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Tag: Kenneth Wayne Leaming

  • BULLETIN: In Affidavit, FBI Counterterrorism Agent Cites Passage From Alleged Kenneth Wayne Leaming Email That References ‘Kids’ Of U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts And Their ‘School’

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming

    EDITOR’S NOTE: A passage from a May 2011 email allegedly written by Kenneth Wayne Leaming appears in the story below. The passage, which appears to contain electronic clutter  — specifically the string “#39;” — is reproduced verbatim, meaning the string also appears in the court document from which the passage was taken.

    An FBI agent assigned to the Tacoma Resident Agency Joint Terrorism Task Force advised a judge last week that Kenneth Wayne Leaming — now jailed at a federal detention facility near Seattle on charges he filed bogus liens against public officials involved in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case — referenced the young children of U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts and their “school.”

    The reference appeared in a email that Leaming allegedly sent to David Carroll Stephenson on May 14, 2011. Stephenson, whom the agent described as Leaming’s former business partner in Washington state, is a convicted felon serving a 96-month sentence in federal prison for tax crimes.

    “This week I will ‘flood’ the USSC with the habeas, one to each justice and resend the one to the Chief Justice, and maybe one to his kid#39;s school to be given to the parents,” Leaming allegedly wrote. “One way or another he is going to get it in his hands and I#39;ll start working on off duty locations for the remaining justices as well.”

    Roberts and his wife have two preteen children.

    The email clearly became a source of concern for the FBI.

    “In this email,” the FBI agent who sought Leaming’s arrest wrote, “I believe that LEAMING is offering to file documents on Stephenson’s behalf, including sending them to the Chief Justice, via his minor children.”

    But the alleged email to Stephenson was hardly the FBI’s only concern about Leaming, who appears to have no law degree but has been depicted in online ads as a practicing attorney. (The ads were removed last year.)

    Investigators discovered a paperwork trail that linked Leaming and Stephenson to a purported $10 million lien against Harley Lappin, the former director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and a purported lien for $20 million against Dennis R. Smith, the warden of the Federal Correctional Institution in Phoenix.

    As the probe that led to Leaming’s arrest proceeded, agents found bogus liens filed in Pierce County, Wash., against other public officials, including at least five officials involved in the ASD Ponzi case. Liens against Mary Peters, the former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, and Cutler Dawson, president and CEO of Navy Federal Credit Union, also were discovered.

    At least some of the bogus papers linked to Leaming were found in July 2011 — during the execution of a search warrant at the Yelm, Wash., home of purported “sovereign citizen” Raymond Leo Jarlik-Bell, according to the FBI.

    Whether Jarlik-Bell was a member of ASD is unclear.

    The U.S. Secret Service has described ASD as a “criminal enterprise” led by Andy Bowdoin, a 77-year-old recidivist felon and securities huckster. Bowdoin, who was arrested in the Gulf Coast area of Englewood, Fla., in December 2010, operated ASD from the small town of Quincy in northern Florida, near Tallahassee. He has described himself as a “money magnet” and man of God.

    The FBI said “one of the specific documents” recovered in the search of Jarlik-Bell’s home sought the staggering sum of $225.4 billion and listed “Kenneth Wayne, sovereign man” as “grantee,” and the public officials as “grantors.”

    “Kenneth Wayne” is a name used by Leaming.

    Navy Federal, which serves members of the military, is the largest credit union in the world.

    So-called “sovereign citizens” have been known to file vexatious liens against public officials and courtroom opponents, including financial institutions. The practice has been described as “paper terrorism” and “mailbox arbitration.” Among other things, it can cause both the lien targets and the government to expend money and resources to defend against the nuisance claims, which can affect the credit histories of the individual targets and the efficiency of the court system.

    Named in the liens in in addition to Peters and Dawson were U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer; former U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor; former assistant U.S. Attorney William Cowden; current assistant U.S. Attorney Vasu B. Muthyala; and Roy Dotson, a special agent of the U.S. Secret Service.

    Collyer, Taylor, Cowden, Muthyala and Dotson have had roles in the ASD Ponzi case. Why Peters and Dawson were targeted with liens is unclear.

    Jarlik-Bell, who has been linked with Leaming to “sovereign citizen” groups known as the “County Rangers” and the “Assemblies on the County,” was arrested in July on tax charges. He was jailed pending trial, according to the FBI complaint against Leaming.

    More Alleged Leaming Correspondence

    In June 2011, according to the FBI, Leaming sent an email to Stephenson that referenced a letter that had or would be sent to Roberts, America’s top judicial officer. The letter strangely described the chief justice as “FIDUCIARY.” The email followed on the heels of other Leaming emails that suggested Leaming had spent part of the month of May conducting financial research on Roberts and his wife and trying to find a street address through which he could cause Stephenson-related writs to be delivered to the couple’s home — instead of the Supreme Court.

    Other Leaming email correspondence in May suggests he sent a “certified,” Stephenson-related letter to the residence of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and was trying to find a home address for Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer — instead of sending Stephenson-related correspondence to the Supreme Court address.

    The letter that had or would be sent to Roberts asserted that Stephenson was being “restrained”  and “concealed” in a federal prison under a under a “fictitious name.” It further asserted that the government had assigned Stephenson an “inventory control number,” according to the complaint against Leaming.

