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Tag: AdSurfDaily

  • Guenther Softens Comment That ‘Sheriff Joe’ Arpaio Was Soft On Crime; Says Recent Email Lecturing Veteran Federal Prosecutor Was Sent At Behest Of Crime Victims

    AdSurfDaily mainstay Bob Guenther backed away overnight from a comment that suggested an Arizona county sheriff known for instituting chain gangs and outfitting prisoners in pink underwear was soft on crime.

    Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County would be Guenther’s jailer if he is convicted and sentenced to prison in the county. Guenther, 61, is accused of two felonies in Maricopa County by the Mesa Police Department, which said  he repeatedly violated a court order not to harass a gaming company with which he has a dispute.

    Guenther complained early Wednesday that an individual he described as a criminal “is still walking the streets, still taking in millions of investors money, still hiding assets, right there under Sheriff Joe’s nose..”

    Overnight, however, Guenther softened his remarks about Arpaio.

    “I made no disparaging comments regarding Sheriff Joe,” Guenther said. “Mesa, AZ is just in his jurisdiction.”

    Guenther, who pleaded guilty to felony bank fraud in 1994, did not back away from claims that he would use unspecified “political connections” to embarrass the U.S. Department of Justice, which he suggests has ignored leads he provided and conducted an incompetent investigation in the AdSurfDaily wire-fraud, money-laundering and Ponzi scheme case.

    He complained that Senior Trial Attorney William Cowden had not returned more that 50 emails he had sent. Federal prosecutors, however, are under no obligation to return emails, and the ASD case is an investigation in progress.

    On Monday, for example, the U.S. Secret Service filed a new document in the case — the transcript of an audio recording ASD President Andy Bowdoin made earlier this month. Bowdoin has suggested in court filings that he was indicted under seal in May. Prosecutors revealed in April that Bowdoin had signed a proffer letter in the case.

    Guenther’s most recent email to Cowden had a condescending tone, including a passage that began, “How about this one Bill, just as a freebie.”

    The email lectured the prosecutor, an expert in forfeiture law and part of the prosecution team that gained a conviction against the e-Gold payment processor last year for facilitating money-laundering.

    ASD once used e-Gold as its payment processor.

    “I will not sit on this anymore, you are going in circles . . . ” Guenther said in his email to Cowden. “You have my number and my email..”

    In April, on this Blog, Guenther reproduced an email he had received from Cowden in February. In his one-sentence response to Guenther, the prosecutor noted that he earlier had explained that the case was the Justice Department’s to handle and that it would proceed as it saw fit.

    “As I have said before, we intend to use forfeited assets (upon liquidation) to compensate Ponzi victims,” Cowden said.

    Guenther reproduced the same information on the ASDMBA website, but continues to suggest Cowden has a duty to reply to all of his emails and perhaps even reveal the government’s prosecution strategy.

    Guenther is the de facto head of the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA), which has come under fire for collecting money from ASD members to establish legal representation but not providing straightforward accounting on how the money was spent.

    At the same time, Guenther also has asserted that, through his efforts, money that had been directed at Golden Panda by active-duty police officers and retirees from Texas and California was intercepted and returned to the police groups before it could become part of a victims’ compensation pool prosecutors said they sought to establish.

    Cowden referenced the pool in his February response to Guenther’s email.

    Meanwhile, Guenther also says that money others directed at Golden Panda — including money from a “high profile Dallas Cowboy executive” — was intercepted and returned to contributors before it could become part of a victims’ pool.

    Overnight, Guenther explained that his most recent email to Cowden was sent at the behest of “concerned” crime victims.

    “My letter to William Cowden was requested by several concerned groups of victims,” Guenther said. “Over 300 ASD and Panda victims, most of whom have given Andy [Bowdoin]/ASD or [Golden] Panda over $5000. Another particular group of over 400 people, represented by four Atlanta area men gave [Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence] Busby over $1.8Million, none of which was earned through ASD, so there is no link between the two.”

    Prosecutors, however, filed an “all funds” forfeiture complaint last August that targeted assets of both ASD and Golden Panda in the same proceeding. The government has established ties between the firms, and one of the pro se filers in the case — Joyce Haws — has been identified as a rally coordinator for ASD and a founder of Golden Panda.

    Busby identified Haws as one of 34 Golden Panda founders in court filings.

    Meanwhile, Guenther implied in his email that ASDMBA soon would become active again, in part because the government was botching the case. He predicted that the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson would become advocates for victims who attended “a very high-profile African-American church in Atlanta.”

    “When this comes out, and it will, this very, very high profile church will call on the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to assist in getting their money back,” Guenther said. “They have asked me to help.”

    Rather than be passive, ASDMBA would be aggressive, Guenther said.

    “So now it is time to round up all the troops again and get ready to try and “GO GET THE MONEY”..

  • EDITORIAL: Google, The White House And Miss America

    Andy Bowdoin, whom federal prosecutors said appropriated the brand of the institution of the Presidency of the United States to make more Ponzi sales, now has turned to the wholesome brand of the Miss America Organization to sanitize the Ponzi business.

    Members of Bowdoin’s autosurf company, AdSurfDaily, also appropriated the brand of Google, claiming the surf firm had a special agreement with the search-engine giant. It proved to be a click-fraud attempt.

    Bowdoin, who suggests he was indicted under seal in May for wire fraud, posted a recording online two days ago in which he shares his version of the inspirational story of “Cheryl Blackwood,” whom he identified as Miss America 1980.

    Bowdoin, 74, positioned himself as a fighter with the perseverance of “Cheryl Blackwood,” whom Bowdoin said suffered one disappointment after another in her five-year quest to become Miss America — before finally winning the crown in 1980.

    The message: Miss America never gave up, and neither will Andy Bowdoin.

    We’ve placed a call to the Miss America Organization seeking comment on Bowdoin’s comments in the recording. We’re also seeking to determine if Bowdoin was confusing “Cheryl Blackwood” with Cheryl Prewitt, the 1980 Miss America title-holder. The organization did not immediately return the call.

    Here are a few lines from the inspirational story of Cheryl Prewitt, as told on the Miss America website. 

    “A horrifying automobile accident, a scarred face, a body cast and a wheelchair did not add up to disaster for this little girl. When Cheryl Prewitt was only a young girl of eleven, this accident forced her to decide whether to trust God or just give up and accept the prognosis . . . Doctors promised that she would be scarred, they claimed that she would not walk again, they insisted that bearing children would be impossible for her . . . they were wrong.”

    Here are a few lines from Bowdoin’s version:  

    “ASD did not have a victim until the government stepped in and crushed the company. And I’ve spent over a million dollars on legal fees to get your money back and to stay out of prison.

    “And  it reminds me of this person back in Mississippi: Cheryl Blackwood. She was Miss America 1980.

    “When she was five years old, a milkman told her that some day she was going to be Miss America. And she said that planted a seed in her mind. And she entered her first pageant when she was 18; it was a Miss America preliminary: Miss Choctaw County in Mississippi. She lost.”

