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Tag: Kenneth Wayne Leaming

  • BULLETIN: AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Kenneth Wayne Leaming Now Seeks To File Another Lawsuit

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming
    Kenneth Wayne Leaming

    BULLETIN: (UPDATED 12:35 P.M. ET U.S.A.) AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming has reached out from jail again in a bid to sue the government and officeholders.

    Leaming, 57, is detained in the SeaTac federal-detention facility near Seattle on charges of filing false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD Ponzi case and other crimes. He was arrested by an FBI terrorism Task Force in November 2011. Since his arrest, Leaming has filed lawsuits against President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington and a county sheriff in Arkansas.

    Filings in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia — the venue from which the ASD Ponzi prosecution was brought — now show that Leaming is seeking to sue Holder anew, along with a federal prison official in Washington state. Leaming originally sued Holder and Obama in a different venue.

    His new claims make Holder a prospective defendant in the D.C. District Court and make new claims against the Attorney General.

    The case is docketed as “unassigned” to a specific judge, but U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer — an alleged target of one of Leaming’s false liens and the presiding judge in the ASD case — has issued an order that requires Leaming to submit certain paperwork to the court before the case can proceed. The January docket for the D.C. district suggests that Collyer’s duties this month have included the initial responses to complaints brought by individuals desiring to sue members of government.

    Leaming does not appear to be making an ASD-related claim in his most recent case. Even so, it is possible that Collyer would remove herself from any Leaming-related process moving forward because of the FBI allegations he filed a false lien against her in Washington state.

    In the new filing in the D.C. District, Leaming appears to be trying to make a damages claim against a SeaTac prison official while simultaneously making a claim against Holder. The earlier case against Holder and Obama was tossed in the Western District of Washington months ago. Following a Birther conspiracy theory, it alleged that Obama was not born in the United States and thus was inelegible to be President — and that Holder was a bogus Attorney General because he’d been appointed by a bogus President.

    Leaming now is demanding damages paid in “United States Silver Eagle Dollars,” amid allegations he was denied access to a law library. In his earlier case against Holder and Obama, he demanded payment in gold in silver.

  • ASD Figures Todd Disner And Dwight Owen Schweitzer Toss Linguistic Spitballs At Federal Judge; Government Calls Them ‘Intemperate Attacks’

    ponzinews1UPDATED 7:49 P.M. ET (JAN. 14, U.S.A.) Judge Rosemary Collyer has been on the federal bench in the District of Columbia for 10 years. She was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2002 and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Earlier in her career, then-attorney Collyer was appointed by President Reagan to lead the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission.

    Collyer is 67. She also has broad experience in the private sector, having been a partner at Crowell & Moring, a top-tier law firm with blue-chip clients and offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

    As a federal judge, Collyer has presided over national-security cases, voting-rights cases, worker-rights cases, securities cases, cases involving international intrigue and U.S. foreign policy and a case involving an alleged would-be assassin of the President of the United States.

    In 2009, when the PP Blog referenced Collyer in a story that mentioned her ruling in a case involving former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, once National Security Adviser to President Richard M. Nixon, the Blog observed that “[n]o critic interested in fair or logical debate would dismiss her as an intellectual lightweight.”

    AdSurfDaily figures Todd Disner and Dwight Owen Schweitzer, though, have a different take on Collyer. To the former ASD Ponzi pitchmen who went on to become pitchmen for the alleged Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme, Collyer is a “sophist” and the author of opinions in the ASD case that a “first year law student” would have found “repugnant.”

    ASD was a $119 million Ponzi scheme. In August, the SEC described Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud. Having once been involved in an effort to raise funds purportedly to defend ASD members from government overreach, Disner then became involved in efforts purportedly to raise funds to protect Zeek members from the government.

    In November 2011, ASD figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming was arrested by an FBI terrorism Task Force on charges of filing false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD case, including Collyer. When Leaming was arrested, he allegedly was found in the company of two individuals who’d pulled off a multimillion-dollar bizop fraud in Arkansas.

    During that same month, Disner and Schweitzer sued the United States. In court filings, the ASD duo alleged that the government had produced a “tissue of lies,” that its forfeiture case involving ASD assets was a “house of cards,” that the government had relied on “some of their Washington D.C. operatives to become members of ASD” in a bid to sink a legitimate business and that federal prosecutors had shopped the case to Collyer.

