy, who was convicted of tax crimes in 2005 in Honolulu.
According to the plea agreement, TRAVIS, while an IRS audit of him was ongoing, also signed and filed false amended individual income tax returns wherein he improperly claimed itemized deductions equal to the adjusted gross income he previously reported on his original Form 1040 tax returns. As a result, TRAVIS falsely claimed that he owed no income taxes for each of the years under audit; that is, 1996 through 2000.
According to the plea agreement, beginning around March 2004, TRAVIS sought and obtained a fraudulent arbitration award from the Western Arbitration Council in the amount of $300,000 against both the IRS and the IRS employee who conducted the aforementioned audit. TRAVIS obtained the fraudulent arbitration award in an attempt to hinder IRS collection efforts.
TRAVIS’ sentence was based on information produced for the court that the tax loss to the United States for the years 1996 through 2004, without any interest or penalties, totaled over $400,000.
The case resulted from an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, and the prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Clare E. Connors and Department of Justice Tax Division Trial Attorney Michael C. Vasiliadis.
Meet Curtis Richmond and the so-called “Arby’s Indians.”
This stupefying drama actually started almost a decade before the fabled meeting inside an Arby’s restaurant in Provo, Utah, on April 18, 2003. The birth of Wampanoag Nation, Tribe of Grayhead, Wolf Band — a sham Utah “Indian” tribe not to be confused with a legitimate Massachusetts tribe with a similar name — dates back to the “Sovereign Citizen Movement” and “Patriot” eras of the 1990s in which Timothy McVeigh was making headlines for blowing up the federal building in Oklahoma City and killing 168 people.
“Mr. [Dale] Stevens . . . had actually started the organization . . . some nine years before that meeting in Provo,” said U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot, in findings of fact and conclusions of law. “Curtis Richmond was admitted to the tribe, because, in the words of Mr. Stevens, he is a believer in fighting for liberty, not because of any heritage as a member of the Wampanoag Nation.”
Friot ruled the tribe a “complete sham.” Richmond now is a central figure in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi litigation.
The Arby’s meeting in April 2003 was important, though, because it established a date from which a bizarre conspiracy evolved that rattled nerves, subjected public officials, attorneys, investigators and bankers to monumental inconvenience and, ultimately, created the stage from which Curtis Richmond introduced himself to a wider audience than just the folks back home in California. He has been a thorn in the side of the judiciary there, too, and was convicted in 2007 of criminal contempt of court for threatening federal judges.
Richmond invokes authority of sham tribal "Supreme Court."
Richmond has never been linked to violence. But he has a deep and storied history of threatening federal judges in court filings. And he has drawn the attention — and ire — of banks in courts from coast to coast. Richmond, who is not an attorney and yet holds the unique distinction of having been banned from the practice of law in Colorado, became a player in a scheme in which he advised people who were being sued by banks for defaulting on credit-card debt to “assign” the debts to him.
This was done by fiat, without the banks’ approval, and was designed to cripple their ability to collect on legitimate debts. Richmond became embroiled in litigation, and turned to a sham arbitration panel and sham “Supreme Court” set up by the sham “Indian” tribe to gum up the mix.
Because the “tribe” itself also was embroiled in litigation — mostly against public servants in Utah — the state became the staging ground for litigation that only can be described as bizarre.
In one case, for example, the “tribe” divined itself the authority to issue license plates. When a member was stopped by a deputy sheriff for having an illegal tag, litigation ensued that ultimately threatened the sanctity of the state and federal court systems and the government’s ability to prosecute criminals and provide public services.
Not even the Utah Division of Child and Family Services was immune from tribal interference and harassment. Indeed, the tribe even divined itself the authority to intervene in family matters.
“A good example of this pattern of racketeering activity would be Wampanoager [Name Deleted To Protect Privacy Of Children,]” victims in the case said. “[Name Deleted] applied for membership in the Wampanoag Nation on October 20, 2002. His ‘application’ was received into evidence at trial as Exhibit 29. It reflects that Dale Stevens is the Tribal Chief, Thomas Smith is the Chief of Ministry of Justice and Terry Campbell is the Chief Minister of Law Enforcement.
“[Name Deleted] later became embroiled in litigation with the Utah Division of Child and Family Services regarding his minor children. [Name Deleted] served Mr. Michael Atkin, a representative of the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, by certified mail, with a demand for payment of $300,000.00, allegedly for breach of contract. This demand, termed a ‘Statement of Account[,]’ advises Atkin that he will be subject to binding arbitration to collect that debt.”
Curtis Richmond, who is being called a “hero” on the Pro-ASD “Surf’s Up” forum, served as the “arbitrator” and approved the fraudulent $300,000 award.
Curtis Richmond's signature as "arbitrator" for $300,000 award in family matter involving minor children.
Justice Perverted
“Insisting that their status as tribal members exempts them from state and local laws, Stevens and the other Wampanoagers engaged in a pattern of racketeering activities involving sham arbitrations before an entity known as the Western Arbitration Council,” said victims of the scheme, in court filings.
“The Western Arbitration Council is a dba for a Utah corporation called the Order of White Light,” the victims continued. “The Order of White Light, in turn, claims to be a private ‘ecclesiastical corporation sole’ of which Thomas Smith is the ‘presiding patriarch.’
“Stevens and the Wampanoagers obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent arbitration awards against local governmental officials, judges and prosecutors and then
Richmond uses sham 'Indian Supreme Court' to overturn legitimate court rulings and threaten federal judges.
recorded those ‘awards’ as liens against the officials’ property, including the property of Uintah County, Utah, Uintah County Attorney Joan Stringham, former Uintah County Sheriff Hawkins and Uintah County Deputy Sheriff Laursen. The Wampanoagers did this in order to frustrate, harass, interfere with and obstruct local law enforcement so as to continue their respective commercial activities free of governmental regulation,” the victims said.
All of this potentially spells bad news for ASD members.
For scale, consider that the first filing in one of the Utah cases involving Richmond was entered on Aug. 11, 2004 — four and a half years ago. The most recent filing is dated Jan. 14, 2009, and the case file includes 321 separate entries, not taking entries that don’t qualify as formal filings into account.
By comparision, the ASD case has 42 entries since it was opened in August 2008 — and was nearly litigated to conclusion before Richmond entered the fray. If the case drags on interminably — and if people expecting to petition the government for a refund from seized funds have to wait even longer — they can blame it on Curtis Richmond, “Professor” Patrick Moriarty and some of the members of the “Surf’s Up” forum who advocated a scorched-earth campaign against the government.
A linchpin of the stragegy is to send demand letters to litigation opponents, judges and officers of the court by certified mail. The letters demand a specific course of conduct and include a compressed time frame in which the demand must be met. If the demand is not met or if the recipient ignores the letters, the practitioners claim a contract violation has occurred and seek astronomical judgments against the targets of the letters.
If any of this sounds unreasonable and dangerous to you, consider you’re not alone in your concern. In one of the Utah cases, the recipients sued under federal racketeering and mail-fraud statutes — and won. On the eve of an “Indian” trial in Utah, Richmond tried to force Friot to recuse himself from the case, claiming that Friot couldn’t be fair because he “owes Curtis Richmond $30 million in Damages for Violating Curtis Richmond’s Sovereign & Constitutional Rights.”
And Richmond piled on threats: “The Judge Disqualifies Himself Or He Will Face Criminal Charges,” he demanded.
Friot refused to step down. He found that the “tribe” had engaged in racketeering and mail fraud, ordering more than $108,000 in damages to the victims.