    As the letter proceeded, it painted a picture that Roberts had been part of a conspiracy with the Federal Bureau of Prisons to “evade the habeas corpus process.”

    Because Stephenson was in federal custody, his communications were being monitored, according to the complaint against Leaming. In a phone call between Stephenson and Leaming, Leaming spoke about “$10m” allegedly owed to Stephenson by a public official employed by the Bureau of Prisons and suggested that “$20 million” would be sought from a prison warden.

    Leaming told Stephenson that the city of Puyallup, Wash., was in receivership because of Leaming’s paperwork maneuverings, according to the complaint against Leaming. (Records show that Leaming filed liens against affecting at least two communities in Washington state, including Puyallup. Records also show that he filed a lien for more than $9 billion against a Franciscan hospital in Lakewood, Wash., and tried to put the facility in involuntary bankruptcy. At the same time, records show that Leaming also sought to put the Washington State Bar Association in involuntary bankruptcy. See this story. See this story.)

    During phone conversations with Stephenson, Leaming talked about escalating his paperwork maneuverings against the courts if “they don’t straighten up soon” and the potential need to “have a little liability correspondence with Eric Holder himself.”

    Eric Holder is the Attorney General of the United States.

    Leaming also told Stephenson that “someone has suggested we go after body odor in the White House,” an apparent veiled reference to President Obama.

    Returning to the subject of the courts, Leaming told Stephenson that he would start “working” on the chief judge of U.S. federal courts in the Western District of Washington, according to the complaint against Leaming.

    Leaming, according to the complaint, also ventured that “the Rothschilds” were hiding in a “bunker in India” while controlling the central bank of Iraq, according to the complaint against Leaming.

    Banking conditions in Iraq are causing the Rothschilds to lose money, and the “inner circle” is “jumping ship,” Leaming allegedly told Stephenson, “just like body odor’s inner circle in the White House.”

    Leaming has been under federal surveillance by both the Tacoma Resident Agency Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Seattle Division’s Mobile Surveillance unit since August 2011, according to the complaint. Agents have observed him driving a blue Ford Crown Victoria and visiting mailing spots in Spanaway, Wash., where he lives in an apartment, according to the complaint.

    In October 2011, some ASD members received an email attributed to “Keny” — a Leaming nickname — that suggested they file “county recorder” papers against federal officials involved in the ASD case that would identify the officials as “DOJ thieves.”

    The email encouraged the members to send a “notary certified copy” of the filings to the home address of Chief Justice Roberts.

    At least two notaries public with ties to Leaming have lost their licenses in Washington state, according to records. One of the notaries —  Kathryn E. Aschlea — was associated with an enterprise known as FAN NW LTD INC.

    The name of FAN NW LTD INC. appears in the criminal complaint against Leaming, and the FBI says a telephone associated with the firm was used on calls between Leaming and Stephenson.

    Federal court records in the ASD case in the District of Columbia reference a “Claim by Notary Presentment/Acceptance by Kathryn E. Aschlea.” Collyer denied Aschlea leave to file on June 11, 2010.

    Kathryn Aschlea and “Kenneth Wayne” are listed in Washington state as officers of FAN NW LTD INC.

     

  • UPDATE: Judge Ordered Detention Of Kenneth Wayne Leaming To Continue After Initial Hearing; AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Accused Of Filing Bogus Liens Against Bush Cabinet Secretary, Officials Involved In ASD Ponzi Case

    President Bush observes the 2006 swearing-in ceremony of incoming Transportation Secretary Mary Peters. Peters held the cabinet post between October 2006 and January 2009. Source: Wikipedia: White House photo by Paul Morse.

    UPDATED 5:42 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Public officials involved in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case were not the only targets of bogus liens filed by Kenneth Wayne Leaming, according to federal prosecutors in Seattle.

    Leaming, 55, also filed a lien against Mary Peters, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President George W. Bush during his second White House term, prosecutors said.

    In addition, prosecutors said Leaming filed liens against U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer; former U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor; former assistant U.S. Attorney William Cowden; current assistant U.S. Attorney Vasu B. Muthyala; and Roy Dotson, a special agent of the U.S. Secret Service.

    Collyer is presiding over both the civil and criminal prosecutions connected to the ASD Ponzi case in the District of Columbia. The civil case, which led to the successful forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars in the personal bank accounts of ASD President Andy Bowdoin, was brought by Taylor’s office in August 2008.

    Cowden and Muthyala assisted in the prosecution against ASD-related assets, including more than $65.8 million in Bowdoin’s 10 bank accounts and more than $14 million in other bank accounts linked to Golden Panda Ad Builder, a companion autosurf.

    Dotson was a key investigator in the case, which was brought in part through the efforts of a Florida-based Task Force. Bowdoin was arrested in December 2010. He is free awaiting trial in the District of Columbia.

    Taylor was succeeded as U.S. Attorney by Ronald C. Machen Jr. Machen’s office was sued pro se earlier this month by ASD members Todd Disner and Dwight Owen Schweitzer of Miami. Disner, a cofounder of the Quiznos sandwich franchise,  and Schweitzer, a former attorney whose license was suspended in Connecticut,  asserted that prosecutors engaged in “character assassination” against Bowdoin and that the forfeiture case consisted of a “tissue of lies.” They also claimed Dotson’s affidavit that led to the seizure of Bowdoin’s assets was flawed and that 4th Amendment violations had occurred.