    Bowdoin went on to relate how “Cheryl Blackwood” lost again and again, but did not adandon her quest. She finally won the Miss America title in her fifth attempt.

    We find the story as told on the Miss America website — Prewitt’s recovery from a horrifying automobile accident — much more inspirational than the Bowdoin version, an old coach’s  chestnut that focused on recovering from the disappointment of losing and returning  to do battle another day.

    Andy Bowdoin apparently wants ASD members to believe all battles are equally noble.

    Cheryl Prewitt was trying to walk again; Bowdoin just wants to climb back on the saddle so he can continue to run a Ponzi scheme.

    Prosecutors now say Bowdoin is trying to lie his way back into a civil-forfeiture case in which he surrendered his claims to tens of millions of dollars seized last year in an international wire-fraud and money-laundering investigation.

    Bowdoin also has been named a defendant in a racketeering lawsuit filed by members of his Florida-based company. Meanwhile, he has been sued by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum for operating a massive Pyramid scheme.

    In the 1990s, Bowdoin was both sued and arrested in Alabama for fleecing customers in a securities scheme. He pleaded guilty to felonies and was ordered to make restitution. In August 2008, Bowdoin sent a check for $100 to his Alabama victims. A month prior, in July 2008, he provided the funds to purchase a $50,000 Lincoln for himself and his wife.

    The Miss America Organization is famous for inspirational stories and its beauty pageant, of course. It also is the world’s largest provider of scholarship assistance to young women. The organization says it distributed $45 million in cash and scholarship assistance last year.

    And now Andy Bowdoin is using the organization’s name — and apparently the name of the 1980 title-holder — to inspire his shipwrecked legions to persevere, to remember what “Cheryl Blackwood” would do, and to paint a picture that the U.S. government is evil for stopping a Ponzi scheme in its tracks.

    No Miss America would approve of that message.

  • Judge Denies Dismissal Motions By Bank, ASD Attorney Robert Garner, In Case That Alleged ‘Indictable’ Racketeering Offenses Had Occurred In Autosurfing Enterprise

    A federal judge has denied motions by Bank of America and AdSurfDaily attorney Robert Garner to dismiss a lawsuit in which ASD members alleged Garner and ASD President Andy Bowdoin had engaged in racketeering.

    Bank of America was not named a RICO defendant. Rather, the bank was accused of aiding and abetting ASD in a fraudulent scheme in which racketeers and unnamed co-conspirators committed indictable offenses and fleeced thousands of people out of tens of millions of dollars.

    Bank of America has denied wrongdoing. Garner has argued that U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer has no jurisdiction to hear the case. Bowdoin has not responded to the complaint, which was filed in January and amended in April.

    The RICO case was put on indefinite hold in July, because of ongoing litigation involving Bowdoin and the government. The motions to dismiss were filed prior to Collyer’s July 24 granting of a stay requested by Bank of America. Collyer denied the dismissal motions Sept. 18, although they could be refiled and argued later when the stay is lifted.

    RICO attorneys representing three ASD members in a prospective class-action lawsuit said ASD was a racketeering enterprise engaged in wire fraud and money-laundering. In June, the plaintiffs referenced AdViewGlobal (AVG) in court filings as an extension of ASD, although AVG has not been named a defendant.

    In other news, no recorded statement from Bowdoin was released to ASD members yesterday. Emails in recent days have suggested Bowdoin planned to address the membership. The first claim said Bowdoin would speak during a conference call.

    It later was said that Bowdoin had chosen instead to issue a recorded statement, rather than to address members in a conference call. Members expected to be directed to the recording yesterday, but no links were distributed.

  • THEY’RE GUMBY, DAMMIT! Purported ASD ‘Flexible’ Plan Now So Flexible It Changes With Every Argument

    Gumby: From Wikipedia
    Gumby: From Wikipedia

    UPDATED 12:35 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.)

    They’re Gumby, dammit!

    Some AdSurfDaily supporters now claim that the company could not have been operating as a Ponzi scheme — and therefore cannot be guilty of wire fraud and other crimes — because it had a “flexible” business plan.

    Under this theory, “flexible,” in part, means ASD did not guarantee rebates. It also means that ASD planned to build a membership base, and then use that base to become attractive to Main Street, big-budget advertisers that would find people who were being paid to click on ads an attractive audience.

    Prosecutors anticipated this argument in August 2008, and refuted it in the original seizure complaint filed Aug. 5, 2008, more than a year ago.  ASD later asked for an evidentiary hearing to demonstrate it was not a Ponzi scheme.

    Prosecutors viewed the “flexible” business-plan argument as a bid for ASD to insulate itself from scrutiny by regulators and law-enforcement agencies — in short, a bid to legalize Ponzi schemes by calling them something else.

    The hearing was held Sept. 30-Oct. 1. ASD did not produce an audited balance sheet, thus failing to take advantage of an opportunity to blow the prosecution’s case out of the water. Nor did the surf produce a witness to support claims that it was operating with government approval.

    Nor did ASD produce a major corporate advertiser to explain how it possibly could derive any benefit from having its brand associated with a fraudster-led firm that was using a garden-variety autosurf script that had been used by other surf companies destroyed by the government.

    Imagine if such a major corporate witness existed — and if such a witness extolled the virtues of the autosurf universe on direct examination by the ASD side.

    Now, imagine the witness being cross-examined by the government. If the witness said pitching its product to ASD members was good enough and that the company did not intend to participate in ASD’s rebate plan that implied a return of 365 percent a year was possible, the government then could ask why the company was shirking its duty to stockholders to become more profitable.

    If ASD truly was a dynamic advertising service, there would be no reason not to participate in all three facets of the earning spectrum — profits derived from advertising, profits derived from recruiting and profits of 365 percent a year derived from surfing.

    Not to participate in all three would be the height of corporate irresponsibility to stockholders. In fact, the government could ask the major advertiser on the witness stand why it was not recruiting its own stockholders to join ASD, thus bolstering the advertiser’s bottom line and the bottom lines of individual stockholders.

    Any corporate stockholder who joined the corporate advertiser’s downline in ASD would have more money to invest in stock, more money to invest in other companies, more money to jumpstart the world economy, buy cars and real estate and gifts for family and friends — and more money to set aside for retirement.

    NBC, which was claimed in a promo for ASD to have been one of the major advertisers, could have been summoned to testify. Why didn’t NBC show up to defend the model? Why didn’t USA Today, another claimed advertiser, show up? Why didn’t Google or Starbucks or Kodak or Toshiba or Macy’s or Farmer’s Insurance show up? All of them (and more) were claimed to have been ASD advertisers.

    Any chance they weren’t really ASD advertisers and that the claims about them were made up?

    No matter. Some of ASD’s current Gumby apologists would have you believe the advertisers would have shown up one day — had the government not interfered with ASD’s “flexible” plan.

    What’s most flexible about the plan is the ASD advocates’ ability to spin it, even though ASD President Andy Bowdoin himself no longer is doing the same.

    A federal judge ruled Nov. 19 that ASD had not demonstrated it was a legal business and not a Ponzi scheme. The judge said evidence ASD presented conflicted with “come on” statements on its own website.