    In May 2012, ASD operator Andy Bowdoin pleaded guilty to wire fraud and acknowledged ASD was a Ponzi scheme and that the Florida-based firm never had operated lawfully from its 2006 inception. Collyer tossed the claims of Disner and Schweitzer in August 2012. The ASD duo appealed, accusing Collyer of bias,  sophistry and issuing rulings that would deeply offend even freshmen students of the law.

    The government has responded to the Disner/Schwwitzer appeal.

    “Appellants go so far as to argue that Judge Collyer ‘had so improperly authorized the taking of the Appellants[’] property and effects, that a first year law student would have found it repugnant’ and that ‘she abrogated her role as a jurist and became what can only be called a sophist,’” an appeals lawyer for the government argued. “Offering nothing more than intemperate attacks on the District Court Judge, Appellants failed to raise any specific facts suggesting bias on the part of the District Judge.”

  • Payment Processor For Cybercrime Ring Sentenced To 48 Months In Federal Prison; ‘Operation Trident Tribunal’ Is Ongoing

    recommendedreading1Mikael Patrick Sallnert has been sentenced to 48 months in federal prison for his role in processing payments for a cybercrime ring, the U.S. Justice Department announced.

    Sallnert, 37, is a citizen of Sweden. As part of “Operation Trident Tribunal,” Sallnert was arrested in Denmark on Jan. 19, 2012, and extradited to the United States in March 2012. He pleaded guilty on Aug. 17, 2012, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of accessing a protected computer in furtherance of fraud, the Justice Department said.

    “Payment processors like this defendant are the backbone of the cybercrime underworld,” said U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan of the Western District of Washington.  “As an established businessman, this defendant put a stamp of legitimacy on cyber criminals.  He was involved in defrauding thousands of victims, and his actions contributed to insecurities in e-commerce that stifle the development of legitimate enterprises and increase the costs of e-commerce for everyone.”

    If Durkan’s name rings familiar to PP Blog readers, it’s because her office is involved in an investigation into the activities of a group of “sovereign citizens” operating in the Pacific Northwest. Kenneth Wayne Leaming, a figure in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme story, is being prosecuted by Durkan’s office amid allegations he filed false liens against at least five public officials in the ASD Ponzi scheme case.

    Sallnert, prosecutors said, provided payment-processing services for “scareware” vendors.

    “Mikael Patrick Sallnert played an instrumental role in carrying out a massive cybercrime ring that victimized approximately 960,000 innocent victims,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer. “By facilitating payment processing, Sallnert allowed the cybercrime ring to collect millions of dollars from victims who were duped into believing their computers were compromised and could be fixed by the bogus software created by Sallnert’s co-conspirators.  Cybercrime poses a real threat to American consumers and businesses, and the Justice Department is committed to pursuing cybercriminals across the globe.”

    Operation Trident Tribunal is an “ongoing, coordinated enforcement action targeting international cybercrime,” prosecutors said.

    “This cyber crime ring spanned multiple countries—increasing the threat it posed and complicating the necessary law enforcement response,” said Laura M. Laughlin, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle Division.  “Thanks to the commitment of many foreign partners and FBI entities across the nation, we were able to dismantle that threat and ensure Mr. Sallnert faced justice.”

    Scams often rely on international payments processors to fleece their victims.

     

  • ASD Figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming’s Birther Lawsuit Against Obama, Holder Gets Tossed

    Screen shot: Part of the Leaming/Stephenson complaint demanding gold and silver.

    After he was charged with filing false liens and other crimes and jailed near Seattle, AdSurfDaily story figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming apparently thought it prudent to sue President Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

    Leaming, 56, advanced a theory that Obama was not born in the United States, was not eligible to be President and had appointed Holder unlawfully.

    It therefore followed, according to Leaming and co-plaintiff and former business colleague David Carroll Stephenson, that Holder was “Personating [sic] the Attorney General of the United States” and could not lawfully appoint or delegate authority to “Any United States Attorney.”

    And because Holder had oversight responsibility over the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Washington that had brought the criminal charges against Leaming and Stephenson after an FBI probe, the duo apparently surmised, it followed that the prosecution was unlawful and should be declared “VOID For FRAUD” because the U.S. Attorney also is “personating” [sic] a federal officer.