    Disner and Schweitzer also named Rust Consulting Inc., the government-approved claims administrator in the Ponzi case, a pro se lawsuit defendant. In September, Machen joined Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer in announcing that the government had returned $55 million to victims of the ASD Ponzi.

    Collyer ordered the forfeiture of Bowdoin’s assets in January 2010. Her rulings were upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals. Bowdoin, 77, is using Facebook and a website known as “Andy’s Fundraising Army” to raise money for his criminal defense on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities.

    Why Peters allegedly was targeted by Leaming was not immediately clear. But court records suggest the FBI is investigating Leaming ties to a Washington state group of “sovereign citizens” known as the “County Rangers.”

    Leaming was arrested on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Richard Creatura in Tacoma. Creatura ordered Leaming’s detention to continue. The date of Leaming’s next court appearance was not immediately clear.

    Leaming, according to prosecutors, was found Tuesday with two federal fugitives from Arkansas who were indicted in February on federal charges related to an alleged envelope-stuffing scheme. Prosecutors identified the fugitives as Timothy Shawn Donavan and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen.

    Donavan and Henningsen have court histories that include declaring themselves “living breathing free” people to whom laws do not apply, according to records. Like Leaming, they are being held at the Sea Tac Federal Detention Center near Seattle.

    Leaming has been charged with retaliating against a Federal judge or Federal law enforcement officer by false claim or slander of title, an obstruction of justice statute.

    Among the government’s allegations against Bowdoin is that he falsely claimed to have received an important award for business acumen from President Bush in 2008. ASD members used Bush’s name in online promos, according to records.

    In July 2008 — as the Secret Service and the Task Force were investigating ASD — Bowdoin threatened to sue critics, according to court filings. After the seizure of his assets, he claimed the government’s action was the work of “Satan” and compared the seizure to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

    Cowden, whose name was repeatedly misspelled as “Crowden” by pro se litigants in the forfeiture case, was derided as “Gomer Pyle” on the now-defunct, pro-ASD “Surf’s Up” forum. One ASD member opined that Cowden should be placed in a torture rack. Another said a “militia” should storm Washington. Still another issued a “prayer” that called for prosecutors to be struck dead.

    ASD critics were derided as “rats,” “maggots” and “cockroaches.”

    In December 2010, prosecutors linked ASD to E-Bullion, a defunct California payment processor operated by James Fayed. E-Bullion has been linked to several Ponzi schemes.

    Earlier this month, Fayed was formally sentenced to death for arranging the contract slaying of his estranged wife, Pamela Fayed.

    Pamela Fayed was slashed 13 times in a Greater Los Angeles parking garage in July 2008 while James Fayed sat on a bench within earshot of Pamela’s screams, according to records.

    At least one ASD member used E-Bullion to send money to ASD, according to federal court records. That member — former ASD “trainer” Erma Seabaugh of Missouri — was operating a purported “religious” nonprofit in Oregon and using ASD to promote a pyramid scheme, according to records.

     

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: FBI Says Kenneth Wayne Leaming Filed Bogus Liens Against Federal Officials Involved In AdSurfDaily Ponzi Case; Leaming Was Arrested With 2 Fugitives, U.S. Attorney’s Office In Seattle Says

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming

    URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming was arrested Tuesday by the FBI on criminal charges of retaliating against a Federal judge or Federal law enforcement officer by false claim or slander of title, the PP Blog has learned.

    Leaming, 55, of Spanaway, Wash., was arrested at his home, the office of U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan said this evening. When arrested, Leaming was found with two federal fugitives from Arkansas. Both were arrested with Leaming and are detained at the Sea Tac Federal Detention Center near Seattle. Leaming is being held at the same facility.

    Prosecutors identified the fugitives as Timothy Shawn Donavan and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen. Prison records say Donavan is 63; Henningsen is 67. They were accused of mail fraud in an alleged home-based business scheme involving stuffing envelopes.

    Prosecutors in Seattle said Leaming is accused of filing liens against at least five federal employees involved in the ASD case, including a federal judge, a former U.S. attorney, a former assistant U.S. attorney, a current assistant U.S. Attorney and an agent of the U.S. Secret Service.

    Bail details for Leaming and the Arkansas fugitives were not immediately clear.

    More details as they emerge . . .

    See story from earlier today.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Kenneth Wayne Leaming, AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen,’ Has Been Arrested In Washington State

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming

    UPDATED 3:59 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) : Kenneth Wayne Leaming, an AdSurfDaily figure and a purported “sovereign citizen,” has been arrested in Washington state.

    Leaming, 55, is listed as a prisoner at the Sea Tac Federal Detention Center near Seattle, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said this afternoon. The circumstances under which Leaming was arrested and detained were not immediately clear. Also unclear was the date upon which he was arrested.

    Federal prosecutors in the office of U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. in the District of Columbia — the venue from which ASD President Andy Bowdoin was charged last year with operating a Ponzi scheme involving at least $110 million — did not immediately return a call seeking comment on Leaming’s arrest and whether it was related to his ASD activities.

    The office of U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan in Seattle had no immediate details on Leaming’s arrest and detention.