    Moreover, the judge said testimony by an ASD expert witness that ASD was not a Ponzi scheme was not credible because it conflicted with observable information, the testimony of other ASD witnesses and relied exclusively on information ASD provided, not an independent investigation.

    In January, ASD President Andy Bowdoin submitted to the forfeiture, thus taking a trial against the money and property off the table. Bowdoin has acknowledged multiple times that ASD was operating illegally.

    A scheduling conference that had been set for Jan. 30 was canceled because of Bowdoin’s request to a federal judge to release his individual and corporate claims to the seized money and property.

    Regardless, the “flexibility” arguments cited above continue to surface — even though Bowdoin no longer is protesting his innocence. Bowdoin, rather, has attacked prosecutors, his own attorneys and, now, a “group” of members from whom he accepted legal advice and embarked on a strategy of pro se legal filings.

    A federal judge has rejected three of Bowdoin’s four pro se arguments, which sought to cast him a criminal defendant in a civil case against money and property. Bowdoin was not arrested in August: The money and property were.

    A ruling is pending on Bowdoin’s fourth pro se argument — that he should be permitted to change his mind about submitting to the forfeiture, after previously asking the judge to release his claims “with prejudice,” meaning he would not assert them again.

    Bowdoin’s new counsel, retained only after Bowdoin had embarked on a pro se strategy that put him at odds with his previous claims,  has supplemented his client’s motion, and Bowdoin has filed two affidavits to support his bid to renew claims he once released.

    It’s a strange case, indeed. Bowdoin has been the equivalent of Gumby in his court filings — and ASD advocates have been even more flexible, bending their views to support fact sets that even Bowdoin himself no longer is challenging in the civil case.

  • AdSurfDaily: Could Things Really Be THIS Simple?

    EDITOR’S NOTE: News developed yesterday that ASD President Andy Bowdoin would make some sort of recorded statement to ASD members, with the recording perhaps becoming available on Tuesday. The news was announced in an email from Sara Mattoon. The email impressed us as typically vague and ambiguous — but also as cautious, preemptively suggesting there could be technical problems with the recording or delays that resulted from an “unforeseen circumstance.”

    The email also fretted about deliverability issues, which suggests that Bowdoin wants the maximum audience possible. Will he announce a continuation of his fight for tens of millions of dollars seized from his bank accounts?

    Or will Andy Bowdoin accept responsibility for conduct federal prosecutors said was criminal?

    The post below ponders a single question — “Could things really be this simple? — and outlines an argument that events surrounding ASD/AdViewGlobal perhaps are not as complex as they sound.

    Could Things Really Be This Simple?

    1.) ASD failed in at least one prior iteration.

    2.) Money vanished as a result of theft and a lack of management controls.

    3.) ASD was reborn under the name ASD Cash Generator because ASD/Bowdoin owed money to members, including members who were unfriendly.

    4.) ASD ramped up the criminality and eventually created a cash cow.

    5.) Owing to a lack of controls and seat-of-the-pants management by Bowdoin that created the precise conditions under which thefts could occur/reoccur and even be condoned, money that was destined for ASD was cherry-picked by corrupt members before it got there.

    6.) ASD actually never knew its real bottom line, because of side deals, secret deals and a culture that institutionalized theft.

    7.) The surf became attractive to professional money-launderers.

    8.) The surf became attractive to tax-deniers and people who associate themselves with fringe groups.

    9.) ASD knew the end was near in July 2008, when a bank closed an account, citing Ponzi fears.

    10.) Only then did Bowdoin concern himself in a very real way with the very real issue of securities fraud.

    11.) Attempts to muzzle critics by threatening them with lawsuits failed.

    12.) The U.S. Secret Service, alarmed by what agents saw early and aware of a general culture of corruption involving ASD, other surfs and other entities, seized the assets to prevent the scheme from mushrooming further.

    13.) Bowdoin sold himself on a belief that the enterprise was legal because certain lawyers — not lawyers on his defense team — told him the enterprise was legal.

    14.) Bowdoin and other ASD members rationalized the establishment of AdViewGlobal — even as the ASD case still was being litigated — by wrapping themselves in antigovernment fervor and selling themselves on the belief that, if certain lawyers said ASD was legal, then ASD was legal. If ASD proved not to be legal, they could blame the lawyers, while clinging to the antigovernment fervor.

    15.) As a fail-safe, Bowdoin and others took the new surf “offshore.”

    16.) Bowdoin and others, having demonstrated a remarkable lack of capacity to run a business on domestic soil, did not recognize the supremely difficult challenges of running a business offshore and actually were running much of the business from domestic soil.

    17.) AdViewGlobal became a sort of ASD3, with the very same lack of controls, theft and cherry-picking problems that surfaced in the first two ASD iterations.

    18.) Bowdoin subjected family members, key insiders and others to being charged with serious crimes — for a second time.

    19.) A scheme to obstruct justice was hatched, a key prong of which was to ramp up efforts to paint the government as a monster.

    20.) Bowdoin and co-conspirators put the whole of the enterprise in a box.

  • ‘Cops,’ Threats, Laundry Baskets, Militia, $30 Million, $120 Million, ‘Supreme Court,’ Mysteries, Claims, ‘Offshore,’ Conversion Rates — And Exclamation Points!!!

    EDITOR’S NOTE: The screen shots below are in no particular order. Each, however, helps tell a bit of the AdSurfDaily/AdViewGlobal story. Some of these screen shots are being published for the first time today.

    Do recent affidavits ASD President Andy Bowdoin filed clear up some of the mysteries surrounding AVG? Bowdoin has suggested an indictment was returned in May. On June 1, an AVG forum operated by some of the Mods and members from the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum announced that, “Effective today, AVGlobal Association is a full service Internet Marketing and Advertisement Company.” The announcement did not say what the company was prior to June 1.

    If there is a theme to this presentation of screen shots, it’s that information supplied by some of the operators and promoters of ASD often is in conflict with itself. At the same time, these screen shots demonstrate that some very strange things have happened and that some promoters have been in involved in very strange events.

    One promoter, for example, cited the theme song from the television program “Cops” in a bid to chill critics — and then proceeded to pitch MegaLido, the failed autosurf, in two forums — even after the U.S. Secret Service had seized tens of millions of dollars from ASD.

