BULLETIN: Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Washington have asked a federal judge to issue a final order of forfeiture against the property of AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming.
Leaming has agreed to forfeit the property, and a preliminary order of forfeiture already has been entered, according to prosecution filings.
The property includes six firearms, bogus law-enforcement badges and other false credentials, light bars, crime-scene tape, vests, handcuffs and nightsticks. It also includes documents related to Leaming’s “performance of legal services for third parties,” including “‘client’ files, counterfeit instruments, and similar materials,” prosecutors said.
At the same time, prosecutors are seeking the final forfeiture of “All digital devices, including computers, external hard drives, and other storage media” linked to Leaming
Leaming, 57, of Spanaway, Wash., is serving an eight-year prison sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Ind. He was sentenced in May 2013 on charges of filing false liens against government officials involved in the prosecution of the $119 million AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, harboring federal fugitives from a separate scheme and being a felon in possession of firearms. His previous felony conviction was for piloting an aircraft without being licensed.
Leaming was arrested by an FBI Terrorism Task Force in November 2011, after he filed false liens against the officials. Agents also uncovered evidence that suggested Leaming intended to serve a writ on U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts by monitoring the school his children attended. Roberts presides over the U.S. Supreme Court and is America’s top judicial officer.
Precisely how many ASD clients Leaming had is unknown. In 2010, Leaming promoted himself as an attorney on the website of Cornell University Law School, advertising a fee structure and saying he practiced “Admiralty/Maritime, Business Law, Estate Planning and Native American Law.” Cornell removed the listing after the PP Blog reported that Leaming was accused in Washington state in 2005 of engaging in the unauthorized practice of law.
In 2009, Leaming filed involuntary bankruptcy petitions against the Washington State Bar Association and a Franciscan healthcare facility in the state. (Among Leaming’s assertions was that the bar association owed him $32 billion. Through a notary public in a different venue, Leaming earlier had asserted that the hospital owed him $9.24 billion. In short, Leaming sought to attach “all tangible and intangible property” of the hospital, including its fixtures, furnishings, motor vehicles, bank accounts, passbooks, saving certificates, stock certificates, lines of credit, inventories, promissory notes, office equipment, educational equipment — and even its mineral and water rights, according to records. The hospital serves several communities in Pierce County, including Lakewood, Spanaway, Steilacoom, DuPont, University Place and others.)
Judges tossed the preposterous claims, and a federal bankruptcy judge ordered sanctions against Leaming.
In October 2011, the PP Blog reported that a Leaming-associated company — American-International Business Law Inc. — was listed in records as the registered agent of at least 73 companies. One of the firms was known as “Presidential Detail.” Another was known as “Homeland Security Service.” Two others were known as “Federal Asset Management Service” and “Federal Fleet Management.”
At least two other Leaming-connected firms used the names of the famous JP Morgan banking concern.
“Sovereign citizens” are known to engage in what has been described as “paper terrorism” against the government and its officials, banks and litigation opponents. Earlier this year, Leaming asserted the judge presiding over his criminal charges in the liens, harboring and firearms case owed him 208,000 ounces of “fine silver.”
Back in 2008 — when the U.S. Secret Service raided Florida-based AdSurfDaily in a Ponzi probe and people who called ASD’s office were told God was on the company’s side — federal prosecutors alleged that ASD President Andy Bowdoin had “followers.”
The meaning of “followers” largely was left to the imagination. Much of the mystery was taken away, however, when a now-defunct cheerleading forum for Bowdoin known as “Surf’s Up” served up impossibly tortured defenses for the ASD patriarch around the clock for more than a year.
Although it’s hard to distill the peculiar essence of Surf’s Up in a single thought, this one at least approximates it: ASD = good; government = evil.
One Surf’s Up member advanced the notion that Bowdoin’s problems could be solved by a “militia” storming Washington. Another opined that the interests of justice best would be served if the then-lead federal prosecutor were placed in a torture rack and ASD members drew straws to determine who got the honor of turning the wheel. Another ASD member — on the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks — issued a “prayer” for the prosecutors to be struck dead.