    In their June lawsuit, Leaming and Stephenson demanded compensation in “gold” and “silver” for each day they allegedly were held unlawfully. Over time, the docket of the case swelled to more than 30 entries.

    On Oct. 11, however, U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik dismissed the Leaming/Stephenson lawsuit “for failure to identify any viable claim for relief.”

    The judge also ordered “all pending motions” stricken as moot.

    Leaming and Stephenson remain jailed near Seattle.

    In court filings earlier this month, federal prosecutors said Leaming was instrumental in founding the “County Rangers,” a “sovereign group’s armed enforcement wing.”

    He is charged with filing false liens against at least five federal officials involved in the prosecution of the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, which the U.S. Secret Service described as a fraud operated by Andy Bowdoin that had gathered at least $119 million.

    Bowdoin, 77, was sentenced in August to 78 months in federal prison.

    Leaming initially was arrested by the FBI in November 2011. He was indicted in January 2012 on charges of filing false liens, harboring fugitives, possessing firearms as a convicted felon and uttering a bogus “Bonded Promissory Note” with a face value of $1 million and depositing it in U.S. Bank.

    Stephenson, a tax fraudster already jailed when Leaming was arrested and jailed, worked with Leaming to file false liens against U.S. prison officials, prosecutors said.

    See Nov. 27, 2011, PP Blog story that outlines FBI allegations that Leaming was discussing a way to serve Stepenson-related papers on U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts through the school attended by his children, who are minors.

    Roberts is the top judicial officer in the United States.

  • The Bizzare Saga Of Denny Ray Hardin: 10-Year Prison Sentence Of Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Whom Prosecutors Said Tried To ‘Extinguish Over $100 Million Worth Of Debt’ Upheld By Appeals Court

    EDITOR’S NOTE: In August 2011, the FBI warned of debt-elimination schemes advanced by purported “sovereign citizens.” The story below outlines a “bonded promissory notes” scheme advanced in Missouri by Denny Ray Hardin. It is worth noting that AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming is jailed near Seattle awaiting trial in a case that alleges he issued a “bonded promissory note” and filed false liens against public officials.

    ** ____________________________ **

    The 10-year prison sentence of a purported “sovereign citizen” who hatched a scheme in which bogus financial products were sold to customers in a bid to eliminate their debts has been upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.

    Denny Ray Hardin, 53, of Kansas City, Mo., was convicted in September 2011 of 11 counts of creating fictitious obligations and 10 counts of mail fraud.

    The circumstances that led to Hardin’s arrest and trial were just plain bizarre. Hardin, according to prosecutors, divined a a construction by which he was a private banker authorized to issue “bonded promissory notes” (BPNs) backed by the government.

    Customers were told they could use Hardin’s manufactured notes to wipe out their debts, and Hardin charged $100 or more for the notes, prosecutors said.

    Hardin called his purported bank “The Private Bank of Denny Ray Hardin,” and he operated it from his residence, prosecutors said. The scheme in part operated online, but also through the mails.

    “Hardin defrauded customers by selling them BPNs with the false promise that these fictitious instruments can discharge debts,” prosecutors said. “Hardin defrauded creditors by presenting them with worthless BPNs.”

    U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner sentenced Hardin to 10 years. An appeal followed.

    In upholding the sentence, a three-judge appeals panel from the 8th Circuit noted that Fenner could have sentenced Hardin to nearly 34 years in prison but used his discretion under the circumstances of the case to depart downward, ordering a 10-year-sentence and three years’ supervised probation after Hardin’s release.

    Records in the case show that Hardin, in October 2010, was ordered “committed to the custody of the United States Attorney General for hospitalization and treatment” after he raised issues of his own competency to stand trial.

    In May 2011, Hardin was ruled competent to stand trial.

    At a pretrial conference in August 2011, prosecutors announced they had at least 30 witnesses and 487 trial exhibits.

    Hardin, who had decided to represent himself and had been appointed stand-by counsel, “refused to participate in the proceeding and objected to the Court’s jurisdiction, according to a memo by the presiding magistrate judge. (Read memo at Leagle.com).

    The conviction followed on Sept. 14, 2011, and the appeals panel last week upheld the 10- year sentence.

    Among other things, the panel rejected as “meritless” Hardin’s claims that the district court had no jurisdiction over him.