    In 2010, Leaming unsuccessfully sought to sue the United States — apparently for the staggering sum of more than $29 trillion — for its actions in the ASD case.

    Meanwhile, in 2009, Leaming sought to place the Washington State Bar Association in involuntary bankruptcy, according to federal records. Records also show that Leaming sought to place a Franciscan hospital in Washington state in bankruptcy.

    The Anti-Defamation League lists Leaming as a member of an “active anti-government extremist group that calls itself the ‘Little Shell Pembina Band of North America.’”

    Leaming, who uses the names of “Kenneth Wayne” and “Keny,”  was blocked in 2010 by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer from filing pro se pleadings in the civil case against ASD’s assets. That case was brought in the District of Columbia by the U.S. Secret Service in August 2008.

    Records show that, in 2010, ads listing Leaming as an “attorney” appeared online. Leaming, though, appears to have no law degree.

    ASD members have claimed Leaming was providing them legal advice.

    Leaming’s company — American-International Business Law Inc. of Spanaway, Wash. — is listed as registered agent for at least 73 companies. Some of the companies use the word “federal” in their names. One company conjures the image of a U.S. government agency in its name, calling itself “Homeland Security Service.” Another company calls itself “Presidential Detail.”

    Two other companies use forms of the name “JP Morgan.”

    Some sovereign citizens — including members of ASD — have clashed with banks in litigation unrelated to ASD.

    In October 2011, some ASD members received an email that used the Leaming nickname “Keny” and encouraged them to file paperwork at the “county” level that identified a federal judge, prosecutors and a U.S. Secret Service agent as “DOJ thieves.”

     

  • In Rejecting Tortured Legal Constructions, Judges Across America Now Point To Utah Case Involving AdSurfDaily Mainstay Curtis Richmond

    UPDATED 11:54 A.M. ET (U.S.A.) Curtis Richmond claimed the federal judge overseeing the AdSurfDaily civil-forfeiture case in the District of Columbia was among a group of “Co-Conspirators” that included two federal prosecutors and a court clerk.

    The judge, Richmond claimed, was violating her oath and conspiring with another judge to deny ASD members justice. Prosecutors, meanwhile, were helping the judge interfere with commerce, according to Richmond. The judge rejected Richmond’s arguments — but it didn’t stop other ASD pro se litigants from advancing similar arguments.

    For his bid to intervene in the ASD Ponzi case, Richmond was labeled a “hero” on both the pro-AdSurfDaily “Surf’s Up” forum (now defunct) and on a forum that championed the AdViewGlobal autosurf (now defunct). Among Richmond’s boosters was “Professor” Patrick Moriarty, a Missouri man who once started a purported nonprofit in the name of a man accused of murdering a woman in cold blood and shooting a police officer.

    Moriarty later was indicted for tax fraud. He pleaded guilty after prosecutors said they had “casino” records and intended to use them in the case against Moriarty, who advertised that he sold fake academic degrees on e-Bay as “gag gifts.”

    Prior to Moriarty’s indictment, members of the Surf’s Up forum joined with him in forming a purported Missouri nonprofit known as ASD Members International (ASDMI). ASDMI’s stated mission was to litigate against the government for its role in the ASD Ponzi case.

    Utah resident and ASD figure Christian Oesch — later to join with Washington state resident and ASD figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming in a failed 2010 bid to sue the United States for more than twice the U.S. Gross Domestic Product in 2009 — filed pro se pleadings in the ASD case that championed Richmond’s take on the law.

    But Curtis Richmond’s court forays now have been cited by various judges in various jurisdictions as reasons to reject tortured legal constructions. A federal judge in North Dakota, for example, cited this Utah case involving Richmond as a reason to reject tortured arguments advanced by Michael Howard Reed, a so-called “sovereign citizen” now serving two prison sentences for federal crimes.

    One of Reed’s crimes was filing false liens and threatening a federal judge; the other was possession of a firearm and ammunition by a fugitive from justice.

    Richmond, a Californian who advanced the notion in the 2006 Utah case that he enjoyed diplomatic immunity that extended to him from an “Indian” tribe, became a figure in the ASD case in 2008. The “tribe,” which a federal judge ruled a “sham,” came to be known derisively as the “Arby’s Indians” because it once conducted a meeting at an Arby’s restaurant.

    Reed, whose name surfaced in the 2008 SEC Ponzi case against Gold Quest International after he claimed to be the “attorney general” of an unrecognized tribe and asserted a claim against the agency for $1.7 trillion, asserted in a separate case that the government could not prosecute him because he was immune to U.S. law and had trademarked his name.

    Here is a verbatim section from one of Reed’s nonsensical pleadings in federal court in North Dakota. (Italics/identation added):

    “boa-kaa-konan-na-ishkawaanden=Michael-Howard-Reed=original-creditor-original-beneficiary: for MICHAEL-HOWARD-REED=original-debtor-trustee agent; Under the Penalties of Perjury Affirm that MICHAEL HOWARD REED©TM is a Fictional Entity . . .”

    Richmond’s Utah case was cited in the North Dakota case as a reason to reject Reed’s bizarre arguments.