“Root them out of the land of the living!” the “prayer” petitioned. “Let evil slay them, and desolation be their lot!”
For good measure, the “prayer” called for God to order “divine angelic prophetic assaults . . .” against the prosecution and evidence in the case, including the ASD database.
Bowdoin himself removed some of the “followers” mystery when he compared a government raid designed to protect the financial interests of thousands of victims ensnared in an alleged $110 million Ponzi scheme to the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. He further demonized the Secret Service and federal prosecutors by comparing them to “Satan.”
Another part of the mystery perhaps was decloaked when Bowdoin’s son — in 2010 — asserted his father “is a man with no conscience” who’d used religion for years to fleece the masses.
The government has filed at least three civil forfeiture actions related to ASD. Two of the cases have proceeded to final judgment, with ASD on the losing side. (A third civil forfeiture case remains pending. Elements of the third case are directed at certain specific ASD members who allegedly benefited from the fraudulent scheme, meaning that the members themselves may have significant legal exposure.)
In both cases that have proceeded to final judgment, Bowdoin unsuccessfully appealed the losses to a higher court. He filed one of the appeals, despite the fact he’d never entered a defense in that specific case. The case he did not defend is one in which certain members of Bowdoin’s family may have significant legal exposure.
Separately, Bowdoin was named a defendant in a lawsuit by disaffected ASD members who accused him of racketeering. By December 2010, Bowdoin had been arrested on ASD-related charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities. Although his trial date is set for September, he faces a bond-review hearing on Friday. Prosecutors now say they’ve linked Bowdoin to at least two post-ASD frauds, including one known as “OneX.”
Bowdoin began pitching OneX in October 2011, about 10 months after he was indicted in the ASD case.
“I believe that God has brought us OneX to provide the necessary funds to win this case,” Bowdoin said last year.
Both Bowdoin and supporters habitually use pronouns such as “us” and “we”when discussing ASD or matters pertaining to Bowdoin. The precise reason why remains unclear. So far, Bowdoin is the only ASD figure known to have been charged publicly for alleged misconduct directly tied to ASD, which the Secret Service described as a “criminal enterprise.”
Bowdoin’s reference in his OneX sales pitch to “this case” was in the context of the ASD-related criminal case against him. He earlier blamed the loss of the ASD civil cases on a “single, lone judge,” prosecutors/agents who’d allegedly “crucified” him and earlier defense attorneys who’d allegedly railroaded him.
Did we mention that some ASD members have accused a federal judge of “treason” and that purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming — an ASD story mainstay — is jailed near Seattle on federal charges that he filed false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD case?
Meanwhile, Christian Oesch, a Leaming colleague in a failed lawsuit against the government for alleged misdeeds in the ASD case, strangely has taken to calling himself a “transmitting utility” in response to a nonASD lawsuit in which he is named a defendant.
Records in Washington state show that at least two companies that use the phrase “transmitting utility” in their names have a business tie to Leaming through an entity known as American-International Business Law Inc. Other records show that the phrase itself has been linked to the so-called sovereign-citizen movement. “Sovereign citizens” have an irrational belief that laws do not apply to them.
When Leaming was arrested by an FBI terrorism task force in November 2011, he was found with two federal fugitives from Arkansas, according to court filings. Leaming also allegedly discussed a plan by which he’d serve John Roberts with a writ through the school his young children attended. That writ apparently was part of a scheme to file false liens against two U.S. prison officials for alleged misdeeds against a former Leaming business colleague serving time in a federal penitentiary.
John Roberts is the Chief Justice of the United States.
And yet Bowdoin — despite everything that has happened to date in the ASD case and its surrounding circus of the bizarre — still has followers.
The PP Blog received information through a source last night that some of Bowdoin’s followers will continue on with OneX, despite the government’s recent assertion it is a “fraudulent scheme” and “pyramid” that is recycling money to members in ASD like fashion.