    Filing from 1996 showing address of Faye's Florist as 11 S. Calhoun.
    Filing from 1996 showing address of Faye's Florist as 11 S. Calhoun.
    Filing from 2008 showing address of Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises, which used the same building Faye's Florist listed in 1996 at 11 S. Calhoun, now using 13 S. Calhoun as its address.
    Filing from 2008 showing address of Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises, which used the same building Faye's Florist listed in 1996 at 11 S. Calhoun, now listing 13 S. Calhoun as its address.
    PatrickPretty.com Blog receives dual spams June 8, 2009, that promote AdViewGlobal. One of the spams claims Best Buy, Staples and GoDaddy are AVG advertisers. AVG suspended cashouts 17 days later, on June 25.
    PatrickPretty.com Blog receives dual spams June 8, 2009, that promote AdViewGlobal. One of the spams claims Best Buy, Staples and GoDaddy are AVG advertisers. AVG suspended cashouts 17 days later, on June 25.
    Unhappy ASD member posting at Pro-ASD Surf's Up forum suggests it's time to storm Washington, D.C., with guns. Post was signed "A Patriot."
    Unhappy ASD member posting at Pro-ASD Surf's Up forum suggests it's time to form a "militia" and storm Washington, D.C., with guns. Post was signed "A Patriot."
    Poster enamored with the exclamation point on AdSurfZone in August 2008 says ASD is going to sue critics in aftermath of seizure of tens of millions of dollars from surf company, amid wire-fraud, money-laundering and Ponzi scheme allegations.
    Poster enamored with the exclamation point on AdSurfZone in August 2008 says ASD is going to sue critics in aftermath of seizure of tens of millions of dollars from surf company, amid wire-fraud, money-laundering and Ponzi scheme allegations.
    Poster enamored with the exclamation point pitches the failed autosurf, MegaLido, on Surf's Up.
    Poster enamored with the exclamation point pitches the failed autosurf, MegaLido, on Surf's Up.
    Poster enamored with the exclamation point pitches MegaLido on the GoldenPandaAdZone forum.
    Poster enamored with the exclamation point pitches MegaLido on the GoldenPandaAdZone forum.
    AdViewGlobal forum operated by some Surf's Up Mods showcases Forbes' logo in AVG pitch.
    AdViewGlobal forum operated by some Surf's Up Mods showcases Forbes' logo in AVG pitch. AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin now suggests a grand-jury indictment was filed under seal in May. This June 1, 2009, AVG screen shot begins with, "Effective today, AVGlobal Association is a full service Internet Marketing and Advertisement Company," which leads to the questions, "What was it before?" and "Did AVG know about the purported grand-jury indictment and decide suddenly to try to get legal?"
    July 2008 claim that major corporations, including Google, Kodak and NBC were ASD advertisers.
    July 2008 claim that major corporations, including Google, Kodak and NBC were ASD advertisers.
    AVG suggests in promotional material that Staples is one of its corporate advertisers.
    AVG suggests in promotional material that Staples is one of its corporate advertisers.
    AVG promotional materials claims a conversion rate of 37 percent, with the only qualifier being, "if the sales copy doesn't totally suck."
    AVG promotional material claims the surf produces a conversion rate of 37 percent, with the only qualifier being, if the "sales copy doesn't totally suck."
    On May 31, 2008, ASD workers place paperwork in plastic bins that resemble laundry baskets. On Aug. 5, 2008, the U.S. Secret Service claimed ASD had engaged in money-laundering. Within two weeks of the conclusion of the Las Vegas rally, Bowdoin/Harris family members and at least one ASD employee engaged in a spending spree that totaled more than $240,000, resulting in the purchase of automobiles, a Cabana boat and jet skis, and the retirement of the $157,000 mortgage on the Tallahassee home of George and Judy Harris.
    On May 31, 2008, ASD workers place paperwork in plastic bins that resemble laundry baskets. On Aug. 5, 2008, the U.S. Secret Service claimed ASD had engaged in money-laundering. Within two weeks of the conclusion of the Las Vegas rally, Bowdoin/Harris family members and at least one ASD employee engaged in a spending spree that totaled more than $240,000, resulting in the purchase of automobiles, a Cabana boat and jet skis, and the retirement of the $157,000 mortgage on the Tallahassee home of George and Judy Harris.
    On Oct. 29, 2008, as it awaited a ruling from a federal judge on Ponzi issues, ASD announced it expected a $200 million revenue infusion from Praebius Communications. ASD removed the announcement after members said they intended to verify the story as presented by ASD.
    On Oct. 29, 2008, as it awaited a ruling from a federal judge on Ponzi issues, ASD announced it expected a $200 million revenue infusion from Praebius Communications. ASD removed the announcement after members said they intended to verify the story as presented by ASD.
    ASD mainstay Curtis Richmond claims U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot owes him $30 million and must step down from a case.
    ASD mainstay Curtis Richmond claims U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot owes him $30 million and must step down from a case.
    Curtis Richmond filing in ASD case in which $30 million again is cited. Unlike the $30 claim against Friot in the seprate case (noted in screen shot directly above), the ASD claim appears to be targeted at four public servants, including Judge Rosemary Collyer, perhaps calling for a grand total of $120 million.
    Curtis Richmond filing in ASD case in which $30 million again is cited. Unlike the $30 million claim against Friot in the separate case (noted in screen shot directly above), the ASD claim appears to be targeted at four public servants, including Judge Rosemary Collyer, perhaps calling for a grand total of $120 million. One of the claims was that a court clerk was guilty of a "major Interference With Commerce and Interference With Interstate Commerce" and thus apparently owed ASD pro se litigants $30 million.
    Curtis Richmond turns to fraudulent 'Supreme Court' and seeks the arrest of federal judges, a banker and an attorney.
    Curtis Richmond turns to fraudulent 'Supreme Court' and seeks the arrest of federal judges, a banker and an attorney.
    On July 24, 2009, VanaBlue claimed on its webesite that it owned the company that owned the eWalletPlus payment processor. At least three companies, including AdViewGlobal, also have claimed to own eWalletPlus. What company or individual actually owns the processor continues to be a mystery involving AVG, VanaBlue, Karveck Corp., TMS Corp., TMS Association and TMS Corp. USA LLC, which used AdSurfDaily's street address in Quincy, Fla. Federal prosecutors said last year that the Quincy street address was bogus.
    On July 24, 2009, VanaBlue claimed on its website that it owned the company that owned the eWalletPlus payment processor. At least three companies, including AdViewGlobal, also have claimed to own eWalletPlus. What company or individual actually owns the processor continues to be a mystery involving AVG, VanaBlue, Karveck Corp., TMS Corp., TMS Association and TMS Corp. USA LLC, which used AdSurfDaily's street address in Quincy, Fla. Federal prosecutors said last year that the Quincy street address was bogus.
    In April, AFTER AVG had claimed to own eWalletPlus and AFTER Avg reported its bank account had been suspended, eWalletPlus reported on its website that new registrations were disabled.
    In April, AFTER AVG had claimed to own eWalletPlus and AFTER AVG reported its bank account had been suspended, eWalletPlus reported on its website that new registrations were disabled.

  • REALITY CHECK: Is Bowdoin Running Out Of Options?

    UPDATED 8:52 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Is AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin quickly running out of options?

    A small spin campaign appears to be under way, and an email circulating among ASD members suggests the company will hold a conference call Monday. Like everything concerning ASD, the wording of the email is ambiguous. It is possible, however, that the email signals in ASDspeak that the end game is under way.

    There is trouble in all directions for ASD.

    Imagine ASD President Andy Bowdoin standing inside a see-through box facing you, with each wall of the box having a see-through grandstand. Every person in the grandstands poses risk to Bowdoin.

