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Tag: AdSurfDaily

  • UPDATE: Sham ‘Attorney General’ In ‘Indian’ Case Sought $1.7 TRILLION From SEC; Wikipedia Says He Was Jailed In Nevada For ‘Attempted Murder,’ Other Charges

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an update to supplement a story about bizarre securities litigation that has occurred recently. (Updated 9:10 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.)

    Think the $250 million judgment sought against a public servant by a sham “sovereign” Utah “Indian” tribe to which AdSurfDaily mainstay Curtis Richmond belonged was bizarre and extreme?

    It turns out to have been a drop in the bucket compared to the $1.7 trillion sought by the bogus “attorney general” of an unrecognized North Dakota tribe. Michael Howard Reed, who is not an attorney but purported to hold the title of “attorney general,” sought the award after the Securities and Exchange Commission sued purported tribal members for running a $29 million Ponzi scheme from Nevada.

    The sought-after amount of $1.7 trillion would have exceeded the total of federal income tax paid by individual U.S. filers last year by about $575 billion.

    A federal judge was not pleased by the gamesmanship in the securities-fraud case against Gold Quest International, which purported to be registered in Panama but was operating the alleged Ponzi scheme from Las Vegas while claiming immunity from U.S. law.

    U.S. District Judge Kent J. Dawson struck a series of pleadings by Reed from the record.

    Meanwhile, Dawson jailed John Jenkins, one of the defendants implicated in the Ponzi scheme, for contempt.

    Dawson also dispatched the U.S. Marshals Service to arrest David Greene, also known as “Lord David Greene,” in part for violating orders to repatriate money offshore to the United States.

    All of this took place only weeks before the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars from Florida-based ASD, itself accused of operating a Ponzi scheme and selling unregistered securities.

    Wikipedia says Reed was jailed in Nevada on charges of attempted murder, although no details were provided in the entry. (UPDATE Jan. 21, 2010: This Wikipedia entry appears to have been disputed, with the reference to Reed and the purported attempted-murder charge removed.)

    Richmond entered the ASD fray in November. By early February, he was filing pro se motions suggesting ASD members intended to pursue claims of $120 million against the prosecutors, a judge and a court clerk.

    By late February, ASD President Andy Bowdoin himself was filing pro se motions, acknowledging ASD had been operating illegally but claiming he’d been denied “fair notice” his conduct was illegal.

    Bowdoin’s actions coincided with an announcement by the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf that it was shifting to an “association” structure.” Such structures sometimes are associated with tax schemes.

    AVG introduced members to Pro Advocate Group, which is associated with Karl Dahlstrom. Dahlstrom was convicted in a securities scheme in the 1990s and sentenced to 78 months in federal prison.

    The Utah “Indian” tribe to which Richmond belonged was ruled a “complete sham” by a federal judge last year. Meantime, the North Dakota tribe to which the GQI defendants purportedly belonged is not recognized by the federal government. There is substantial securities litigation against GQI in Canada, as well.

    See story on $1.7 trillion filing in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

  • EDITORIAL: ‘Meanwhile, Andy Bowdoin Was Negotiating’

    Perhaps you’ve read that the AdVentures4U (ADV4U) autosurf suspended payouts on or about Aug. 28. The surf, which purports to be a professional communications firm, butchered its announcement message to such a degree that professional Ponzi promoters began to email their lists to explain what they thought ADV4U was saying.

    Perhaps the only thing not ambiguous was a plea to members not to contact the offshore payment processors. The processors had the ability to trap the money and cripple operations, meaning ADV4U would not be able to dictate the haircut members were about to receive and that all financial decisions would be placed in the hands of the processors.

    Trapping the money also meant that ADV4U also would not be able to get its hands on its own cash. Money needed to pay the bills could be trapped. So could money needed to carry out the master plan, irrespective of the fact members cannot say for certain what the master plan is. They can repeat GIGO only. Garbage comes in, and garbage goes out. Somehow it takes on a veneer of high truth.

    Third-party accounts from “insiders” or people who know other people “in the loop” are never high truth. All you need to do to test this theory is read the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum.

    Surf’s Up told you an insider with impeccable credentials knew for a fact that the government admitted behind closed doors that ASD was not a Ponzi scheme. The government then went out and mowed down ASD at an evidentiary hearing in which the prosecution did not call a single witness.

    So much for “insider” news.