An email circulating last night from Bowdoin’s OneX “team” strangely referenced Bowdoin without naming him. The email used the pronouns “our” and “we.”
“As many have noticed our Mentor has had to take a break due to legal reasons,” the email read in part. “We had hoped for a breakthrough on the 8th, however it was postponed to later this month.”
Bowdoin’s bond-review hearing originally had been scheduled for May 8. A federal judge later rescheduled it for May 18 — Friday.
That Bowdoin — an accused felon with a felonious history — gets accorded the description of “Mentor” (with an uppercase “M”) hardly can be a source of comfort to the good men and women at the Department of Justice and the U.S. Secret Service. Agents and prosecutors alike must be scratching their heads today and wondering where it all will end.
Here is the OneX email in its entirety (italics added):
Ninja Success Team Updates
Dear Team,
As most know we have been going through some changes with the Ninja Success Team. As many have noticed our Mentor has had to take a break due to legal reasons. We had hoped for a breakthrough on the 8th, however it was postponed to later this month.
I have gotten a lot of emails in the last week and I hope that my honesty has made you feel at ease and I hope that you will find patience until the challenge has been met.
Another challenge that we are facing is the financing of the servers that everybody’s Lead Capture Page Systems, the 1xTraining Site, and the Ninja Back Office sit [sic]. Our Mentor has been paying this out of his own pocket for all time. Because of the legal challenges, we are left to finance ourselves.
The management team has been tossing around a bunch of ideas, from donations to selling the lead packages. We have decided to ask for donations as well as to continue to sell the new ninja tools (which are getting awesome results).
As we all know we are at a very big momentum right now and are at the downhill roll to making all of our business worth quite a bit of money and this is due to the working of our Ninja Success Team. In order to continue as one of the biggest, most successful teams of the OneX opportunity, I implore everybody to at least make a donation or purchase of the New Ninja Turbo tools available on the training site or the Ninja Back Office.
Below is the link to make a donation or you can find on the menu part of the Training Site. A donation of $10 or $20/mon. would be extremely welcome.
[Link deleted by PP Blog]
I want to personally thank everybody as well for the patience they have shown during this challenge.
Alan
The Ninja Success Team
If the government is right, it means that Bowdoin is pushing a pyramid scheme even as he awaits trial in a major Ponzi scheme case.
And if purported email author and OneX pitchman “Alan” is right, then the Bowdoin “team” is getting “awesome results” from selling “tools” to drive traffic to a program the government says is a pyramid scheme.
“Alan” apparently does not feel compelled to pull the plug on the Bowdoin “team” OneX promos even though the “Mentor” possibly faces severe bond restrictions or potentially even loss of his freedom owing to the pitches.
What’s important to “Alan,” apparently, is that the “breakthrough” now is expected to come through on May 18 after a 10-day delay.
Whether the judge conducting the bond-review hearing might have a differing notion on the meaning of the word “breakthrough” is a question that may be answered in the coming days.
In any event, “followers” — a word used by the ASD prosecutors long ago — proved to be pretty much spot on. What no one knew at the time was that not even three forfeiture cases, a racketeering lawsuit, an arrest on serious criminal charges and Bowdoin’s own felonious history could deter some of those followers from seeing him as anything other than a mentor.
BULLETIN: David Carroll Stephenson, an alleged business associate of AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming, has been moved from a federal prison in Arizona to the SeaTac federal detention center near Seattle to answer charges that he conspired with Leaming to file false liens against two Federal Bureau of Prisons officials.
Leaming, 56, remains in federal custody at SeaTac. In addition to charges that he worked with Stephenson to file bogus liens totaling $30 million against Harley Lappin and Dennis R. Smith, Leaming is accused of filing false liens against at least five public officials involved in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case. He’s also charged with harboring two federal fugitives from Arkansas at his residence in Spanaway, Wash., being a felon in possession of firearms and uttering a bogus “Bonded Promissory Note” with a purported face value of $1 million.