    It also was cited in this Colorado case in which a U.S. Magistrate Judge rejected the tortured legal constructions of Christopher Douglas Wise. Among other things, Wise, a prisoner in the Colorado state system,  asserted that he was a “secured party creditor” who’d never lived in the “District of Columbia” — and that somehow this alleged fact set destroyed the jurisdiction of the Adams County District Court in which he was convicted of a crime.

    In a separate case in Florida, a federal magistrate judge pointed to Richmond’s Utah “Indian” pleadings as a reason to reject arguments advanced by Timothy Black, who was serving two life sentences for sex crimes involving children and tried to overturn his conviction in part by claiming he had copyrighted his name and by arguing he was not subject to Florida law.

    “Petitioner was found guilty by a jury and convicted of two counts of sexual battery on a person less than twelve years of age, and one count of lewd or lascivious molestation on a person less than twelve years of age,  and sentenced to two terms of life and one term of thirty years, to be served concurrently,” the judge noted.

    Here is a verbatim section from Black’s court claims. (Italics added):

    “Therefore the Third Party [Intervener] is the party who is injured by the action at large as he is incarcerated as surety for his collateral, Debtor TIMOTHY W BLACK© Ens Legis . . .”

     

  • Arrest Warrant Issued For Jacob Franz Dyck; Purported Florida ‘Sovereign Citizen,’ 72, Wanted For ‘Committing Criminal Acts Through Simulated Use Of The Legal Process,’ Polk County Sheriff’s Office Says

    Jacob Franz Dyck: Source: Polk County Sheriff's Office

    Jacob Franz Dyck, a purported Florida “sovereign citizen,” is wanted on a felony arrest warrant for “Criminal Act Under Color Of Law Or Committing Criminal Acts Through Simulated Use Of The Legal Process,” the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said.

    Dyck, 72, has been the subject of considerable reporting by the St. Petersburg Times. See story about Dyck’s alleged filing of “wild deeds” to cloud property titles here. See story here about a missing pickup truck that led to the issuance of the arrest warrant.

    Three of Dyck’s associates, including a notary public, have landed in jail, the Times reports.

    See August 2011 PP Blog story on an FBI report that asserts there is a “continued effort by Sovereign Citizen domestic extremists throughout the United States to perpetrate and train others in the use of debt elimination schemes.”

    See July 2011 PP Blog report on a 25-year prison sentence handed down to Jeff McGrue, a Washington state man who targeted people “at the end of their rope” in a foreclosure-rescue scam.

    See August 2011 PP Blog report about disciplinary actions against notaries public associated with AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming.

    Leaming is a purported sovereign citizen whom records show once filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against the Washington State Bar Association and a community hospital in Washington state.

  • UPDATE: Federal Prosecutors Have ‘No Comment’ On ASD-Related Email That Encouraged Members To Identify Public Officials As ‘Thieves’ And Send ‘Certified’ Copy Of Theft Claims To Home Of U.S. Chief Justice

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin

    UPDATED TO ADD COMMENT FROM U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE AT 3:21 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia this morning declined to comment on an email received Saturday by some AdSurfDaily members that encouraged them to file documents at the “county” level and “name” federal officials as “thieves.”

    Prosecutors also declined to comment on whether the government had beefed up security for judges and prosecutors in response to strange developments in the ASD case. On Saturday, some ASD members received an email that encouraged them to send a “notary certified copy” of theft claims they file in their home counties against federal officials to the home address of U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts.

    “No comment,” the office of U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. said.

    The U.S. Marshals Service, which provides security for the U.S. court system, said this afternoon that “it is the policy of the U.S. Marshals Service not to comment on or confirm ongoing judicial threat investigations.”

    The PP Blog reported yesterday that ASD figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming, a reputed “sovereign citizen” who sometimes goes by the names of “Kenneth Wayne” and “Keny,” filed involuntary bankruptcy petitions in 2009 against the Washington State Bar Association and a Franciscan hospital in Washington state.

    Leaming’s combined claims totaled more than $41 billion. He was permanently enjoined “forever from filing a bankruptcy petition or any other pleadings before this court without the advance leave from one of the bankruptcy judges of this court,” according to federal records.

    “Keny” has been cited by ASD members as the author of a November 2010 “legal opinion” and as the author of Saturday’s email that provided guidance to ASD members. The ASD case had been marked by strange events since the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme probe in August 2008.

    In November 2010, Cornell University Law School, Justia.com and Oyez.org removed the online profiles of Leaming after questions were raised about whether he was a licensed attorney.

    In the profiles, Leaming had been listed as an attorney who advertised a fee structure of up to $250 an hour from Spanaway, Wash.

    Leaming was the subject of a letter sent in 2005 by the Practice of Law Board of the State of Washington. The Law Board made a determination in December 2005 that Leaming’s conduct in cases it was investigating “constitutes the unauthorized practice of law.”

    In one case, the Law Board said, a notary public accused Leaming of coercing her into “notarizing documents that resulted in the loss of her notary license.”

    Leaming became a figure in the ASD case in 2010 after he was denied leave to file documents in the civil portion of the ASD case and later joined with ASD figure Christian Oesch, an unsuccessful pro se litigant in the case, to sue the United States — apparently for the staggering sume of more than $29 trillion.