    Not to be outdone, though, posters at Surf’s Up then wove the untrue tale that ASD was denied due process, that the government’s failure to call a witness at a hearing ASD specifically requested to present its evidence meant that it had no evidence. Over the months the untrue tale snowballed. It finally grew into a fantastically untrue tale in which the preposterous claim was made that the only reason Andy Bowdoin was not in jail and that Bernard Madoff was in jail is that the government had no evidence against Bowdoin. Zero. None.

    This claim was made despite the fact that Andy Bowdoin had acknowledged in his own court filings that ASD was operating illegally, had given statements acknowledging the government’s material allegations all were true and even had signed a proffer letter in the case.

    A few of Bowdoin’s most committed apologists then began to spin the fantastic tale that the rebirth of ASD might be only days away, that prosecutors had screwed up so royally that a federal judge issued an order commanding them to put up or shut up by Aug. 28.

    This claim was made despite the fact Bowdoin’s own attorney announced publicly that Bowdoin was negotiating with prosecutors. The prosecution hadn’t been ordered to do anything. In fact, Andy Bowdoin had been on the receiving end of an order to instruct the court in no uncertain terms how he intended to proceed.

    Still not to be undone, some ASD members spun the fantastic tale that:

    • The U.S. Government has failed to produce any EVIDENCE of alleged wrongdoing.
    • The U.S. Government has failed to produce any WITNESSES of alleged wrongdoing.
    • The U.S. Government has failed to produce any VICTIMS of alleged wrongdoing.
    • The action was based solely on the OPINIONS of the U. S. Government agents.

    Interesting choice of words — “has failed.” What’s most interesting of all is that a trial date has not even been set in the case. Why not? Because Andy Bowdoin submitted to the forfeiture in January, more than two weeks prior to the scheduling conference in the case. The scheduling conference was canceled because Bowdoin submitted to the forfeiture, meaning the case nearly was litigated to conclusion because Bowdoin had given up his claims to tens of millions of dollars seized in a wire-fraud, money-laundering and Ponzi scheme case in which it was alleged that ASD was selling unregistered securities.

    And he submitted to the forfeiture after signing a proffer letter and after telling the government that its material allegations were all true.

    It therefore follows that ASD members also were selling unregistered securities and, perhaps, becoming unwitting participants in a criminal enterprise. The case was brought as a conspiracy. About the only unknown right now is the true depths of criminality within the organization.

    The government plainly has acknowledged that there are thousands of victims. It announced a program to provide some degree of restitution after it had gathered all of the assets of the ASD enterprise, which very likely was hiding money in the individual accounts of co-conspirators as a hedge against the possibility that ASD was going to get caught.

    Ever see these words?

    “Don’t call it an investment. We can get in trouble for that.”

    Those are the words that demonstrate the conspiracy. They show consciousness of guilt, especially when uttered by veteran players. The newbies don’t understand it’s a wink-nod conspiracy. If they discover later that they’ve been drafted into a conspiracy of silence and accept wink-nod as their duty to the enterprise, then they, too, are co-conspirators.

    Various rebukes by the co-conspirators to the unknowing that they purchased “advertising” and that “rebates aren’t guaranteed” also are evidence of the conspiracy. What it really means is, “Don’t tell. All of us, including YOU, could get in trouble.”

    Which brings us back to ADV4U.

    It announced yesterday that payouts due yesterday to plenty of members would not arrive because somebody had blabbed to one of the offshore processors and the account was restricted.

    There were stinging rebukes posted in various online venues by various ADV4U members to the blabbers.

    Meanwhile, members said the compensation they had received from ADV4U via other offshore processors had amounted to only about 20 percent of their exposure to loss. They had been assured that they would be made whole and placed in profit — sort of. No one really knows what ADV4U is saying because the message is so mangled and because the purported owner’s words did not comport with what members were being told by customer service.

    Which brings us back to ASD.

    One of ASD’s purported customer-service reps also purportedly works for ADV4U. That, in itself, makes ADV4U downright dangerous.

    Meanwhile, the name of one of the 25 recent pro se filers in the ASD case who claimed “The U.S. Government has failed to produce any EVIDENCE of alleged wrongdoing” popped up in a Skype chat last night about the ADV4U debacle. If it was, in fact, the ASD filer, it means she also has money in ADV4U and did not want to see it go missing.

    If one looks at the transcript of the Skype chat, there is virtually no discussion about how disappointed members are about the prospect of losing their “advertising” outlet. Most of the discussion was about money and retrenchment plans of the same sort both ASD and AdViewGlobal had announced.