    These are among the findings of the appeals panel (italics/bolding added):

    Witness testimony and documentary evidence established that (1) Hardin produced
    fictitious financial instruments that he called “bonded promissory notes” and (2) Hardin claimed that these notes had monetary value to discharge debt and were authorized by the United States Department of Treasury. Hardin typically sold the bogus notes for a fee and then mailed them to financial institutions on behalf of the purchaser with the stated purpose of extinguishing that purchaser’s debt, including mortgage debt. Hardin continued this course of action even after he was advised about the illegality of his conduct. See 18 U.S.C. § 514(a) (producing fictitious obligations with intent to defraud), § 1341 (using mail in a scheme to defraud).

    At sentencing, the panel recounted, “additional evidence was introduced to show that Hardin sold the fictitious instruments to over 50 customers and attempted to extinguish over $100 million worth of debt . . .”

  • Government Opposes Bids By ASD Figures Todd Disner And Dwight Owen Schweitzer To Reopen Lawsuit And Boot Federal Judge From Case

    AdSurfDaily figures Todd Disner and Dwight Owen Schweitzer should not be permitted to reopen their lawsuit against the government for alleged misdeeds in bringing the ASD Ponzi-scheme case in August 2008, government lawyers said in court filings today.

    Moreover, the bid by Disner and Schweitzer to force U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer of the District of Columbia to recuse herself from the case should fail because the ASD duo’s “dissatisfaction with the Court’s rulings is not a basis for recusal,” the lawyers said.

    Disner and Schweitzer, who became pitchmen for the alleged Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme after their ASD days ended, sued the United States in November 2011. Collyer dismissed their lawsuit in late August, ruling that Disner and Schweitzer lacked standing to bring their 4th Amendment claim.

    Collyer dismissed the case on Aug. 29, the same date upon which she sentenced ASD operator Andy Bowdoin to 78 months in federal prison. Bowdoin, 77, admitted in May that ASD was a Ponzi scheme and that the firm never operated lawfully from its 2006 inception.

    Summoning a fancy word in their bid to force Collyer to step down, Disner and Schweitzer accused the judge of “sophistry.”

    The move by Disner and Schweitzer to prevent Collyer from hearing ASD-related matters was at least the third. Two others failed — one by purported “sovereign” being Curtis Richmond in 2009 and another by Bowdoin himself in 2009.

    “Plaintiffs’ motion to reopen and set aside the Court’s Order of August 29, 2012, merely rehashes arguments previously raised and fails to demonstrate any error, let alone clear error, in the Court’s ruling granting Defendant’s motion to dismiss. Likewise, the record provides no support for Plaintiffs’ motion to recuse Judge Collyer and this motion, too, should be dismissed,” the government said.

    ASD was a Ponzi scheme that raised at least $119 million, federal prosecutors said.

    Zeek Rewards was a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme, the SEC said on Aug. 17.

    Precisely when Disner and Schweitzer joined Zeek is unclear.

    What is clear is that some very strange events have occurred since the U.S. Secret Service brought the civil portion of the ASD Ponzi case in 2008.

    Purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming is jailed near Seattle on charges he brought false liens against Collyer, three federal prosecutors and a U.S. Secret Service agent who had roles in the case.

    Leaming was arrested by an FBI Terrorism Task Force in November 2011. He since has sued President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. Separately, Leaming sued a county sheriff in Arkansas.

    Some ASD members claimed Leaming was doing legal work for them, even though he is not an attorney.

    Disner, who solicited funds to sue the government for alleged misdeeds in the ASD case, also was involved in an effort by Zeek figure Robert Craddock to raise funds to intervene in the Zeek case.

    Precisely how Craddock intends to do that is unclear.

  • FOR COURT PERSONNEL, ATTORNEYS, INVESTIGATORS: Alberta Judge Analyzes Bizarre Filings By ‘Sovereign Citizens,’ Others; Divorce Case Leads To Extraordinary Dissection Of Various Schemes And Introduces New Term: ‘Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Argument’ (OPCA)

    From time to time over the years, readers have commented that some of the stories published by the PP Blog read like fiction. Did AdSurfDaily Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin, for example, really compare the U.S. Secret Service to “Satan” and the 9/11 terrorists?