    The government is in the grandstands in the ceiling, which could collapse at any second; RICO attorneys are in the cellar grandstands, which could open up and swallow the floor. ASD’s rank-and-file membership is in the grandstands to Bowdoin’s left, which seat thousands of people who have been fleeced. They’ve been ignored for so long — and are so soured by Bowdoin’s various legal filings — that crashing the gate and bringing down the wall so Bowdoin cannot ignore their questions or mute them in a phone conference is a real possibility.

    Finally, seated in the grandstands on Bowdoin’s right, are potential co-defendants. They’re unhappy, too. Some of them want the legal game to continue because it provides a limited amount of cover for them. Others, however, have come to the realization they’ve been drafted into a conspiracy and hold Bowdoin accountable for making fools and potential co-defendants out of them. Some of them perhaps have received target letters from the prosecution. Others perhaps are unindicted co-conspirators. This wall, too, is in danger of collapse.

    If it all comes tumbling down, ASD’s few remaining janitors will sweep it up. ASD’s janitors always sweep it up. Some of them sing and think happy thoughts while they sweep. After all, there are no prizes for predicting rain, only for building arks.

    The Pickle

    In similar cases, courts have issued orders to repatriate assets, preserve evidence and prevent the destruction of documents. Judges also have jailed Ponzi scheme figures for intransigence or simply because they were arrested in advance of a bail hearing.

    It is possible that certain members of ASD and AdViewGlobal (AVG) have received target letters from the Department of Justice. Bowdoin himself hints of the existence of a sealed indictment handed down in May, the same month closely connected AVG was engaging in all sorts of bizarre behavior that got only more bizarre as spring transitioned into summer.

    Bowdoin’s two recent affidavits,  if anything, show insiders and serial promoters that significant jail time may be in the offing for criminal participants. Woe to them if they try to wipe evidence. They also are in a box: The government has the database and other records, and has interviewed garrulous Bowdoin over a period of at least four days.

    They weren’t discussing the weather or how Florida and Florida State will do this fall on the gridiron.

    Separately, the prosecution can argue, we believe, that Bowdoin and perhaps others are flight risks. The August complaint mentions an assertion by a banker that Bowdoin intended to buy a home in another country. (The snippet below is from paragraph 64 of the August forfeiture complaint.)

    “A [Secret Service/IRS Task Force Member] also learned that earlier in July 2008, a bank other than BOA closed the last account that was controlled by Bowdoin or family members after that bank determined, and explained to them, that an investigation by the bank determined that Bowdoin appeared to be operating a Ponzi scheme. Bowdoin indicated that he purchased, or was seeking to purchase, a home in another country.”

    ‘Offshore’ Shelter Is A Myth

    The very nature of ASD’s — and AVG’s — operations inure to the prosecution’s benefit. Both companies publicly advertised funding through offshore payment processors. Nothing in the public record so far in the forfeiture case against ASD suggests any of the offshore money has been repatriated — either by Bowdoin or alleged co-conspirators.

    So, the prosecution can point to the “home in another country” claim, Bowdoin’s intransigence and the existence of publicly advertised, offshore payment mechanisms in the names of thousands of people to demonstrate high potential for money to be hidden or dissipated, evidence to be destroyed and for people to flee to avoid prosecution. Bowdoin always has been at risk of confronting an order to repatriate the money and/or sit in jail.

    Participants also could find themselves confronting such an order — whether they have been indicted or not. A lack of an order, however, does not provide cover for individuals to destroy evidence. Prosecutors know that evidence exists.  If they go looking for it and discover it’s not there, it won’t be a happy day for co-conspirators who destroyed it. They are up against one of the top law-enforcement agencies in the world.

    Some readers will remember, of course, that the word went out with seven exclamation points on the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum in February to start closing down bank accounts because the Secret Service was coming.

    __________________________________________________________________________

    “If you took any money from ASD and it is in a bank account, get it out!!!!!!!

    Thanks,
    Erma

    __________________________________________________________________________

    Because the government has seized Bowdoin’s real estate, he may have serious trouble making bail if he finds himself sitting in jail. His bond could be set in excess of his paper net worth, owing to the serious nature of the crimes. Money hidden in shell companies  — Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises or any Bowdoin-connected business, for example — will be of no help, because that is the money the government would seek to collect to stop Bowdoin from committing more crimes.

    In the Regenesis 2×2 case, the Secret Service kept certain parties under surveillance for five weeks, prior even to applying for search warrants. Agents even monitored a Dumpster and observed as evidence was discarded. They then gathered the evidence from the Dumpster and brought in experts in computer forensics.

    Given the nature of AVG’s claims — Uruguay and all of that — there is a chance that certain people have been kept under surveillance. It is possible that the Justice Department has moved the State Department to seal the borders with respect to travel by certain individuals.

    It is possible that passports already have been collected. But because money either is missing or unaccounted for and may be stashed anywhere, the risk of flight is high.

    Andy Bowdoin and criminal co-conspirators, we believe, have created the perfect storm for ASD/AVG members. There might have been a concerted, coordinated effort in February to obstruct justice.

    A March 13 letter on Surf’s Up in which Bowdoin announced he had met with a “group” and filed pro se court pleadings, we believe, is extremely damaging.

    __________________________________________________________________________

    About a month ago, several members introduced me to a group that studied what my attorneys did. The group said that my attorneys had taken the wrong approach. The group was very confident that they could help because the government had broken so many laws and had violated our rights as citizens of the United States.

    I have rescinded my decision to release our ownership of all the assets. I filed various motions a few weeks ago, and several more last week, to dismiss our case and to return the assets because of the violations committed by our government.

    We are ready to pursue this all the way to the US Supreme Court.

    A great injustice has been done to 100,000 people, and we need to stand up and fight for our rights. Some agencies of the government have become so powerful that they believe they are above the Constitution. We, as members of ASD, need to help stop this misuse of power. I ask each one of you to write to the Justice Department, to your senators and representatives, to the President, and even to Glenn Beck of Fox News. Tell them all what the Justice Department has done to your business.

    We will be filing papers in the next couple of weeks that should really get their attention. Watch for the filings. I will be speaking out on a conference call as soon as the filings are completed. We will notify you of the call. I look forward to talking to you then.

    I appreciate your support in helping us get back what rightfully belongs to the members of ASD.

    Thanks,
    Andy Bowdoin

    __________________________________________________________________________

    Now, compare that letter to what Bowdoin said about his pro se status in paragraph 23 of his corrected affidavit filed two days ago:

    https://patrickpretty.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/bowdoincorrectedaffidavit.pdf

    In effect, Bowdoin was advising the court that he ultimately concluded that his pro se strategy did not meet his needs — and that he didn’t recognize this until after he had embarked on the campaign. He makes no mention of the fact a federal judge advised him in March that corporate litigants could not proceed pro se.

    “I determined that I could not adequately represent my legal interests pro se, and having lost confidence in my existing legal counsel, I retained separate criminal counsel to pursue reinstatement of my claims . . . ,” Bowdoin said, in paragraph 23 of the affidavit.