    Some members were angry that other members had the unmitigated gall actually to contact AlertPay and subject the entirety of the ADV4U membership group to a haircut. Only a handful of people know what is real and what is fiction in this incredibly toxic, incredibly tangled web.

    Meanwhile, Andy Bowdoin was negotiating with federal prosecutors.

  • Ten More Motions To Intervene Appear On Docket

    UPDATED 4:57 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Ten more pro se motions to intervene in the federal forfeiture case against AdSurfDaily Inc. have just appeared on the docket of U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer.

    With the motions docketed yesterday, the grand total filed in the past two days now stands at 12. Previously 10 motions were filed, bringing the overall grand total to 22. All of the motions appear to use the same litigation blueprint.

    Collyer denied the first 10 motions in a two-paragraph ruling. She has not ruled on the most recent 12 motions, which appear to have been in transit when she ruled against the initial 10.

    Today’s docketed filers include Barbara J. Bowles; Robert Bowles; Dawn Starling; Eva Cater; Sara Lehman; Christopher Blake Scott; Harold L. Shaffer; Daniel N. Reams; James Richards; and John Deminico.

    4:57 P.M. EDT UPDATE: An 11th motion was docketed late this afternoon. The filer was Thomas M. Shearer. As of this update, the grand total of motions docketed today stands at 11. The overall grand total now is 23. (This figure includes pro se filings since Aug. 24 and does not take into account earlier pro se filings by ASD President Andy Bowdoin, Curtis Richmond and others. The unofficial total of earlier pro se filings is 16.)

    The unofficial grand total of all pro se filings is 39.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Pro Se Pleadings Pile Up In ASD Case

    Five more motions to intervene have been filed by pro se litigants in the AdSurfDaily federal forfeiture case.

    This morning’s filings came on the heels of five other pro se pleadings that appeared Tuesday on the docket of U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer. Like the previous motions, today’s filings appear to have used a litigation blueprint that has circulated among ASD members.

    Today’s filers — and the amounts they say they are owed by the U.S. government, not ASD President Andy Bowdoin, include:

    • Todd C. Disner ($53,000)
    • Pablo G. Camus ($1,000)
    • Georgette Stille ($10,000)
    • Alfredo Perez-Cappelli ($12,200)
    • Gallagher and Sons Inc. ($7,000)

    Todd Disner was one of the founders of the Quizno’s sandwich franchise. Disner also is listed as the owner of RebatesForAmerica.com.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Motions To Intervene Pour In

    UPDATED 8:19 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Motions to intervene in the civil forfeiture case against AdSurfDaily Inc. are pouring into U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

    The motions are filed pro se and may be the result of an organized effort by an AdSurfDaily upline. The motions claim the government now owes ASD members funds seized by the U.S. Secret Service last year.

    Included among the first five filers are Bruce Disner, Carol L. Rose, Lisa Koehler, Joseph Poggioreale and Jacqueline Poggioreale. It is unclear if other filings will follow.

    Disner claims the government owes him $42,000; Rose claims “$140 put in + earnings”; Koehler claims $1,000; Joseph Poggioreale claims $22,000 in a filing that also includes the name Jacqueline Poggiorelae; Jacqueline Poggioreale claims $22,000 in an individual filing.

    “At the time the funds were confiscated I had done nothing wrong,” the motions claim. “These funds were not only, in part, mine but the proceeds of ASD’s approximately one hundred thousand customers, contractors, employees and advertisers doing business with and for Ad Surf Daily.”

    Five motions have appeared on Judge Rosemary Collyer’s docket for the August forfeiture case so far today. They are styled as motions “to Intervene and Petition to Return Wrongfully Confiscated Funds.” The motions appear to be from a litigation blueprint and blame the government for events, not ASD President Andy Bowdoin.

    “This reckless action by the Government and its agents, served to terminate my living, my advertising campaign for my businesses, and my future wellbeing for both myself my family and my customers,” the motions claim.

    “This reckless action has prevented me from paying my financial obligations in a timely matter and in some cases not at all,” the motions continue. “This reckless action has done irreparable damage to my reputation with my friends, family and customers and has caused me endless embarrassment and loss of my precious credibility.”

