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  • ‘Noobing’ Autosurf Has Hearing-Impaired Clientele; Surf Blames Slashed Payouts On Unclear Ruling In ASD Ponzi Case

    Sampling of YouTube videos by hearing-impaired Noobing members
    Sampling of YouTube videos by hearing-impaired Noobing members.

    UPDATED 9:11 PM. EST (U.S.A.) An autosurf excoriated in forums for slashing payouts has hearing-impaired clients, according to several videos on YouTube.

    At least 15 of the YouTube videos feature sign language and appear to have been created by hearing-impaired members of Noobing. Many of the videos use the word “Noobing” — coupled with the word “deaf” — to generate keyword-search volume.

    Meanwhile, Noobing members are asking tough questions on forums, saying they were led to believe the money they spent on advertising would generate returns of 3 percent. Noobing slashed returns to a fraction of 1 percent, and says members weren’t guaranteed any return at all.

    Earlier today a Noobing employee blamed the lower rates on the government. Tonight the same  Noobing employee said the slash in payouts was because of an unclear ruling in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case.

    “The SEC did not contact us,” explained the employee, on the ASA Monitor forum. “We are simply being smart and not putting ourselves in a bad position to risk losing everything. Once ASD gave up, and we stood without a firm ruling from the courts, the risk was too high. We’d have preferred that ASD won, or that at least we got a clear ruling, as it is now, cautious action is best.”

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin surrendered his claim last month to tens of millions of dollars and other property seized by the government in August. Noobing debuted after the government’s move last summer. A second forfeiture complaint against assets tied to ASD was filed in December. ASD has not submitted a claim to the assets, including a boat, water equipment, automobiles and real estate owned by Bowdoin family members.

    Prosecutors said the property was purchased with the proceeds of a criminal enterprise: ASD.

    Members have complained that Noobing now is paying only a fraction of 1 percent, meaning that money directed at the firm is producing little income. Some members said Noobing should provide refunds, but the Noobing employee said that wouldn’t happen because the company never guaranteed a return.

    “If there is a bad guy in this whole story, it’s the government!” the employee exclaimed. “Let’s get mad at them! How can sharing our revenue to help control costs for legitimate advertisers be a bad thing? How can keeping $90+ million dollars to protect the people who worked with ASD be a fair result? It’s madness!!! Our government is the bad guy here, not Noobing.

    “Let’s get mad at the source of this challenge!” the employee railed. “Call your congressman, send letters, speak publicly!!”

    Some ASD members also are railing against the government.

    Noobing members, though, find themselves hamstrung by Noobing’s argument that returns — or “incentives,” as the company calls them — weren’t guaranteed. It’s fundamentally the argument prosecutors said ASD used to insulate itself from Ponzi claims.

    And now Noobing is using the argument, even though it is still operating. Noobing also says advertising purchases are nonrefundable, as did ASD.

    At the same time, Noobing members are accusing the company of “bait and switch,” saying it never should have opened for business if it didn’t address all regulatory issues up front, including potential challenges for selling unregistered securities and operating a Ponzi scheme.

    One of the YouTube videos shows Noobing members how to sign up for a Clickbank affiliate account in case they don’t have their own business to advertise. Over the past two days, Noobing has criticized members who didn’t have a business to advertise for signing up.

    See related post.

  • Is The ‘Noobing’ Autosurf Beginning To Tank?

    UPDATED 12:37 P.M. EST (U.S.A.) Members of an autosurf named “Noobing” are beginning to complain about “low” rates of return. Is the surf trying to horde cash?

    Noobing members are complaining publicly about “bait and switch.” They were attracted to the program by suggestions of returns of up to 3 percent a day, but the returns now are generating a fraction of 1 percent.

    Members also are miffed that Noobing introduced a “prize” program funded by members. The prizes are paid out of the same fund used to pay what Noobing calls “incentives” for “reviewing” other websites, which means even less money is available for paying “incentives.”

    Noobing has the same problem as all autosurfs: It can’t control how members promote the company, which means it faces liability issues for excessive claims made by members. At the same time, it doesn’t really know if its “advertisers” are promoting legitimate businesses. One forum poster acknowledged in public that he didn’t have a business to advertise, so just threw up a page.

    This triggered a sarcastic reprimand from a Noobing staffer.

    “You joined an advertising network and didn’t have a site to advertise? Why?” the staffer blared. “Wanting to break even without sales from a website? Really? REALLY? Wow!”

    The same Noobing staffer now is blaming the government for the surf’s need to reduce incentive payments. He also is asserting that Noobing learned from the ASD case that “it became clear that any system that is not SEC registered as an investment that returns more than 100% risks getting shut down and everyone loses everything.”