    Civil judgments against money and property seized by the Secret Service in the ASD case were entered in the government’s favor in 2009 and 2010, and the prosecutors returned $55 million to about 8,400 ASD members last week through a process known as remission.

    There were repeated efforts by some ASD members to discourage others for filing for remissions.

    Bowdoin claimed last week — prior to Saturday’s email attributed to “Keny” — that the government “forced [ASD] members to sign the untrue statement to get a refund of their monies.”

    Bowdoin’s email followed on the heels of an email by an ASD member named “Sara” that claimed to provide “insider information” that a government plot was under way.

    Since at least July, Bowdoin has been soliciting ASD members to pay for his criminal defense on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities.

     

  • Accused Ponzi Scheme Felon Andy Bowdoin Launches Facebook Page, Asks Members To ‘Like’ Him And ‘Share’ Link To Defense Fundraising Site ‘Right Away’

    After weeks of delays, a Facebook “Fan” page for accused Ponzi schemer Thomas Anderson “Andy” Bowdoin finally has launched. The site includes a link to “Andy’s Fundraising Army,” the web venue at which Bowdoin’s bid to raise $500,000 to pay for criminal lawyers has fallen 95 percent short of its goal.

    Bowdoin, 76, was arrested in Florida in December 2010 and freed on bail. Federal prosecutors described him as a recidivist securities huckster who’d presided over Quincy-based AdSurfDaily.

    ASD was an “autosurf” Ponzi scheme disguised as an “advertising company,” and Bowdoin used some of the money sent in by members to make campaign donations to the National Republican Congressional Committee, prosecutors said.

    An early version of Bowdoin’s alleged $110 million Ponzi scheme collapsed in 2007, leaving members holding the bag, according to records. After weeks in limbo, ASD switched the URL from which the purported “program” operated and relaunched under the new name of ASD Cash Generator, sucking in a new crop of victims, prosecutors said.

    The accounts and unpaid redemptions of participants active at the time of the 2007 collapse were rolled into the new scheme, and incoming members were not told about the original Ponzi failure and that members were getting paid with recycled cash, prosecutors said.

    ASD eventually gained momentum by creating a video lie about the program’s purported legality and by arranging “rallies” in U.S. cities. In late 2007, Bowdoin added a second autosurf Ponzi known as LaFuenteDinero — Spanish for “the fountain of money” — to his criminal tool kit, and compounded his deception, prosecutors said.

    In 2008, Bowdoin and Clarence Busby Jr. of Acworth, Ga., struck up a partnership that resulted in the creation of an autosurf known as Golden Panda Ad Builder, describing it as ASD’s “Chinese” option, according to records.

    The SEC has described Busby as a prime-bank swindler implicated in three securities schemes in the 1990s. Busby has described himself as a minister and real-estate professional. Records suggest he has lost property in Georgia to foreclosure, was the operator of yet-another surf scheme known as BizAdSplash (BAS) and was on the receiving end of an IRS tax lien.

    BAS went missing in early 2010, after positioning itself as a purported offshore business. Its web servers resolved to Panama.

    Like Busby, Bowdoin also was implicated in securities schemes in the 1990s, according to records. He narrowly avoided prison time in Alabama by agreeing to make restitution to defrauded investors.

    Bowdoin has asked Facebook members to “like” his site. The Facebook site does not mention that three ASD members filed a prospective-class action lawsuit against Bowdoin in 2009, accusing him of racketeering and disguising the nature of ASD’s business.

    Nor does the Facebook site reveal that ASD and related businesses have been on the receiving end of at least three civil-forfeiture judgments totaling about $80 million. In August 2008, the U.S. Secret Service seized about $65.8 million from 10 personal bank accounts of Bowdoin through which he was operating the ASD business, according to records.

    The seizure occurred after ASD members falsely claimed that Bowdoin had received an award for business acumen from then-President George W. Bush, prosecutors said. Bowdoin filed two appeals when forfeiture orders were entered against his assets, but lost both. His new appeals for cash are targeted at the people Bowdoin is accused of defrauding: the ASD membership base.

    In the aftermath of the 2008 seizures, Bowdoin described federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia — the venue in which the forfeiture actions were filed — as “Satan.” Bowdoin’s use of the word “Satan” occurred just weeks after he described himself at a company “rally” in Las Vegas as a Christian “money magnet.”

    Bowdoin also compared the seizures to the 9/11 attacks, saying the actions against ASD by the Secret Service were “30 times worse” in some ways than the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington.

    One of the Washington victims of the 9/11 attacks was Barbara Olson, an author, television commentator and former assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) in the District of Columbia office. Olson was the wife of former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson.

    In commemoration of the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, prosecutors in the District of Columbia dedicated a national-security conference room in Barbara Olson’s memory last week.

    “As an AUSA in [the District of Columbia] office, and throughout her career, Barbara proved that her convictions ran deep, and that her fidelity — to the values she held dear, the principles she fought to defend, and the countless people whose lives she touched — was unshakeable,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said last week.

    ASD is known to have so-called “sovereign citizens” in its ranks. Two ASD figures — Kenneth Wayne Leaming and Christian Oesch — sought unsuccessfully to sue the government for its actions in the ASD case, apparently seeking the staggering sum of more than $29 trillion, more than twice the U.S. Gross Domestic Product in 2009.