    The motions point the finger of blame at prosecutors, not Bowdoin, and include a numbered list and an all-caps subhead:

    AFTER ONE YEAR:

    1. The U.S. Government has failed to produce any EVIDENCE of alleged wrongdoing.

    2. The U.S. Government has failed to produce any WITNESSES of alleged wrongdoing.

    3. The U.S. Government has failed to produce any VICTIMS of alleged wrongdoing.

    4. The action was based solely on the OPINIONS of the U. S. Government agents.

    5. The U.S. Government failed to notify me or any other affected parties as to the whereabouts or disposition of (my) our assets. (See Rule 983, U.S. Rules of Evidence).

    “By this reckless action and reckless disregard of the law by my Government to ‘protect’ its citizens, the U.S. Government has made us victims by confiscating our assets and terminally affected our businesses’ and all but wiped away all or part of their incomes both present and future,” the motions claim.

    “This reckless action by the Government has served to punish both Ad Surf Daily and its customers, contractors, employees and vendors without the benefit of a trial in a Court of Law,” the motions continue.

    “This reckless action by the Government has infringed on my civil rights and my Constitutional Rights  to do business in the United States.

    “I HEREBY, file this Motion and Petition to Refund my money which includes cash profits, my ad packages and any computer software databases returned forthwith.

    “THEREFORE, Petitioner requests the Court to enter an Order Allowing Petitioner to Intervene and Order Authorizing the Return of the above referenced funds to Petitioner,” the motions conclude.

    Collyer previously has denied a series of motions to intervene. Prosecutors have argued that the motions are delaying the establishment of a restitution pool for ASD members who certified they were crime victims.

    The judge consistently has ruled that the assets seized — including tens of millions of dollars — belonged to Andy Bowdoin, not individual ASD members, and that others lacked standing to intervene in the case.

    Unlike previous pro se claims, today’s claims assert that the government has a duty to refund paper profits that showed in the back offices of ASD members. Meanwhile, the motions also demand the return of ASD ad-packs — even though Bowdoin was authorized to display ads after the seizure and did not do so.

    Today’s motions also appear to demand the government to return ASD’s database — although to whom was not clear. Members have said ASD itself appears to have sold the database or made it available to other users.

    Some ASD members scolded Bowdoin in March, after they began to receive email pitches for a purported surf known as PaperlessAccess. In a video, Bowdoin told members PaperlessAccess was a way for them to make up losses.

    People complained as recently as last week that telemarketers using the ASD database were contacting them.

    Meanwhile, prosecutors said in April that Bowdoin had signed a proffer letter in the case and acknowledged that ASD was operating illegally at the time of the seizure.

    Read the motion by Bruce Disner.

  • People Close To AVG Money Had Large Bankruptcies

    UPDATED 11:18 A.M. EDT (U.S.A. AUG. 25) Two men identified as having significant positions of financial trust inside AdViewGlobal (AVG) discharged more than $1.6 million in separate bankruptcy filings, records show.

    One man used a mail drop as his street address in a 2004 bankruptcy filing that discharged $261,474 while claiming only $6,375 in assets, according to court filings.

    At the time of the filing, the man owed $5,300 to a courier service; $3,000 to a hosting company; $42,000 to lawsuit plaintiffs in a case that appears to have dealt with a piece of candy marketed MLM-style as a diet aid; $180,000 to an industrial park; and miscellaneous other debts.

    Meanwhile, a second man who held a position of trust inside AVG filed bankruptcy twice — a personal filing (2005) and a business filing (2004) — and discharged nearly $1.4 million while claiming only $3,500 in assets, research shows.

    Like the first man, the second man used a mail drop as his street address, advising the court the address was an apartment. The address actually was a UPS Store that once operated as a Mailboxes Etc, research shows.

    About four years later, the man went to work for AVG, according to research.

    Like ASD President Andy Bowdoin, whom members now say was the silent head of AVG, the men were involved in multiple businesses in multiple states and presided over enterprises that were sued over financial matters or for violations of federal law, records show.

    A former business partner of one of the men committed suicide in 2002, after allegations surfaced that a large sum of money was missing from a co-op venture managed by the former partner. Prior to taking his own life, the former partner made inquiries about banking in Switzerland and the Caribbean, according to court filings.

    The PatrickPretty.com Blog is withholding publication of the names of the men, who are not named in any ASD-related litigation.

  • SOURCE: Andy Bowdoin Was Head Of AdViewGlobal; Secret Service Seized Computer Used By Insider; Money Missing From Firm; Arizona Authorities Involved; Surf Immersed In Sea Of Uncertainty As Patriarch Deflects Blame

    EDITOR’S NOTE: Information in this story was gleaned Tuesday and Wednesday from a source who spoke to the PatrickPretty.com Blog on the condition of anonymity. We interviewed the source Wednesday. The source said a large group of individuals once loyal to Andy Bowdoin no longer could stand in his corner. “We got mixed up in ASD and feel horrible about it,” the source said.