    But in March, as the letter above demonstrates, Bowdoin was expressing supreme confidence about the pro se strategy: (Emphasis added.)

    “We are ready to pursue this all the way to the US Supreme Court,” he said. “We will be filing papers in the next couple of weeks that should really get their attention. Watch for the filings. I will be speaking out on a conference call as soon as the filings are completed. We will notify you of the call. I look forward to talking to you then.”

    So, Bowdoin had turned over ASD’s fate to a “group” that had analyzed the approach of Bowdoin’s paid counsel, found it lacking and prevailed upon him to change his mind about submitting to the forfeiture.

    “The group was very confident that they could help because the government had broken so many laws and had violated our rights as citizens of the United States,” Bowdoin said. “I have rescinded my decision to release our ownership of all the assets. I filed various motions a few weeks ago, and several more last week, to dismiss our case and to return the assets because of the violations committed by our government.”

    Key phrases:

    • “The group”
    • “very confident that they could help”
    • “I have rescinded my decision” (after meeting with the group)

    Bowdoin filed drivel with the coaching of the group. He signed the documents. His signature coincided with the “If you took any money from ASD and it is in a bank account, get it out!!!!!!!” report on Surf’s Up.

    And it coincided with AVG’s sudden shift to an “association” structure after members, too, were introduced to a “group” — Pro Advocate Group.

    The previous weeks and the following months were dominated by pro se filings, mostly not from Bowdoin. But Bowdoin now says, “I determined that I could not adequately represent my legal interests pro se.”

    He arrived at this conclusion after he promised a pro se Supreme Court battle and after a federal judge advised him corporate entities could not proceed pro se. Bowdoin’s affidavit, however, suggests he came to his recognition that the pro se strategy didn’t work for him only after taking the time — apparently weeks later — to contemplate the serious legal implications.

    The trouble with that statement is that Bowdoin’s own affidavit shows the pro se strategy began after his four days of meetings with prosecutors and after his potential prison time was spelled out and after he submitted to the forfeiture — and yet Bowdoin would have a judge believe he did not understand the issues.

    If he did not understand the issues, he would have had no reason to consult with the “group” and embark on the pro se strategy to begin with.

    Not only is Bowdoin blaming government lawyers and his own paid lawyers, he also now is blaming the amateur lawyers — and perhaps a cloaked professional attorney whose name has not been introduced in the case but helped Bowdoin in his pro se efforts.

    Bowdoin is taking responsibility for none of it: bad prosecutors, bad lawyers, bad amateurs who happened to arrive on the scene around the same time he submitted to the forfeiture, the Secret Service reportedly was seizing bank accounts and AVG was going underground with the “association” nonsense.

    It looks like a bizarre bid to obstruct justice — and Bowdoin is trapped between people who prevailed upon him to proceed pro se, and the government, which holds Bowdoin’s proffer, his statements (probably recorded and perhaps even on videotape), the database, business records, banking records and evidence gleaned from others.

    The walls could come crashing down soon — unless negotiations Bowdoin entered into with the government weeks ago were productive, and a plan already is in place for Bowdoin to exit the stage after addressing members one last time.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Bowdoin Files Corrected Affidavit, But Confusion Remains As Documents Disagree In Places

    UPDATED 3:16 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin has filed a corrected affidavit in the civil-forfeiture case, apparently after visiting a notary public earlier today.

    An affidavit Bowdoin filed yesterday appeared to have lines and an entire paragraph missing. Today’s filing has 23 paragraphs, as opposed to yesterday’s 22. Yesterday’s filing jumped from paragraph 3 to 5, skipping paragraph 4. Meanwhile, yesterday’s document had two paragraph 16s, one apparently complete and one apparently incomplete.

    In a separate brief filed yesterday by Charles A. Murray, Bowdoin’s attorney, there was a reference to Bowdoin having found the fees accepted by defense counsel Steven Dodson “astonishing.” The reference cited was paragraph 17 from Bowdoin’s affidavit, but the word “astonishing” did not appear in paragraph 17 — or elsewhere in the document.

    Today’s corrected affidavit by Bowdoin also does not include the word “astonishing” — in paragraph 17 or elsewhere.

    Bowdoin’s filing today appears to be numbered correctly, paragraph 1 through paragraph 23, but still appears to be at odds with Murray’s filing yesterday. The reason for the disagreement among documents was not immediately clear.

    Read Bowdoin’s corrected affidavit.

  • UPDATE: The Theory Of ‘Steroidal Puppeteers’

    EDITOR’S NOTE: On Feb. 11, we published our theory of “Steroidal Puppeteers” in the ASD case. One of the prongs of the the theory holds that people with criminal intelligence superior to ASD President Andy Bowdoin were smart enough to let him do their bidding or recognized him as the perfect stooge while they remained out of sight to accomplish their illicit goals. In some cases, the goals were not reached before the government ended the criminal feast. This is an update to the theory.  Part of this column exists as a review. Under the “Case Within The Case” subhead, you’ll find some information from a government document filed in December that may demonstrate the U.S. Secret Service was aware that some autosurf purveyors perhaps were inclined to cherrypick expert testimony from the ASD evidentiary hearing last fall to rationalize the birth of a new autosurf or autosurfs.

    It’s looking more and more as though the U.S. Secret Service recognized right away in July 2008 that AdSurfDaily was no ordinary autosurf, that there was a story within the story, a case within a case. Let’s walk back the surface story, and then consider the case within the case.

    Surface Story

    Andy Bowdoin
    Andy Bowdoin

    UPDATED 1:15 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The surface story included assertions that ASD President Andy Bowdoin had received a “Medal of Distinction” for business achievement from the President of the United States. Those assertions were easy to refute and, in fact, had been refuted by hobbyist investigators on Internet message boards prior even to the entry of the Secret Service in the case.

    Regardless, Bowdoin posed with the medal, even taking it on the road with him, while suggesting ASD had amassed a giant pot from which it would hire lawyers to make its critics pay for their lies. ASD members cheered Bowdoin’s giant pot and informed critics on message boards that they would be sued, that ASD “legal” was aware of the smear campaign against the company, a smear campaign blamed on jealous MLMers.

    And the advocates also traded on the medal. At the same time they were doing this, an Ohio drug addict also was trading on the same medal, which has no importance at all, does not signify business achievement and can be obtained by writing what amounts to a check for banquet tickets.

    In the August forfeiture complaint, the Secret Service noted that ASD members were trumpeting the medal, using it as proof the ASD autosurf was unlike all the other surfs that had operated as Ponzi schemes. At the same time, members trumpeted Bowdoin’s remarkable record of business success. These things clearly were GIGO; garbage came in, and garbage went out. Compellingly, the IRS entered the case right away. The entry by the IRS, alongside the Secret Service, now looks like the first signal of the case within the case.