    The answer is yes. But if the answer weren’t disturbing enough, any number of Bowdoin’s apologists were more than pleased to help the recidivist con man spread his reality-distortion field on the Internet. By the time it was over, purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming was filing false liens against a federal judge, three federal prosecutors and a Secret Service agent who’d had roles in the ASD case, according to the FBI.

    The Blog itself has pointed out that various “defenders” of various bizarre schemes have woven impossible tales — tales that wouldn’t sell as fiction because they require the suspension of too much disbelief.

    If you’re a reporter, you haven’t lived until you’ve been invited to a ribbon-cutting ceremony conducted by the nonexistent “prince” of a nonexistent undersea nation that purportedly sells driver’s licenses for $140.

    Never in human history has fractured thinking been packaged and sold at the scale provided by the Internet. Law enforcement and the courts are facing unprecedented challenges as various litigants and, in some cases, their customers, seek to undermine the authority of judges, prosecutors and police.

    In what the PP Blog believes to be one of the most important pieces of judicial reasoning published in 2012, an Alberta judge overseeing a divorce case and encountering bizarre posturing by one of the parties appears to have coined a new term: “Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Argument” or OPCA for short.

    Court of Queen’s Bench Associate Chief Justice John Rooke used the divorce case as a springboard to discuss some of the bizarre litigation now occurring in Canada and the United States — theories advanced by “sovereign citizens,” for instance. Highlighted below are snippets from the judge’s issuance of a “Reasons for the Decision.” (Bolding added by PP Blog.)

    “These Reasons in many instances identify reported caselaw that comments on OPCA litigants, OPCA gurus, and their misconduct. It should be understood that the reported caselaw is the proverbial tip of the iceberg. The vast majority of encounters between this Court and OPCA litigants are not reported.

    These litigants and their schemes have been encountered in almost all areas of law. They appear in chambers, in criminal proceedings, initiate civil litigation based on illusionary OPCA rights, attempt to evade court and state authority with procedural and defencebased schemes, and interfere with unrelated matters.

    OPCA strategies as brought before this Court have proven disruptive, inflict unnecessary expenses on other parties, and are ultimately harmful to the persons who appear in court and attempt to invoke these vexatious strategies. Because of the nonsense they argue, OPCA litigants are invariably unsuccessful and their positions dismissed, typically without written reasons. Nevertheless, their litigation abuse continues. The growing volume of this kind of vexatious litigation is a reason why these Reasons suggest a strong response to curb this misconduct.”  — Queen’s Bench Associate Chief Justice John Rooke, Sept. 18, 2012

    Did you know that American Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) schemes advanced by vexatious litigants have made their way into Canada?

    And did you know that some individuals advancing such schemes do not seem to understand they are quoting codes and law to Canadian judges that apply only in America?

    Not only do the codes and law not only not apply under Canadian law, they misinterpret the meaning and application of American law.

    But it gets stranger than that: Dennis Larry Meads is a party to the divorce case filed in Alberta and referenced above. To say the case has served up a symphony of the bizzare would be an understatement.

    Meads, for instance, allegedly has instructed Rooke “and the Bank of Canada to use a secret bank account, with the same number as his social insurance number or birth certificate, to pay all his child and spousal support obligations, and provide him $100 billion in precious metals. Mr. Meads has also purported to create various contractual obligations for those who might interact with him, or who write or speak his name.”

    The case has prompted Rooke to dissect some very strange events taking place in Canadian and U.S. courts.

    Theses cases, according to the judge, “often fall into the following descriptions: Detaxers; Freemen or Freemen-on-the-Land; Sovereign Men or Sovereign Citizens; Church of the Ecumenical Redemption International (CERI); Moorish Law; and other labels.”

    At one point in the divorce proceeding, Meads attempted to give an envelope to the judge, but the judge refused, explaining “I refused the envelope, and noted that if the envelope was abandoned then I would put those materials in the garbage. I reassured Mr. Meads that I will apply the laws of Alberta and Canada, and that while he is in Court, he will follow the Court’s rules.

    Mr. Meads’ reply was that was “unacceptable,” and he claimed that the “UCC” is “universal law,” according to the judge.

    As the proceeding continued, according to the judge, Meads accused the court of “enticing me into slavery.”

    Meads went on to insist that “the Bible is the ‘Maximus of Law’” before leaving the courtroom.

    Read the judge’s reasoning and dissection of strange courtroom events in multiple cases.