    UPDATED 10:22 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Andy Bowdoin was the recognized head of AdViewGlobal among a core group of insiders and dispatched his stepson, George Harris, to Switzerland to establish bank accounts, according to information provided the PatrickPretty.com Blog.

    In an email that circulated among ASD members — some of whom were described as sickened by Bowdoin’s gall — Bowdoin denied that Swiss accounts ever were opened. He acknowledged, though, that both George and Judy Harris trekked to Switzerland, accompanied by another individual.

    His concession has led to questions about whether Bowdoin was telling the truth that no Swiss accounts were opened. The U.S. government is engaged in an active campaign to pierce Swiss banking secrecy and has scored landmark wins in recent months that have resulted in indictments against Americans who were using the banks to evade income taxes.

    Meanwhile, the U.S. Secret Service has seized at least one computer used by an AVG insider and the Phoenix Police Department is investigating a purported theft of $2.7 million from AVG, according to the email.

    “There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever” that remarks attributed to Bowdoin in the email were authored by Bowdoin, the source said.

    Bowdoin told a person who questioned his business judgment that Harris was unable to open Swiss accounts because “the banks said they did not like accounts with a lot of out going transactions,” according to the email.

    A person who participated in AVG took Bowdoin to task for laissez-faire management, a lack of follow-up controls and various business blunders — one of which purportedly was a deal assembled in November 2008 to acquire the Phoenix-based EWalletPlus payment processor for $75,000.

    (NOTE: Even after reviewing the email, we could not determine who actually owns eWalletPlus. At least three companies or individuals have claimed to own the web-based payment processor, which is offline. The website now resolves to a parked page and appears to be for sale on sedo.com.)

    Bowdoin performed virtually no due diligence before acquiring eWalletPlus, according to the email, but explained “[a] lot of business is conducted without ever meeting the owner because there are so many ways to perform due deligence [sic] in this high tech world.”

    The purported deal, according to the email, involved a purchase contract and occurred the same month a federal judge ruled that ASD had not demonstrated it was a legal enterprise and not a Ponzi scheme at a Sept. 30-Oct. 1 evidentiary hearing ASD specifically requested.

    Bowdoin’s purported actions lead to questions about whether he was prepared to remain in the illegal autosurf business no matter what a federal judge said. At the same time, the email leads to questions about why a group of AVG insiders ever would follow Bowdoin from ASD to the new company with serious legal business still on the table.

    “It doesn’t make sense,” the source said. “These guys got greedy and thought by running things offshore,” they were . . . “[untouchable.]”

    Plans to develop AVG were discussed at a private meeting on a cruise ship among 13 people, the source said.

    Problems developed when AVG was unable to gain or maintain control over bank accounts — including one at First Caribbean Bank — needed to operate the business. One of the issues was who had signature authority over accounts, according to the email.

    AVG blindly paid $20,000 to a formerly trusted person to set up a legal structure and bank account in Costa Rica — and George and Judy Harris “went down” to Costa Rica to get the lay of the legal landscape and review the corporate documentation, according to Bowdoin’s remarks in the email.

    While in Costa Rica, George Harris was advised by a local attorney that the fee for setting up a corporation was only $1,200, which led to questions about whether the formerly trusted party had skimmed $18,800 in the purported $20,000 deal.

    “[S]omeone made a lot of profit,” Bowdoin said, according to the email.

    In any event, the bank account in Costa Rica was needed as a conduit to forward funds to Uruguay, according to Bowdoin, citing a claim made by the formerly trusted party.

    No money made its way into the account in Costa Rica, even though the formerly trusted party was supposed to place $2.2 million in the account for later transfer to Uruguay, according to the email.

    Bowdoin appointed Judy Harris an AVG trustee in a bid to get control of the money, according to the email.

    “Yes, I asked Judy to be trustee to see if we could over come the money that had been stolen,” Bowdoin said, according to the email. “But when people started cashing out excessively it was soon apparant (sic) that it could not be overcome without some changes in page impressions. If the money had not been stolen all of the cash out requests could of been paid and there would of been plenty of operating capital. Hopefully some of the members will be able to come up with a solution.”