    ASD members’ GIGO that followed later — through the fall and winter, and into the spring — is more explainable now, with the passage of time and the emergence of more facts. At first, however, it looked like unrestrained madness, a sort of viral delusion. Some of the early efforts of ASD supporters were just plain irrational:

    • The early spin efforts positioned the Aug. 1 seizure of ASD’s money as a net plus, something that would give the surf the opportunity to demonstrate to a government that was merely confused by technology and the new way of advertising online that it had misread the ASD business model. Bowdoin was like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and Henry Ford, people who had changed the world. ASD would be back up and running quickly. Members would profit from Bowdoin’s genius for years to come.
    • When the Secret Service arrived with search warrants a few days later and effectively announced that it was not confused at all, that Bowdoin had been convicted in a previous securities scheme and that Golden Panda President Clarence Busby had been implicated in a previous securities scheme, ASD’s supporters became much more shrill. Bowdoin went on to compare the government’s acts to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The government, which had been cast in the earliest hours as merely confused, then was cast as evil. The Secret Service and prosecutors were cast as a gang of Nazis, and the ASD case became Theatre of the Absurd.
    • Theatre of the Absurd also now looks like a signal of the case within the case. Explanations became so tortured that they took on an almost comical quality. It was argued — and is still being argued, for example — that Big Box retailers and car manufacturers provide rebates, therefore ASD’s rebates were legal.  (Rebates generally are not illegal; selling unregistered securities is. So is wire fraud. So is money-laundering. So is racketeering. So is mail fraud. So is operating a Ponzi scheme to fund the rebates. ASD supporters’ arguments rarely addressed any of these things, deflecting to the general legality of rebates, which was never in question. What was in question was ASD’s form of rebates and how they were funded.)
    • Some of the earliest efforts by ASD supporters to win the PR war were so bizarre they resulted in a PR backlash that kept ASD constantly in the news. There was an effort, for example, to discredit Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and suggestions he should be charged with Deceptive Trade Practices for daring to inform the public about a scam. Rarely does one see such a bizarre approach to influencing public opinion, especially from a company that purports to be a professional communications firm.
    • Some ASD advocates called for AARP, which advocates for senior citizens, to advocate on behalf of ASD, which was accused of fleecing senior citizens in a Pyramid and Ponzi scheme. (AARP later joined with McCollum in an effort to tighten Florida securities laws.)
    • The Surf’s Up forum held a party online at the conclusion of the Sept. 30-Oct. 1 evidentiary hearing, complete with images of fireworks and champagne. Members were fed one-sided reports and persuaded that ASD had cleaned the government’s clock at the hearing. The prosecutors were heckled, ridiculed and made the butt of jokes. Observers who place a high importance on objectivity were stunned. Objective observers knew that ASD’s effort in the courtroom was a Hail Mary pass early in the legal game, not as time was expiring, not with the government’s case on the line. Andy Bowdoin, the purported Presidential medal-winner, took the 5th on the advice of counsel. He’d already put himself in a box by requesting emergency release of funds by claiming ASD could not pay its bills, apparently forgetting to tell his lawyers that he’d already told prosecutors that ASD had $1 million offshore in Antigua in an account under a different name.
    • ASD said it would submit to court monitoring, which sounded good, but could not take prior crimes off the table. Bowdoin would become a sort of sacrificial lamb, taking himself out of the day-to-day operations of the company to appease the government, but there was no real way to divorce Bowdoin from what essentially was a wink-nod business to begin with.
    • There was no real way to tell immediately if ASD or individual members had hidden money to prevent its seizure. Some individual ASD members, for example, sold ad packs to downline members, deposited the money in their own bank accounts and shifted the value of the ad packs to the purchasers by using ASD’s internal system. This easily can be construed as a form of tax avoidance, wire fraud and money-laundering. So, from the government’s point of view, ASD was committing crimes on a grand scale, even as individual ASD members perhaps were committing crimes on a lesser scale and using their local banks to stockpile illegal gains.
    • The mere fact ASD provided this utility to sponsors destroyed any possibility that ASD’s records were reliable. Members clearly were using ASD as a business within a business for illicit purposes. It was particularly odious because a Ponzi always is burdensome. ASD was a Ponzi that was not even collecting all of its own revenue, and individual members effectively were guaranteeing their own income by siphoning it off before it even reached ASD, thus placing an even greater strain on the Ponzi.

    Case Within The Case

    The reason we’re updating the theory of Steroidal Puppeteers is that it was written before we had knowledge of the proffer letter Bowdoin had signed in the case and before he had embarked on his pro se litigation campaign.

    Bowdoin’s behavior has been mind-boggling, so much so that he appears to have placed members of his family and close business associates in grave legal danger — perhaps with their complicity. Some qualifiers — the word perhaps, for example — are necessary because it is not known publicly if other proffer letters exist in the case and the extent to which ASD insiders were cooperating with the government prior to the launch of the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf, which has close ties to ASD.

    It is possible that Bowdoin wrongly assumed he had the unquestioned loyalty of certain people in the organization, while failing to make the calculation that the government had tremendous leverage over certain individuals. It is equally possible that Bowdoin’s behavior had become so extreme that he created “enemies” in his own camp because his seat-of-the pants management style and unpredictable behavior could implicate them.

    At the same time, it is possible that certain loyalists peeled off to save themselves and joined the government camp, recognizing that the ASD enterprise was in an impossible box.

    Along those lines, it also is possible that certain ASD members prevailed upon Bowdoin to ramp up the criminality. Some people within the enterprise have criminal records. Others have filed bankruptcies ranging from spectacular to garden-variety, including people Bowdoin knows well. Some people have been sued because of their business dealings. Like Bowdoin, some members have been associated with multiple businesses in multiple locations and organized company after company, a possible marker of money-laundering and racketeering.

    What’s not known is the degree to which Bowdoin recruited them or the degree to which they saw Bowdoin as a means to accomplish their own illicit agendas — or the degree to which they worked with Bowdoin in concert. Some people could view Bowdoin as a monumental fool who cost them lots of money.

    It also is known that tax-deniers, tax-schemers, stock manipulators and people who associate themselves with sovereignty movements — however loosely connected — exist within the ASD organization. Underground credit-repair organizations, including individuals who take extreme approaches, also are a part of the enterprise.

    Federal Reserve conspiracy theorists exist within the enterprise. Multiple individuals who have engaged banks in bizarre litigation have been identified, including individuals who purport to believe that banks do not lend “real” money and therefore should have no expectation that debts can be collected if a borrower defaults.

    Moreover, at least one person with a tie to ASD has been implicated in a money-laundering case involving an international drug operation whose home base is Medellin, Colombia.

    Others with ties to ASD have been implicated in other Ponzi schemes — including judicially declared or successfully prosecuted Ponzi schemes — recycler matrices, and scores of failed autosurfs, including an autosurf that  had invested in at least 26 other autosurfs or HYIPs before the enterprise was smashed by the SEC.

    The precise reason Bowdoin morphed into a pro se litigant after releasing his claims to tens of millions of dollars seized by the Secret Service — and, as a pro se litigant, tried to undo his decision to submit to the forfeiture — is not publicly known. The agenda, however, may not be uniquely Bowdoin’s.