    What he did not explain is why Noobing chose even to operate in the post-ASD environment. And he also didn’t explain why only surfs that advertised more than a 100 percent return would fall under the purview of the SEC or other regulatory bodies/investigative agencies.

    Any advertised rate of return — even amounts below 100 percent — can trigger an investigation by federal and state regulators and law-enforcement agencies.

    The issue in virtually all autosurf prosecutions to date has been the sale of unregistered securities and the Ponzi nature of such operations. Any firm that engages in the sale of securities is subject to policing by state and federal authorities. The argument that an investment program can be dressed up as an “advertising” program to skirt securities laws is well known by the government — and it’s a dog that won’t hunt.

    Assertions by many autosurf purveyors that the government doesn’t understand the new technology of the Web and should be attacked for destroying small business and the entrepreneurial spirit are just plain absurd.

    More ‘Surf’s Up’ Theater

    As Noobing reports were circulating around the Web, for a brief time yesterday at least one member of AdGateWorld raised a similar concern about the surf’s ability to pay. The AdGateWorld concern was raised on the Surf’s Up Pro-ASD forum, and was quickly deleted.

    The deletion at Surf’s Up was just one of many deletions. Threads — and even members — are routinely deleted for asking tough questions. The forum is accepting paid advertising for AdGateWorld. “Surf’s Up” is only shorthand for the site; its official name is the ASD Member Advocates forum, and it was given the stamp of approval by ASD itself on Nov. 27.

    Surf’s Up also is associated with a surf named AdViewGlobal (AVG), which has management, members and promoters in common with ASD. Despite this, AVG has made the Clintonian assertion that it is not affiliated with ASD.

    It all comes down to the meaning of the word “affiliated.”

    We think a jury won’t be swayed by an argument that AVG and ASD aren’t affiliated. The chief executive officer of AVG, Gary Talbert, is a former ASD executive. Meantime, Chuck Osmin, who has served as a spokesman for AVG, was employed by ASD and testified on its behalf at a Sept. 30-Oct. 1 evidentiary hearing.

    As it awaited a court ruling on Oct. 20, ASD disclaimed AdGateWorld — again by using a form of the word “affiliate” — but did not mention the surf by name.

    “It has come to our attention that there is a new internet company out of Panama City, Panama that is similar to ASD,” the ASD Breaking News site said. “In their web page announcements they are using verbiage that is similar to ASD’s and even going so far as to mention names of people that you may know.

    “Please be assured that this is not an ASD Company or Affiliate Company,” the Breaking News site said. The announcement was signed, “Thank You ASD Management Team.”

    The issue at the time was that AdGateWorld had posted its Terms of Service. The acronym “ASD,” which stands for “AdSurfDaily,” was used in the AdGateWord terms.

    On Nov. 6, still awaiting a court ruling, the ASD Breaking News site sought to bat down reports that ASD’s database had been sold.

    “There have been rumors that suggest that our database has been sold. These rumors are unequivocally not true,” the Breaking News site said. “In fact the ASD corporate office has not had access to the database since the government seizure occurred on August 5, when the government shut down our offices.  The government itself is in possession of our database.”

    The problem with the assertion, however, was that it conflicted with what ASD President Andy Bowdoin had said in a previous conference call. During the call, Bowdoin raised the issue of the database, suggesting that government tricksters had erased it.

    But Bowdoin went on to tell listeners that ASD kept a copy of the database in a secret location. Why Bowdoin even raised the question of the database is unclear. But his words — and ASD’s subsequent actions on the Breaking News site — have the quality of preemption: planting a cover story in case tough questions get asked later.

    In any event, we believe there is a high probability of trouble at AVG and AdGateWorld, and that this trouble will be due to what purveyors awkwardly are trying to sell as a sort of nonaffiliation affiliation with ASD.

    See this previous post.

    And this one.

    We also believe it highly likely that the government and private lawyers know precisely what is going on with respect to the ties among the autosurf firms.

  • EDITORIAL: Cancel Their Ponzi Ticket, Sen. Leahy

    Sen. Leahy, in oline chat with eighth-graders.
    Sen. Leahy, in online chat with eighth-graders.

    Four more U.S. banks failed yesterday. Three failed on the previous Friday. Thirteen have failed year-to-date. To say this is unsettling is to grossly understate the severity of the banking problem and the drag on the U.S. and world economies.

    Stories about Ponzi schemes and mortgage fraud are in the news daily. The obvious fear among regulators is that more Bernard Madoffs and Arthur Nadels will emerge. The situation is ripe for Ponzi schemes to be exposed because people need cash and actually fear Ponzi fraud now, meaning they’re predisposed to request redemptions just in case. Ponzi operators won’t be able to fund the redemptions, and the fraud will be exposed at the revulsion of the world.