    Infighting developed over whether AVG would be operated from the United States or Uruguay. Bowdoin groused that labor was less costly in Uruguay, but an AVG insider insisted the company operate from inside the United States, according to the email.

    “I never had all of these problems with ASD,” Bowdoin said, according to the email. “It is evident now that I should of been more hands on in management.”

    Bowdoin’s behavior cannot be reconciled, said the source, who acknowledged embarrassment for having participated in ASD after his instincts told him something was wrong.

    At an ASD rally in Florida last year, the source said, he observed a man holding a briefcase. The man explained that the briefcase was “full of cashiers checks for $50,000 apiece,” the source said.

    Later, members of his downline group shared reports that “people with piles and piles of cash” had attended ASD rallies.

    “I don’t believe [Andy Bowdoin] for a second,” the source said. “He lost all credibility in our camp after firing his attorneys — and [filing] all those [pro se] motions.”

    By the time the government seized Bowdoin’s assets last summer, the source said, a family member had lost tens of thousands of dollars consisting of an initial outlay and unredeemed paper profits that ASD displayed in the family member’s back office.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Vana Blue Inc. Says Karveck International Deal Is Off; News Release Raises New Questions About Ownership Of AdViewGlobal Autosurf

    UPDATED 2:55 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) In a short Business Wire news release late this morning, Vana Blue Inc. said it “has canceled all agreements with Karveck Int’l and has no affiliation with [the] company or its affiliates.”

    The company claimed to own Karveck International in February 2009, declaring it a “newly acquired asset” that had produced $1.8 million in revenue in January. Karveck was described as a company that “specializes in internet advertising and promotion in a search engine and ad clicking type environment.”

    Today’s news release, however, said the deal once described as completed never was finalized and that the cancellation came as a result of “further due diligence.”

    “Vana Blue was unable to complete this transaction but is in the final stages of negotiation with an oil company to continue its plans of acquisitions,” said Donald Rex Gay, Vana Blue’s president.

    Vana Blue is a Pinksheet stock that trades under the symbol VBLU.

    Among other things, Vana Blue has said it owned the eWalletPlus payment processor that has been associated with AdViewGlobal (AVG), an autosurf with ties to AdSurfDaily Inc. Karveck’s name also has been associated with AVG, but AVG identified George and Judy Harris as its owners.

    George Harris is the stepson of ASD President Andy Bowdoin.

    AVG was in prelaunch phase in January, the month before Vana Blue announced the sales figures for Karveck International.  There has been one report that AVG registered in Uruguay as Karveck International, but that report has not been confirmed.

    Vana Blue’s domain name now resolves to a GoDaddy.com parked page. Meanwhile, the domain for eWalletPlus also resolves to a parked page and appears to be for sale on sedo.com.

    Today’s Vana Blue news release used a Gmail address. Previous news releases by the firm used an email address at the Vana Blue domain.

    AVG announced to members Aug. 5 that it had reported a theft of $2.7 million to state and federal authorities. The surf made the announcement one day after ASD announced in court filings that it was negotiating with federal prosecutors in a case that involved the seizure of tens of millions of dollars last August from Bowdoin.

    Vana Blue used mail services in both Phoenix and Las Vegas for its street address, according to records. Vana Blue also has said it had an agreement with a company known as Net Auction Plus, an eBay alternative, “to provide online, affordable, and flexible payment services.”

    The NetAuctionPlus.com domain name is registered to Michael Austin and uses the same Phoenix mail-service address as Vana Blue. The NetAuctionPlus.com domain throws a server error.

    Austin’s name also has been associated with eWalletPlus, but is only one of several names associated with the payment processor and money-services business. AVG promoters have claimed that eWalletPlus was AVG’s in-house payment processor.

    The names of at least two other companies — TMS Corp. and TMS Association — also have been associated with Vana Blue. Both firms purportedly owned eWalletPlus.

    A third firm with a similar-sounding name — TMS Corp. USA LLC — is registered in Nevada and Arizona.

    Records show the registration of TMS Corp. USA LLC was recorded by Gary Talbert, a former ASD executive. The Arizona registration lists ASD’s street address in Quincy, Fla.

    Federal prosecutors said last year that ASD’s Quincy address was bogus.

    In January, Karveck International was referred to in this Business Wire news release carried by Reuters as “Karveck Corporation.” It was described as a media company with “international reach that provides high volume exposure for websites thus creating advanced advertising on the internet for big and small businesses and for individuals who have products and services to sell.”