  • BULLETIN: Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Tim Turner Of Purported ‘Republic for the united States of America’ Charged In Alleged ‘Seminar’ Scam In Which He Taught Attendees How To File Bogus Liens Against Public Officials; Tax Crimes Also Charged, Justice Department Says

    “Turner is alleged to have attempted to pay his own taxes with a fictitious $300 million bond and to have assisted others in attempting to pay their taxes with fictitious bonds purporting to be worth amounts ranging from $10 million to $100 billion.” — U.S. Department of Justice, Sept. 18, 2012

    BULLETIN: James Timothy Turner, a purported “sovereign citizen” who claims to be “President” of the “Republic for the united States of America,” has been indicted by an Alabama grand jury on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, attempting to pay taxes with fictitious financial instruments, attempting to obstruct and impede the Internal Revenue Service, failing to file a 2009 federal income tax return and falsely testifying under oath in a bankruptcy proceeding, the Justice Department announced.

    Among the allegations against Turner is that he “conducted seminars at which he taught attendees how to file retaliatory liens against government officials and to defraud the IRS by preparing and submitting fictitious bonds to the United States government in payment of federal taxes,” the Justice Department said.

    “Turner is alleged to have attempted to pay his own taxes with a fictitious $300 million bond and to have assisted others in attempting to pay their taxes with fictitious bonds purporting to be worth amounts ranging from $10 million to $100 billion,” the Justice Department said.

    The IRS and the FBI led the probe, the Justice Department said.

    So-called “sovereign citizens” may have an irrational belief that laws do not apply to them.

    Purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming — a mainstay in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme story — was arrested by the FBI last year on charges he filed bogus liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD case, including a federal judge, three federal prosecutors and a special agent of the U.S. Secret Service.

    He also is accused of uttering a bogus “bonded promissory note,” concealing fugitives wanted in a home-business caper and being a felon in possession of firearms.

    Leaming also has sought to sue President Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on a theory they are imposters in office. In June, Leaming, 56, sought to sue a county sheriff in Arkansas, demanding purported damages be paid in gold and silver.

    In August, purported “sovereign citizen” Michael Chung, 52, was arrested in New York on charges that he threatened to kill two bank employees.

  • ANOTHER FALSE-LIENS CASE: Residents Of Utah, Louisiana Charged With Mail Fraud In Alleged ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Bid To Record Phony Debts Against Judges

    It has happened again — this time in Utah: Maria Melody Fuentes Cecil, 42, of Spanish Fork, and Robert Clifton Tanner, 44, of Mansura, La., have been indicted on charges of mail fraud in an alleged bid “to assert false claims of indebtedness totaling billions of dollars against state court judges and others,” federal prosecutors in Utah said.

    Tanner was arrested last week in Louisiana by “local, state and federal officers,” prosecutors said, adding that Cecil was arrested in Spanish Fork.

    “Cecil and Tanner made it appear as though the victims of their conduct had incurred the multi-billion dollar debts by not responding to pseudo-legal documents mailed to them,” prosecutors said. “Then, acting in concert, Cecil and Tanner filed false and fictitious lien documents with the Utah County Recorder’s Office against the state court judges and others, using the previous fraudulent mailings as justification.”

    Part of the scheme featured an attempt by Cecil to file a “Notice of Expatriation” with the Utah Lieutenant Governor’s Office on March 9, 2012, in an effort to declare herself a “sovereign” citizen,” prosecutors said. “In 2011 and 2012, Cecil was a party in various court proceedings in the Provo City Justice Court, Utah Fourth District Court, and Utah Fourth District Juvenile Court in Utah County.”

    Utah also was part of the staging grounds of Curtis Richmond, a purported “sovereign” being and a figure in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi story. Richmond was sued successfully under the federal racketeering statue in a case that alleged he was part of a “sham” Indian tribe that targeted public officials with vexatious liens, including one for $250 million against a county attorney.

    Richmond later became a figure in the ASD Ponzi case, accusing a federal judge of “TREASON” and federal prosecutors of theft.

    Cecil and Tanner sought $3.2 billion each from targets of their false liens, prosecutors said.

    ASD figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming is jailed near Seattle on charges of filing false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD case, including a federal judge, three federal prosecutors and a special agent of the U.S. Secret Service.  He was arrested by the FBI in November.