    Leaming was accused in Washington state in 2005 of practicing law without a license. Records show he also was involved in a lawsuit that sought more than $9 billion against a local hospital in Washington state. Filings in the case show that Leaming sought liens against the hospital and even sought to attach it water and mineral rights. At least two notaries public in Washington state with ties to Leaming have had their licenses revoked. The names of both notaries appear on the docket of U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer in the District of Columbia.

    Collyer is presiding over the ASD-related forfeiture actions and the criminal case against Bowdoin. Bowdoin twice has tried to have Collyer removed from the case. Both efforts failed, and the U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld the forfeiture orders she issued in the case.

    Sixty-two people (as of the time of this post) have “liked” Bowdoin’s Facebook fan page. It is unclear if Bowdoin’s fans have followed the ASD case closely.

  • Document Linked To Company Associated With AdSurfDaily Figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming Is Referenced In Congressional Record As ‘Claim Against The United States Of America’

    Screen shot from the Congessional Record of April 8, 2011. (Also see image and link to full-scale PDF below.)

    UPDATED 6:55 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A garden-variety, lawful protest commonly received in mailrooms within the halls of power? A self-serving, reality-inverting tale of the civil-forfeiture case against the proceeds of an alleged $110 million autosurf Ponzi scheme? A backdoor bid to end-run rulings made by the U.S. Judiciary and hand an invoice to the U.S. Congress for purported damages and financial penalties against public officials sprouting from the government’s alleged mishandling of the ASD case?

    The staff of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, did not immediately respond to a PP Blog request for comment this afternoon on a document apparently tabled by the panel after it was received in April after having been submitted by American-International Business Law Inc.

    AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming, a purported “sovereign citizen,” is listed in Washington state records (as “Kenneth Wayne”) as the chairman and president of American-International Business Law Inc. The firm’s name appears in the Congressional Record of April 8 as the presenter of a “petition . . .  relative to a claim against the United States of America.”

    Among other things, Leaming, who once was convicted of piloting an airplane without a license,  also was accused of practicing law without a license. He has purported to be a specialist in admiralty law — and has advertised the availability of a lower rate for “prepaid” clients.

    Details about the April document were not provided in the Congressional Record entry, and Leahy’s committee staff was unable to provide details immediately. The Blog asked the staff staff to provide a copy of the claim and, if possible, forward it to the Blog. Whether the staff will be able to accommodate the request was not immediately clear.

    Leaming and ASD member Christian Oesch unsuccessfully sought to sue the United States last year in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, apparently seeking the staggering sum of more than $29 TRILLION — more than twice the U.S. Gross Domestic Product in 2009.

    Their lawsuit targeted federal employees who had a role in the civil-forfeiture case filed against tens of millions of dollars alleged to be the proceeds of a massive Ponzi scheme conducted by Florida-based ASD. About $65.8 million was seized by the U.S. Secret Service from the personal bank accounts of ASD President Andy Bowdoin, and federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia scored a clean sweep in forfeiture-related litigation. The government now holds title to about $80 million seized from ASD-related bank accounts.

    The lawsuit came in the form of purported “Certificates of Default” issued against public officials on Feb. 16, 2010, by Tina M. Hall, a notary public with ties to Leaming.

    Hall’s notary license was revoked by the state of Washington in October 2010, about three months after Leaming and Oesch filed their lawsuit. The PP Blog reported yesterday that the license of Kathryn E. Aschlea, a second notary with a tie to Leaming and American-International Business Law Inc., also had her license revoked by the state of Washington.

    When Judge Christine Odell Cook Miller dismissed the Leaming/Oesch lawsuit in December 2010, she noted that the complaint included a claim by Hall that the officials had failed to respond to “claims in admiralty.”

    “At this point the complaint deteriorates into rambling,” the judge wrote  in her dismissal order.

    Whether the Judiciary Committee received a similar rambling narrative from Leaming and Oesch and one or more notaries public is unclear.

    See February 2009 story about ASD-related letter-writing campaign to Sen. Leahy by ASD figure “Professor” Patrick Moriarty. See follow-up editorial by PP Blog. Read May 2009 “Poof Penalty” story. Click here to read a Congressional Record PDF that includes the American-International Business Law Inc. reference.

  • BULLETIN: Second Notary With Tie To AdSurfDaily Figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming Has License Revoked In Washington State; Woman’s Name Appeared On ASD Court Docket Last Year

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming, aka "Kenneth Wayne" and "Keny."

    BULLETIN: The state of Washington has revoked the notary license of Kathryn E. Aschlea. The precise reason for the revocation was not immediately clear, although the state’s website said Aschlea “failed to comply with [a] fine and education sanction.”

    Aschlea is listed in Washington state records as a business associate of AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming, a purported “sovereign citizen.” On June 11, 2010, Aschlea was blocked by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer from filing a document styled “Claim by Notary Presentment/Acceptance” in the ASD forfeiture case in the District of Columbia.

    The revocation of Aschlea’s license occurred about 10 months after the state revoked the notary license of Tina M. Hall, another Leaming business associate who tried to file notary claims in the civil-forfeiture case against the assets of ASD President Andy Bowdoin.

    Collyer blocked Hall from filing claims on Jan. 27, 2010, and Feb. 9, 2010, according to the docket of the case.