    The name change from Karveck Corp. to Karveck International was not explained.

    AVG has a history of issuing confusing announcements. In May — on the same day the Obama administration announced a crackdown on international monetary fraud — AVG announced it had secured a new offshore wire facility after losing a previous facility in March.

    The surf, which purports to be headquartered in Uruguay, provided account numbers and detailed wire instructions for members. Three days later, a company AVG identified as a facilitator of the transfers issued an express, public denial that it had any business relationship with AVG.

    AVG never acknowledged the denial. Instead, the surf issued an announcement signed “AVGA Management” that the wire deal it just had described as completed had failed because of unsuccessful negotiations.

  • DEVELOPING STORY: Firm That Provided AdSurfDaily Debit Card Indicted; Feds Say Virtual Money Inc. Helped Colombian Drug Operation Launder Money In Medellin

    virtualmoneyUPDATED 9:49 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A Dallas-based company and its president were charged in a sealed indictment in April 2008 with helping a Colombian cocaine operation launder money by providing debit cards that were used to convert drug proceeds to cash in Medellin.

    The company — Virtual Money Inc. — once provided debit cards to AdSurfDaily Inc., a Florida company accused in August 2008 of  money-laundering, wire fraud and operating an autosurf  Ponzi scheme.

    Prosecutors brought a forfeiture complaint for tens of millions of dollars in the ASD money-laundering case. A grand jury in the Virtual Money case has authorized forfeiture complaints totaling $7.12 million.

    Prosecutors said that Virtual Money, known simply as VM, helped the Colombian drug operation offload at least $7.1 million in drug proceeds at automated teller machines in Medellin. Medellin once was home base of the infamous Medellin Cartel, operated by drug lord and terrorist Pablo Escobar. Escobar was killed by Colombia National Police in 1993.

    Escobar was implicated in the assassination of Colombian presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán and the bombing of Avianca Flight 203 over Colombia, which killed 110 people.

    Autosurf promoters long have claimed that participation in illegal surf enterprises is harmless. The indictment against VM — and the allegations that it laundered money for a Colombian drug organization — demonstrates the dangers of participating in murky businesses in which participants have no way of knowing what is in the hearts and minds of other participants.

    It was not immediately clear how long ASD used the VM debit card, which was heavily promoted in early 2007 when ASD said it was having cash-flow problems.

    Two Colombian conspirators “directed their agents in the United States to provide proceeds of sales of controlled substances to agents of VIRTUAL MONEY, INC. to be sent to Colombia so the proceeds could be made available to the clients,” according to the indictment.

    VM “stored value cards were used by the members of the conspiracy to make available at a Daviviendo Bank ATM in Medellin, Colombia the peso equivalent of US $2,430,810.24 in April 2006; US $2,437,023.53 in June 2006; and US $2,257,761.45 in August 2006,” prosecutors charged.

    The VM indictment, which was brought in Connecticut after a two-year investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, was unsealed in September. It names 10 defendants, including VM President Robert Hodgins.

    Debit cards with “stored value” have become an increasingly popular way for autosurfs to collect and distribute money.

    In 2007, members of an ASD downline team hailed the VM debit card as one of the key advantages of ASD membership. The same downline team claimed that ASD provided “shelter” from the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission

    ASD downline group pitches VM card in 2007.
    ASD downline group pitches VM card in 2007.

    The card “[c]an be used in over 210 countries and territories and growing!” a sales pitch by the downline group said. “Funds conversion to local currencies at local ATMs.”

    VM’s website now directs either to a “Forbidden” error or a message that explains the company is not operational, depending on what URL visitors use.

    “We have a dedicated team working around the clock to ensure that the advanced and trusted service that all Virtual Money Card Holders have been use to over the past years, will be back and available as soon as possible as we are currently updating our facilities and servers,” VM said in the message.

    Australia has banned the sale of the VM card.

  • UPDATE: Vana Blue Website Still Offline; No Pinksheet Stock Activity For Seven Trading Days Amid Maze Of Claims

    Not a single share of Vana Blue’s penny stock has traded hands since July 30, a period of seven full trading days, according to Yahoo Finance. In news releases, Vana Blue identified itself as the owner of eWalletPlus, a payment processor later linked to the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf.

    Vana Blue, which used mailing services in Phoenix and Las Vegas as its address, is a registered corporation in Nevada. Its website now resolves to a server that beams ads from GoDaddy.com, but until recently resolved to a server from which the company told its story.