Lappin is the former director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons; Smith is the warden of the Federal Correctional Institution in Phoenix. Stephenson and Leaming divined a construction by which Lappin owed Stephenson $10 million and Smith owed him $20 million, the FBI said in court documents filed in November 2011.
Some of the firms with which American-International had a business relationship formed their names with words typically associated with government or banking. One was called “Homeland Security Service,” for instance. Another was called “Presidential Detail.” Yet another was called “Federal Asset Management Service.” Still another was called “Federal Fleet Management,” according to records.
Stephenson, 56, was serving a 96-month prison sentence (ending in January 2013) for defrauding the United States in a tax scam during the time in which he plotted with Leaming last year to carry out the fraud against Lappin and Smith, the FBI said.
An FBI affidavit filed in November alleges that Leaming was conducting research on the real estate holdings and personal finances of U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts and his wife and discussed a scheme to serve Stephenson-related documents on Roberts through the school his children attended.
Robert’s is chief judge of the U.S. Supreme Court and America’s highest-ranking judicial officer. He is one of nine members of the Supreme Court.
Other Leaming email correspondence cited by the FBI suggests he sent a “certified,” Stephenson-related letter to the personal residence of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and was trying to find a home address for Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer — instead of sending Stephenson-related correspondence to the Supreme Court address.
Like Roberts, Ginsburg and Breyer are members of the Supreme Court.
Breyer’s name was in the news yesterday, amid reports that he was robbed while vacationing with his wife and several friends in Nevis last week by a masked intruder wielding a machete. The Supreme Court is on break. There were no reports that anyone was injured in the Nevis incident, but the robber allegedly got away with $1,000.
The email was attributed to “Keny,” a nickname used by Leaming.
Court records suggest Leaming was under FBI surveillance when the email was sent. He was arrested by an FBI terrorism task force about seven weeks later.
In court filings in the original liens case against Leaming in November, the FBI said “one of the specific documents” found in Washington state sought the staggering sum of $225.4 billion and listed “Kenneth Wayne, sovereign man” as “grantee,” and public officials as “grantors.”
Bogus liens against Mary Peters, the former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, and Cutler Dawson, president and CEO of Navy Federal Credit Union, also were discovered, according to court filings.
Leaming was arrested on the liens charges via a criminal complaint filed in November. The firearms, fugitive-harboring and false-utterance charges were added in a superseding grand-jury indictment returned on Jan. 26.
The two fugitives Leaming allegedly harbored were implicated in an Arkansas-based, home-business scam that fetched more than $2 million, according to court records. Meanwhile, the ASD Ponzi scheme fetched at least $110 million, federal prosecutors said.
Timothy Shawn Donavan, 63, and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen, 67 — the fugitives allegedly found with Leaming — both are listed as federal detainees at facilities in Texas. They initially were jailed at SeaTac in Washington state, but made bond after their November arrests and returned to Arkansas, according to federal records.
Bizarre pleadings laced with language associated with “sovereign citizens” soon began to appear in their Arkansas proceedings. Donavan’s bond was revoked after he refused to be sworn as a witness at a pretrial proceeding in Arkansas, according to records. He is jailed at a federal facility in Texas.
Henningsen currently is in federal custody at a Texas facility that provides specialized medical care and mental-health services, according to records.
Andy Bowdoin, the 77-year-old alleged operator of the ASD Ponzi scheme, is awaiting his September 2012 federal criminal trial on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities.
BULLETIN:Timothy Shawn Donavan, one of two federal fugitives from Arkansas found in Washington state Nov. 22 with AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming, is back in jail.
Separately, records show that Leaming’s Washington state firm was the registered agent for two defunct companies linked to the alleged Donavan mail-fraud scheme and that Leaming himself — using the name “Kenneth Wayne” and dropping his surname — was an officer in the companies.
U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III revoked Donavan’s bond after Donavan, 63, refused to be sworn at a court proceeding in Arkansas earlier this month in violation of a bond condition that required him to cooperate at pretrial hearings in the mail-fraud case filed against Donavan in February 2011.