    And yet some members of the Surf’s Up forum, which is associated with the AdSurfDaily Ponzi operation, are writing incredibly brazen letters to Sen. Patrick Leahy. These letters are a bid to get the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate the prosecutors who prevented the ASD Ponzi from mushrooming. Sen. Leahy is committee chairman.

    Make no mistake about it, Sen. Leahy: ASD is a $100 million Ponzi scheme and every bit as dangerous as the Madoff and Nadel schemes. ASD thrived for months and collected tens of millions of dollars — now subject to forfeiture because of quick action by the U.S. Secret Service, the IRS and the Justice Department — and tried to cover its tracks by drafting investors into a contract that provided no consumer protections at all. The contract was nothing more than an inartful, cynical bid to legalize Ponzi schemes and skirt securities laws by calling an investment program an “advertising” program.

    Members of the Judiciary Committee should pay close attention to the ASD contract, which appears starting on P. 68 of this document, an Aug. 5 forfeiture complaint against assets tied to ASD. The Justice Department filed a second forfeiture complaint on Dec. 19, outlining even more ASD abuses and highlighted by a claim that “Russian” hackers stole $1 million from ASD.

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin did not even file a police report, which raises even more questions — questions such as “Why not?” and “Did a theft actually even occur?”

    Members of the Judiciary Committee also should know that Bowdoin already has surrendered claims to money and property seized in the August forfeiture complaint.

    At the same time, members of the committee should seek to determine if the Robert Garner mentioned beginning on P. 160 of this Senate document pertaining to a 2001 money-laundering investigation is the same Robert Garner mentioned in the ASD forfeiture complaint.

    The Surf’s Up members’ bid to misinform the Judiciary Committee and sanitize Ponzi schemes is reprehensible, an insult to hard-working and underfunded law-enforcement agencies, the highly capable men and women who staff the agencies, and dedicated prosecutors at all levels of government.

    And it is a slap in the face to hard-working Americans who are living through lean times, struggling to make ends meet and are stunned beyond words at the devastation wrought by the Ponzi economy.

    We call on Sen. Leahy, a former prosecutor, and the Judiciary Committee to fully investigate so-called “autosurf” Ponzi fraud and propose legislation that will help federal and state prosecutors combat it. A law that specifically codifies the crime and spells out penalties would be a good first step.

    We suggest that Sen. Leahy and members of the Judiciary Committee work closely with Attorney General Holder and SEC Chairman Schapiro in crafting legislation that specifically addresses autosurf and HYIP Ponzi fraud.

    This insidious business is sucking wealth out of the economy and creating an environment in which criminals and even terrorists can thrive. Mini-Madoffs exist far and wide across the autosurf landscape. They are engaging in the sale of unregistered securities, wire fraud, money-laundering, mail fraud and racketeering, and they are being aided by people who are doing everything in their power to change the subject and sanitize what amounts to organized theft on a global scale.

    Cancel their Ponzi ticket, Sen. Leahy.

  • Reports: U.S. Regulators Probing Bank In Antigua

    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.

  • Bill McCollum, Florida Attorney General, Seeks Tougher Securities Laws, Even As ASD Faithful Work Against Him

    Bill McCollum
    Bill McCollum

    While some members of the “Surf’s Up” Pro-ASD forum are sending letters to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D.-Vermont)  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.”

    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.”

    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.

  • Judge Scolds Ponzi Operator Who Fleeced Millions From Victims, Including Seniors Who Plowed Life Savings Into Scam

    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.”

    “[Atkins’] total and complete breach of ethical behavior is truly shameful,” Hamm said.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Court Rejects Richmond Appeal Bid In Criminal Contempt Of Court Case For Threatening Judges

    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.

  • Our Theory Of The AdSurfDaily Case: Steroidal Puppeteers

    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.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Following Richmond’s Lead, Second Motion To Intervene Filed In AdSurfDaily Forfeiture Case

    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.
    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.

    http://www.erosproject.com/010216.html?source=ErosProject

  • More Than 50 ‘Demand’ Letters Sent To Prosecutors, Secret Service, In AdSurfDaily Case, Moriarty Tells Senator

    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.

    Senator Leahy’s contact information is here: http://leahy.senate.gov/contact.cfm
    You can find supporting documentation on Steve Watt’s site:
    http://www.thejoyluckclub.com/ASD_Latest_News.htm

    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.

    [Email Address Deleted]

    Thank you!
    Barb

    Visit ASD Member Advocates – Surf’s up Baby! at: http://asdmembers.ning.com

    To control which emails you receive on ASD Member Advocates – Surf’s up Baby!, go to:
    http://asdmembers.ning.com/profiles/profile/emailSettings

  • Has The ‘Surf’s Up’ Forum Run Out Of Steam? And What, Exactly, Is ‘A Ceded Liniments Nut?’

    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!!!!!!!!!!