    The company has claimed to own a company that variously has been described as TMS Corp. and TMS Association, which purportedly developed eWalletPlus. In January, Vana Blue also claimed to own a company that variously has been described as Karveck Corp. or Karveck International, a purported advertising and media company.

    In February, Vana Blue reported that Karveck had posted $1.8 million in revenue in January — the month AVG was in prelaunch.

    Among other things, Vana Blue also had said it signed an agreement with a company known as Native Express Inc. “to develop oil and gas resources” in Utah. Vana Blue also has said it had an agreement with a firm in Jamaica known as Internet Mobile & Caribbean Network Ltd. to “facilitate the sales of the Compass Pre Paid debit card throughout Jamaica and the Caribbean.”

    Meanwhile, Vana Blue also has said it had an agreement with a company known as Net Auction Plus, an eBay alternative, “to provide online, affordable, and flexible payment services.” The NetAuctionPlus.com domain name is registered to Michael Austin and uses the same Phoenix mail-service address as Vana Blue.

    The NetAuctionPlus.com domain throws a server error. Austin’s name was mentioned in an announcement last week by AVG that it had reported a theft of $2.7 million to unspecified law enforcement agencies. AVG, which purports to be headquartered in Uruguay, did not explain when the alleged theft occurred and did not provide details.

    Austin’s name also has been associated with eWalletPlus, but is only one of several names associated with the payment processor and money-services business. AVG promoters have claimed that eWalletPlus was AVG’s in-house payment processor. At one time, the eWalletPlus domain resolved to the same server in Panama that hosted AVG, but the domain now resolves to a parked page and appears to be offered for sale on sedo.com.

    In a purported public filing dated March 31, Vana Blue identified its officers as Donald Rex Gay, Leonard Capelli and Michael Reis, saying it owned TMS Corp and Karveck International.

    Only days later, a man associated with both the AdSurfDaily and AVG autosurfs — Gary Talbert — registered an entity known as TMS Corp. USA LLC, according to records. Talbert’s U.S. registrations occurred within days of a March 20 announcement by AVG that he had resigned as its chief executive officer and a March 23 announcement that AVG’s bank account had been suspended because too many members had wired transactions in excess of $9,500.

    TMS Corp. USA LLC is registered in Nevada, and lists Gary D. Talbert of 2601 E Thomas Rd, Ste 220-A Phoenix, AZ 85016, as its manager. A company by the same name also is listed as a foreign LLC in Arizona, with Gary D. Talbert of 13. S. Calhoun Street, P.O. Box 109, Quincy, FL 32351, as its manager.

    The S. Calhoun Street building address is the same address AdSurfDaily Inc. used.

    In a forfeiture complaint against ASD last year that alleged wire fraud, money-laundering, the sale of unregistered securities and a Ponzi scheme, federal prosecutors said the building address was bogus.

    One of the officers of Vana Blue is named a defendant in a counterclaim by the U.S. government that alleges more than $252,000 in federal income tax is unpaid. The same individual — Donald Rex Gay — is listed in Louisiana records as a person who has been involved in a number of businesses.

    Gay denied in pro se court filings that he owed the taxes.

    Records in Illinois note that Michael Reis, also listed by Vana Blue as an officer, was ordered in 2000 to cease and desist from the practice of public accounting without a license.

  • AdGateWorld Joins AVG, BAS In No-Pay Surf Lineup

    Members of AdGateWorld (AGW) are complaining today that the surf is not paying rebates. AGW now joins AdViewGlobal (AVG) and BizAdSplash (BAS) in the nonpaying lineup.

    All three surfs launched in the aftermath of the seizure of tens of millions of dollars last year from Florida-based AdSurfDaily Inc., amid allegations of wire fraud, money-laundering, engaging in the sale of unregistered securities and operating a Ponzi scheme. The surfs quickly became known as ASD clones, with promoters that touted offshore locations as a safety buffer between participants and U.S.-based regulators and law-enforcement agencies.

    At one point, the acronym ASD appeared in the Terms of Service on the AGW website.

    In recent weeks, AGW said it had new owners in the Middle East. Those reports could not be confirmed.

    Members today, however, said that AGW announced yesterday it had no money to pay rebates this week.

    The surf did announce that it would provide members a new splash page to create interest in the program, members said. The idea was to create an “AdGateWorld awareness campaign.”

    AGW recently took bonuses away from members, members said. Yesterday’s announcement was simply signed “AdGateworld.”