    Perhaps the greatest mystery of all is why Bowdoin would acknowledge ASD was operating illegally and sign a proffer letter, which signals a willingness to cooperate in untangling the mess, perhaps for some consideration — and then reverse course. The proffer letter could have been signed on any date between Aug. 1, 2008, and Jan. 13, 2009.

    If Bowdoin signed the proffer letter knowing full well that AdViewGlobal was on the drawing board, it could be viewed as a five-alarm deception. If he signed the proffer letter after the ruling on the evidentiary hearing went against him in November, he may be an unrepentant criminal. If he signed it prior to the ruling, he may be an unrepentant liar and largely responsible for yet another grand fraud.

    Prosecutors perhaps filed the December forfeiture complaint — the second against assets tied to ASD — for an underlying reason not addressed in the August complaint . The reason may be that they already knew a background plot was under way, but did not know the precise details. Subsequent actions by AVG participants perhaps interfered with a government investigation in progress.

    If Bowdoin or AVG participants use the opinion of ASD expert witness Gerald Nehra that ASD was not a Ponzi scheme as a presumptive ace-in-the-hole to justify the launch of AVG and claim ASD hadn’t technically been ruled a Ponzi by a court, then Bowdoin and participants have demonstrated they have no respect for the judicial system.

    Here is what federal prosecutors said in the December forfeiture complaint, which targeted other ASD assets, including the assets of AVG figures George and Judy Harris: (Emphasis added.)

    “Mr. Nehra did not tell ASD that ASD was legal before ASD commenced, or ceased, its operation,” prosecutors said.

    “At no time during ASD’s operations did Mr. Schwartz, or any attorney from [the Akerman Senterfitt law firm], tell ASD that it’s operation was legal.”

    Bowdoin’s various pro se motions, all of which read like political statements and not cogent legal arguments, are still pending because Bowdoin didn’t follow up with them until ordered by a federal judge to state his intentions. The deadline for Bowdoin to state his intentions is today. The judge granted Bowdoin two delays totaling about five weeks, because Bowdoin’s attorney announced that Bowdoin was negotiating with federal prosecutors.

    The mystery of Bowdoin’s earlier pro se strategy — before he was ordered to hire a new paid attorney, with his pro se motions still dangling — perhaps can be found in the “political” tone of the filings.

    In a March 13 letter published on the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum, Bowdoin said he was influenced by a “group” of members to proceed pro se and to reopen his claims to the money.

    Some members of this group could be among a group of people associated with tax-denial/avoidance schemes and found themselves in the awkward position of losing money they had squirreled away in ASD because of Bowdoin’s decision to submit to the forfeiture.

    It might not be all members of the group — at least not all members of Bowdoin’s blind constituency — because the truly blind lack even a basic understanding of the issues or recite falsities by rote.

    But there is nothing subtle about Bowdoin’s pro se filings.  The filings themselves rewrite the nature of the civil case against money and property and try to turn it into a criminal prosecution of Bowdoin, painting the government as purveyors of fraud, trickery and deceit.

    Bowdoin, though, signed the documents. His signature coincided with other developments, including reports that the Secret Service had seized individual bank accounts of some ASD members and a decision by AVG autosurf to morph into a “private association.”

    The situation is remarkable, bringing out a special brand of insanity. We doubt, however, that it is criminal insanity. Rather, it is the insanity of choosing to be blind when one has the clear option of choosing to see.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Pro Se Filer Says Government Owes Her ‘Approximately $250,000 In [ASD] Ad Packages’

    More pro se motions to intervene in the AdSurfDaily civil forfeiture case have streamed into U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

    Some of today’s docketed motions were mailed in September — after Judge Rosemary Collyer’s Aug. 31 denial of motions filed by the first 10 pro se litigants.

    Today’s docketed filers include Julie Anne Larson of Sarasota, Fla. Larson says the government owes her “approximately $250,000 in [ASD] Ad Packages.” Her petition was dated Sept. 1, one day after Collyer ruled against the initial 10 filers, saying they had no standing in the case.

    No signature appears on the the perjury-verification line in the document. Larson’s purported signature appears on the Certificate of Service and is dated Sept. 1.

    It is believed Larson is the first pro se litigant to file specifically for ASD ad packages and not an actual sum of money.

    Since Aug. 24, pro se litigants have filed an unofficial total of 31 motions to “Intervene and Petition[s] To Return Wrongfully Confiscated Funds.” The motions have used a litigation blueprint circulated by at least one ASD downline.

    All of the motions were filed after prosecutors had announced that ASD President Andy Bowdoin had acknowledged ASD was operating illegally at the time of the seizure of tens of millions of dollars from his bank accounts last year.

    Bowdoin also signed a proffer letter in the case, prosecutors said in April.

    Bowdoin’s attorney, Charles A. Murray, announced in court filings Aug. 4 that Bowdoin was negotiating with federal prosecutors.

    By Aug. 24, pro se pleadings from ASD members began to pile up at the courthouse. The filings accuse the government of “reckless action” and “reckless disregard of the law by my Government to ‘protect’ its citizens.”

    Other docketed filers today include Stephen O’Brien, Christine Keyworth, Joseph L. Dunn Jr., Caesar Nunez and Laurie Ann Solliday.

    On Friday, in response to the spate of pro se filings, prosecutors filed a supplemental brief in the case that said ASD members “must establish an interest in a property that existed before the crime occurred.”

    The government filings might have been a bid to put would-be intervenors on notice that prosecutors have evidence of crimes that occurred within ASD long ago, perhaps before some or all of the pro se litigants even joined the purported “advertising”
    business.

    Later Friday, links were established between some members of ASD and the AdVentures4U autosurf, which announced a suspension of payouts Aug. 28. ASD members also promoted Noobing, an autosurf currently offline.

    Noobing’s parent company was ordered by a federal judge last week to repatriate money to the United States as a fraud investigation by the Federal Trade Commission proceeds.

    Today, the domains for AdViewGlobal, another autosurf promoted by ASD members, would not resolve to their servers in Panama.

    Read Larson’s motion.

  • AdViewGlobal Domains Offline

    UPDATED 8:09 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.)

    Two domains for the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf will not resolve to a server.

    The domains are:

    • adviewglobal.com
    • startavga.com

    Why the domains will not resolve is unclear. The domains normally resolve to a server in Panama.

    As reported previously, a third domain associated with AVG — advglobal.com — also won’t resolve. This domain appears to have resolved to the United States at one time and appears to have been suspended for spam and abuse.

    AVG suspended cashouts June 25. In August, it said it had reported a theft of $2.7 million to state and federal authorities. AVG’s announcement about the purported theft occurred one day after AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin announced in court filings that he was negotiating with federal prosecutors.

    AVG and ASD have close family, promoter and membership ties.

    UPDATE 11:55 A.M. The AVG domains still are offline. Their IP cluster in Panama is in the same range as the server that powers BizAdSplash (BAS), yet another controversial surf firm. The BAS domains are resolving.

    UPDATE 8:09 P.M. The adviewglobal.com domain and the startavga.com domain now are resolving to a server, although the members’ login page and the “Join” page are throwing a database error.

    The advglobal.com domain is not resolving to a server.