    The FBI also is investigating the Cecil/Tanner case.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: AdSurfDaily Ponzi Schemer Andy Bowdoin Sentenced To 78 Months In Federal Prison — Maximum Under Plea Agreement

    Thomas A. "Andy" Bowdoin

    URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (UPDATED 5:20 P.M ON SEPT 4.) AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin has been sentenced to the maximum term in federal prison under his plea agreement: 78 months.

    The sentence was handed down minutes ago by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer of the District of Columbia. ASD was a $119 million Ponzi scheme operating over the Internet between 2006 and 2008 and creating thousands of victims.

    Separately, Collyer issued an order that authorized the U.S. Department of Justice to reopen remissions, meaning that ASD victims who missed the January 2011 filing deadline will have an opportunity to gain a pro rata share of the remainder of ASD proceeds seized by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008.

    “Thomas Bowdoin was a master of fraud and deception, cheating victims out of their hard-earned money and savings with his get-rich scheme,” said U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. of the District of Columbia. “His actions cost his victims millions of dollars and now they will cost him his freedom. This sentence will protect the public from Mr. Bowdoin’s scams and hold him accountable for his crimes.”

    A top U.S. Secret Service official said the agency is using a variety of tools to bring scammers to justice.

    “Capitalizing on the strength of our financial task force partnerships, we aggressively pursue criminals using computer experts, forensic specialists, investigative experts and intelligence analysts,” said Dennis Ramos Martinez, special agent in charge of the Orlando Secret Service office.

    Machen’s office declined to comment today on whether the ASD probe was ongoing.

    Bowdoin is 77.

    In November 2011, ASD figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming was arrested by the FBI on charges of filing false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD case. Two of the officials were federal prosecutors. One was the lead Secret Service investigator.

    Machen’s office — without referencing the FBI allegations against Leaming — today praised the work of former Assistant U.S. Attorneys William Cowden and Vasu B. Muthyala. And Machen’s office also praised U.S. Secret Service agent Roy Dotson. All three men allegedly were targeted with false liens from Leaming, a purported “sovereign citizen.”

    Leaming, 56, is jailed near Seattle.

    Bowdoin’s sentencing today occurred against the backdrop of the collapse of Zeek Rewards, which was accused by the SEC Aug. 17 of operating a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that potentially affects more than 1 million people. Zeek’s business model was similar to ASD’s business model. The U.S. Secret Service also is investigating Zeek.

    Here’s what prosecutors in the District of Columbia said today about ASD’s business model (italics added):

    ASD’s business model promised members the opportunity to earn 125 percent (initially 150 percent) on each dollar paid into ASD, as long as the members viewed other members’ websites for a few minutes each day on ASD’s Internet page, commonly referred to as the ASD “rotator.” Bowdoin also promised members commissions for recruiting other members into the program.

    While a small percentage of ASD members who invested early in the program could earn the extraordinary rates of return, the promised opportunity was illusory for the vast majority of ASD members. Indeed, due to the fact that ASD’s pyramid-style business model relied entirely on an ever increasing influx of new money to fund the debt owed to earlier members, the vast majority of members could never earn the promised rates of return, making the promised opportunity fraudulent.

  • Zeek Fallout Almost Too Strange To Contemplate

    For starters, Zeek affiliates being approached by upline sponsors and email/website appeals to send in money “to defend Zeek Rewards and all of our independent businesses as per our legal rights of due process” might want to read this July 25 PP Blog post.

    It’s about how wordplay was used to sanitize HYIP scams.

    For additional background, Zeek affiliates might want to read this July 28 PP Blog post.

    It’s about how purported Zeek “consultant” Robert Craddock sought to disable the Hub of Zeek critic “K. Chang.” Craddock now is part of the effort to raise funds to “defend” Zeek affiliates.

    Zeek and untold thousands of its minions are known to have a tin ear for PR. That tin ear is on full display again today, with a “warning” from the leaders of the effort to “defend” Zeek from the SEC’s Aug. 17 allegations that it was a $600 million Ponzi and pyramid scheme not to contact the SNR Denton law firm.

    “We have asked the firm to provide us the names of the individuals that are calling; we will refund your donation and will remove you from the group to be represented if you call. The law firm is only going to discuss the case with the 12 leaders and we will put out the information to the entire group on this site.”