Meanwhile, Donavan’s co-defendant in the mail-fraud case, Sharon Jeannette Henningsen, also is listed as back in federal custody. The circumstances surrounding her renewed detention were not immediately clear.
Henningsen, 67, also was found with Leaming in the Pacific Northwest, federal prosecutors said in November. Donavan and Henningsen were participants in an Arkansas-based fraud involving envelope-stuffing, according to an indictment filed in February 2011.
Donavan and Henningsen were freed on conditional bond several days after their arrests in Washington state. They returned to Arkansas, and trouble begun anew in very short order, according to court records.
In the order revoking Donavan’s bond, Holmes said that Donavan “continues to insist, as he has in past proceedings, on repeating incomprehensible legal jargon in response to any question the Court posits, instead of cooperating with Court proceedings and responding appropriately to questions asked. Donavan ultimately refused to either swear or affirm to tell the truth during the proceedings.”
The judge warned Donavan that he’d be taken into custody by U.S. Marshals if he refused to cooperate, according to the order revoking bond.
On Jan. 23, Holmes ordered Donavan to be transported to a Bureau of Prisons medical facility in Texas, according to records.
On Dec. 28, Donavan and Henningsen filed a strange pleading styled “NOTICE of Tender for Setoff and a Request Regarding a Statement of Account by Sharon Jeannette Henningsen and Timothy Shawn Donavan.”
The Dec. 28 pleading was filed on the heels of other strange pleadings, including one styled,”Notice: Forgive Me Request; Constructive Notice of Conditional Acceptance and Request to Continue Public Proceedings.”
Although Donavan and Henningsen had been scheduled to go on trial Jan. 19, the trial date has been canceled — and prosecutors have filed a superseding indictment against both defendants that adds at least four mail-fraud-related counts to the 15 originally filed 11 months ago.
In the new allegations, federal prosecutors referenced two defunct Washington state companies — 1st Incentive Co. and Trail Head Options Inc. — allegedly tied to the Arkansas fraud of Donavan and Henningsen.
Both firms, according to records in Washington state, listed Leaming’s firm — American International Business Law Inc. — as their registered agent. Leaming, who sometimes drops his surname and uses simply “Kenneth Wayne,” is listed as an officer of both companies.
Prosecutors said the Donavan/Henningsen mail-fraud scheme netted more than $2.2 million.
Leaming, 56, of Spanaway, Wash., was arrested in November on charges of filing bogus liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD case. The U.S. Secret Service said ASD was a Florida-based Ponzi scheme that gathered at least $110 million.
ASD President Andy Bowdoin, 77, was charged with wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities in 2010.
Some ASD members reportedly relied on Leaming for legal advice, even though he is not an attorney. Whether Dovavan and Henningsen did the same thing is unclear. Also unclear is whether they were ASD members.
Leaming is jailed near Seattle. He is not named a defendant in the Arkansas case, but the indictment refers to at least one “unindicted co-conspirator.”
Purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming remains jailed near Seattle a week after his arrest on charges of filing bogus liens against five public officials involved in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case in the District of Columbia, according to prison records.
Leaming, 55, was arrested in Spanaway, Wash., on Nov. 22. He was charged with retaliating against a Federal judge or Federal law enforcement officer by false claim or slander of title, amid allegations he filed false liens against a federal judge, a former U.S. Attorney, a former assistant U.S. Attorney, a current assistant U.S. Attorney and an active-duty special agent of the U.S. Secret Service.
The office of U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. in the District of Columbia — the venue from which the ASD case was brought in August 2008 — declined to comment yesterday on Leaming’s arrest on the other side of the country.
“Because our office is not handling this particular case, we have no comment on this particular matter,” Machen’s office said.
The office of U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan of the Western District of Washington is supervising the Leaming prosecution. An FBI affidavit filed in the case last week references the name of American-International Business Law Inc., a Spanaway company associated with Leaming.
The company’s name also is referenced in the April 8, 2011, Congressional Record as the presenter of a “petition . . . relative to a claim against the United States of America.” (Story here.)