    Aschlea is listed in Washington records as vice president of American-International Business Law Inc., Leaming’s Spanaway-based firm.

    In 2010, some ASD members said Leaming was performing legal work for them. There is no record that he is a licensed attorney, despite the fact advertisements describing him as one have appeared online.

    Cornell University Law School, Justia.com and Oyez.org removed Leaming’s online profiles in November 2010. The profiles had featured a photograph of Leaming — and advertised a fee structure of up to $250 an hour.

    In December 2010, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims dismissed a bizarre, ASD-connected, pro se lawsuit brought against the United States by Leaming and ASD figure Christian Oesch. Hall’s also name is referenced in the dismissal.

    Dozens of pro se litigants sought unsuccessfully to intervene in the ASD civil-forfeiture case brought by federal prosecutors and the U.S. Secret Service in August 2008 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Among the bizarre claims in the pleadings was that the government had produced no “EVIDENCE” against ASD — despite the fact that some of the evidence had appeared on the public record of the case a year before the claims that no “EVIDENCE” had been produced were made.

    At least one other notary public in Washington state lost her license as a result of performing work for Leaming, according to records. In 2005, the notary — a woman — told the Washington State Bar Association that Leaming had coerced her into notarizing documents and that he had been “physically and emotionally abusive to her.”

    The woman “voluntarily resigned her notary license as a consequence of the acts” directed at her by Leaming and obtained a protection order against Leaming, according to a letter the Practice of Law Board of the State of Washington sent Leaming in 2005.

    See the PP Blog’s tag cloud archive on stories that reference Leaming, who also in known as “Kenneth Wayne” and “Keny.”

     

     

  • Andy Bowdoin Claims His ‘Army’ Is ‘Fighting Mad’; Bizarre Fundraising Effort By Accused Ponzi Schemer Whose Firm Has Ties To ‘Sovereign Citizens’ Continues

    Thomas A. “Andy” Bowdoin, the accused Florida Ponzi schemer whose firm has ties to “sovereign citizens,” now says his fundraising “Army” is “Fighting Mad and growing fast!”

    Bowdoin, 76, is accused of presiding over a massive Ponzi scheme involving at least $110 million at Quincy-based AdSurfDaily. He has been using military and Biblical references for weeks in an online campaign to raise $500,000 to pay for his criminal defense on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities.

    Formal fundraising for Bowdoin began on July 26, the date upon which he released a video that dissed a federal judge, federal prosecutors and his former defense counsel.

    An email some ASD members received yesterday used a subject line of, “Let’s Fight the Gov. Injustice & Get Your Money Back!” Bowdoin did not explain in the email that the government already has civil judgments totaling about $65.8 million against money he claimed in court affidavits belonged to him, not to members.

    Nor did Bowdoin explain that the government has another civil judgment against ASD-related assets totaling more than $14 million. Why Bowdoin is telling members the money belongs to them is unclear. Bowdoin made similar claims in September 2009, causing the U.S. Secret Service and federal prosecutors to allege to U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer that Bowdoin was telling her one story and members another.

    Coinciding with Bowdoin’s email yesterday was an announcement by Rust Consulting Inc., the government-approved claims administrator for ASD victims, that the criminal prosecution against Bowdoin continues.

    Rust, which is managing a restitution pot the government formed from seized assets, pointed ASD members to a website maintained for victims by federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia.

    “The federal criminal prosecution of Andy Bowdoin is ongoing,” Rust said on its website. “The next hearing is scheduled for October 21, 2011. For updates regarding the criminal case, please visit the United States Attorney’s website at http://www.justice.gov/usao/dc/programs/vw/adsurfdaily.html

    Bowdoin claimed an early victory this week, exclaiming in a separate email that “We Are Winning! Over $15,000 Raised So Far!” His purported email “blasts” are going out to the very people he is accused of scamming, and some ASD members have complained that Bowdoin is spamming them.

    The bid by Bowdoin to collect money from ASD members has been marked by delays, including the postponements of two launch dates for the main fundraising website in July and as many as three postponements of the launch of an associated site on Facebook.

    Bowdoin left ASD’s corporate registration lapse in September 2009, even as he was telling members he had exciting plans for the company’s future. ASD members complained prior to the August 2008 seizure that the firm’s website often was inaccessible for days if not offline altogether and that payments to the company were not posted in timely fashion.

    Bowdoin claimed in 2009 that his battle against the government — now entering its fourth year — was inspired by a former Miss America who did not give up despite repeated losing bids to wear the crown.

    Bizarre claims have marked the ASD case, including a claim by two ASD figures that the government owed them $29 TRILLION — more than double the U.S. Gross Domestic Product in 2009 — for its actions against ASD.

    They’d take the money in “silver,” Kenneth Wayne Leaming and Christian Oesch explained.

    Curtis Richmond, another ASD mainstay, claimed Collyer was operating a “Kangaroo Court” and was guilty of “TREASON.”

    Like Bowdoin himself, Richmond sought unsuccessfully to have Collyer removed from the case.

    Leaming and Oesch filed a lawsuit against the government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, but a judge dismissed the case last year.

    There have been repeated efforts by some ASD members to dissuade fellow members from filing for restitution through Rust Consulting through a process known as remission. Some of the efforts had a threatening tone.