    “This site,” as it were, is this site, which calls itself ZTeamBiz.

    ZTeamBiz, which calls itself a “professional organization,” says its has hired SNR Denton. The precise reason why is unclear, although ZTeamBiz says the “SEC has tried to make us all believe that Zeek Rewards was an ‘investment’ and a Ponzi scheme. All the pages that were submitted by the SEC indictment has all been one sided and what we believe to be a misrepresentation of the truth and facts of what Zeek Rewards was as a viable and legal business.”

    And ZTeamBiz also accused the SEC of misleading a federal judge.

    One of the persons on the ZTeamBiz squad — although it’s unclear if his presence is formal or informal — is Todd Disner. Disner is a former pitchman for the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme and, along with former attorney Dwight Owen Schweitzer, sued the government in November 2011. Disner and Schweitzer alleged that prosecutors and a U.S. Secret Service agent presented a “tissue of lies” to a federal judge when bringing the civil portion of the ASD Ponzi case in August 2008.

    Disner and Schweitzer made that claim after ASD had lost the case in U.S. District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals. Among other things, Disner and Schweitzer claimed the government had gone shopping for a friendly judge when it brought the forfeiture proceedings.

    That judge allegedly was targeted with a false lien by Kenneth Wayne Leaming, who also targeted three federal prosecutors and a Secret Service agent with false liens, according to the FBI. Leaming was arrested by an FBI Terrorism Task Force in November 2011. He is a purported “sovereign citizen.” All five of the federal officials targeted in the alleged lien campaign have ties to the ASD case.

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin pleaded guilty seven months later to a Ponzi-related charge of wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday.

    Zeek is known to have members in common with ASD, which federal prosecutors have described as a $119 million Ponzi scheme that created at least 9,000 victims before its 2008 collapse amid allegations by the U.S. Secret Service of Ponzi fraud.

    Like Zeek, ASD claimed it was not offering an investment program. And like Zeek, ASD planted the seed it offered a daily payout rate of 1 percent a day or more.

    Like Zeek, ASD came under investigation by the U.S. Secret Service. The agency has referred to ASD as a “criminal enterprise,” with the U.S. Department of Justice calling ASD “insidious.”

    Those descriptions apparently were not enough to dissuade investors from throwing money at Zeek, which has listed ASD members as “employees.”

    On Aug, 4, Zeek itself blasted unspecified “North Carolina Credit Unions” for raising concerns about Zeek. Zeek warned members to toe the company line.

    The SEC was in federal court 13 days later.

    Zeek also is known to have members in common with JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, which appears now to have morphed into something called “ProfitClicking.” Both JSS/JBP and ProfitClicking may have ties to the sovereign-citizens movement.

    A domain registered in the name of purported JSS/JBP operator Frederick Mann once linked to videos featuring Francis Schaeffer Cox, a purported sovereign citizen implicated in a murder plot against public officials in Alaska.

    Because HYIP scams typically are promoted on Ponzi-scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup — and because Zeek, JSS/JBP, ProfitClicking and ASD all had a presence on those forums — questions have been raised about whether cash was circulating between and among various fraud schemes and placing U.S. banks in the position of possessing fraudulent proceeds.

    A receiver has been appointed to marshal the assets of the alleged Zeek fraud.

    Despite the appeal by ZTeamBiz for Zeek affiliates to send in money to “defend” themselves and the company, the interests of all Zeek affiliates almost certainly are not equivalent.  Net “winners” almost certainly are at risk of clawback lawsuits from the receiver. Such court actions are used to enlarge the pool through which victims of a Ponzi fraud receive a disbursement designed to make them as whole as possible.

    It’s often the case that victims never are made whole and receive disbursements of dimes or even pennies on the dollar. Such is the case to date for victims of the 2009 Trevor Cook Ponzi caper in Minnesota. That scheme was a form of affinity fraud targeted largely at people of faith, including senior citizens.

    Post-Ponzi receiverships sometimes turn into an international paper chase because scammers hide money offshore.  Reverse-engineering a Ponzi caper can take years. Even as Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell begins his duties, scammers on the Ponzi boards are planting the seed that the receivership cannot be trusted.

    In the 2009 Mantria/Speed of Wealth Ponzi scheme case, which in part was pushed MLM-style, a federal judge issued a specific order not to interfere with the receiver.