Whether the firm filed a claim against the United States through the U.S. Congress for a dollar sum is not known.
Meanwhile, American-International’s name appeared in a November 2010 email received by some members of ASD. (Story here.)
Pasted into the November 2010 email was a purported “legal opinion” by a person described as “Keny” of “AMERICAN-International Business Law inc. (sic).”
“Keny” is a Leaming nickname. Advertisements describing Leaming as an attorney appeared online last year, but Leaming appears to have no law degree. Some ASD members, however, appear to have turned to him for legal advice.
When Leaming was arrested last week, he was found in the company of two federal fugitives from Arkansas, Durkan’s office said last week. The fugitives, who were indicted in February 2011 amid allegations they hatched a home-business scheme involving stuffing envelopes, were identified as Timothy Shawn Donavan and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen.
Donavan, 63, and Henningsen, 67, made an appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Richard Creatura in Tacoma yesterday, according to records. They remain in custody at the Sea Tac Federal Detention Center near Seattle, according to records.
Leaming is being held at the same facility.
A grand jury in the Western District of Arkansas returned mail-fraud indictments against Donavan and Henningsen on Feb. 24. The envelope-stuffing scheme, according to the indictment, was “created solely to defraud persons seeking home-based employment” and operated through entities known as Trial Head Options Inc. and Premier Solutions in Van Buren, Ark.
When the U.S. Court of Federal Claims dismissed the lawsuit brought by Leaming and Oesch last year, Judge Christine Odell Cook Miller noted that their “challenge took the form of presenting claims issued by Tina M. Hall, a notary public in the State of Washington . . .”
Hall’s name appears on the court docket in the ASD case on Jan. 27, 2010, and Feb. 12, 2010 — with entries of “Leave to file denied” by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer, whom the FBI now says was one of the targets of Leaming’s bogus liens. Hall’s license later was revoked by the state of Washington.
UPDATED 3:59 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) : Kenneth Wayne Leaming, an AdSurfDaily figure and a purported “sovereign citizen,” has been arrested in Washington state.
Leaming, 55, is listed as a prisoner at the Sea Tac Federal Detention Center near Seattle, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said this afternoon. The circumstances under which Leaming was arrested and detained were not immediately clear. Also unclear was the date upon which he was arrested.
Federal prosecutors in the office of U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. in the District of Columbia — the venue from which ASD President Andy Bowdoin was charged last year with operating a Ponzi scheme involving at least $110 million — did not immediately return a call seeking comment on Leaming’s arrest and whether it was related to his ASD activities.
The office of U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan in Seattle had no immediate details on Leaming’s arrest and detention.
In 2010, Leaming unsuccessfully sought to sue the United States — apparently for the staggering sum of more than $29 trillion — for its actions in the ASD case.
Meanwhile, in 2009, Leaming sought to place the Washington State Bar Association in involuntary bankruptcy, according to federal records. Records also show that Leaming sought to place a Franciscan hospital in Washington state in bankruptcy.
The Anti-Defamation League lists Leaming as a member of an “active anti-government extremist group that calls itself the ‘Little Shell Pembina Band of North America.’”
Leaming, who uses the names of “Kenneth Wayne” and “Keny,” was blocked in 2010 by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer from filing pro se pleadings in the civil case against ASD’s assets. That case was brought in the District of Columbia by the U.S. Secret Service in August 2008.
Records show that, in 2010, ads listing Leaming as an “attorney” appeared online. Leaming, though, appears to have no law degree.
ASD members have claimed Leaming was providing them legal advice.
Leaming’s company — American-International Business Law Inc. of Spanaway, Wash. — is listed as registered agent for at least 73 companies. Some of the companies use the word “federal” in their names. One company conjures the image of a U.S. government agency in its name, calling itself “Homeland Security Service.” Another company calls itself “Presidential Detail.”
Two other companies use forms of the name “JP Morgan.”
Some sovereign citizens — including members of ASD — have clashed with banks in litigation unrelated to ASD.
In October 2011, some ASD members received an email that used the Leaming nickname “Keny” and encouraged them to file paperwork at the “county” level that identified a federal judge, prosecutors and a U.S. Secret Service agent as “DOJ thieves.”
Kenneth Wayne Leaming, also known as "Kenneth Wayne" and "Keny."
UPDATED 12:52 P.M. EDT (OCT. 9 U.S.A.) A week ago, some AdSurfDaily members received an email that encouraged them to “name” federal prosecutors, a federal judge and a U.S. Secret Service agent as “thieves” and to file documents at the “county” level identifying the public officials as such.
The email led to questions about whether a new campaign to harass officials involved in the ASD Ponzi scheme case was under way.
Quotations from the email were attributed to “Keny,” the nickname of ASD figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming. (Leaming also is known as “Kenneth Wayne.”) The PP Blog reported Sunday that Leaming — in 2009 — filed involuntary bankruptcy petitions against the Washington State Bar Association and a Franciscan hospital in the state. A judge dismissed both petitions, and enjoined Leaming from filing such documents. A judgment of $2,750 was entered against Leaming in the case in which he claimed the bar association owed him more than $32 billion.
Leaming has been repeatedly sanctioned in Washington state for filing vexatious liens and court documents, according to records.
Today the PP Blog is reporting that Leaming’s company — American-International Business Law Inc. — is listed in Washington state records as the registered agent of at least 73 companies. The names of several of the firms use words typically associated with government and banking.
Examples of these include:
An inactive corporation known as “Homeland Security Service” whose “trustee” is listed as “Task Force, Civil Rights.” The Anti-Defamation League lists Leaming as a member of the Civil Rights Task Force, a sovereign-citizen group. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks a decade ago, the U.S. government established the Department of Homeland Security, a cabinet-level agency. The precise type of business in which “Homeland Security Service” engaged is unclear.
Federal Asset Management Service. This active firm lists Leaming and ASD figure Christian Oesch as trustees, with American-International Business Law Inc. as the registered agent. Oesch was an unsuccesful pro se litigant in the ASD forfeiture case and joined with Leaming in an unsuccessful bid to sue the United States, apparently for the staggering sum of $29 trillion. The U.S. Court of Federal Claims tossed the lawsuit in December.
Federal Fleet Management. This inactive corporation appears to be tied to the Civil Rights Task Force and lists American-International Business Law Inc. as its registered agent. The business purpose of Federal Fleet Management was not immediately clear in electronic records.
Presidential Detail. This active corporation lists Leaming as one of the trustees, along with the Civil Rights Task Force and others. American-International Business Law Inc. is the registered agent. The business purpose of Presidential Detail was not immediately clear in electronic records.
JP Morgan Holdings. This active corporation, which uses a form of the famous J.P. Morgan brand, lists Leaming and the Civil Rights Task Force among its trustees. American-International Business Law Inc. is the registered agent. The purpose of the firm was not immediately clear.
JP Morgan. This inactive corporation also uses a form of the famous J.P. Morgan name. Leaming is listed as a trustee, and American-International Business Law Inc. is listed as the registered agent.
American-International Business Law Inc. appears to be listed as the registered agent for at least 73 firms in Washington state. Another such firm — now inactive — was called “Apprentice Millionaires.” It listed Leaming and the Civil Rights Task Force as trustees.
There also is a company called “Center For Business and Estate Planning,” with Leaming as the sole trustee and his firm as the registered agent.
There are dozens of other firms with a Leaming tie, according to records.
At least two notaries public with ties to Leaming and the ASD case have had their licenses revoked, according to records. In the email some ASD members received last week, they were advised to send a “notary certified copy” of county-level “thieves” claims against public officials to the home address of John G. Roberts Jr., the Chief Justice of the United States.
AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming, also known as "Kenneth Wayne" and "Keny."
EDITOR’S NOTE: A week after the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Secret Service and federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia put $55 million from civil judgments back in the pockets of AdSurfDaily members as the criminal prosecution of ASD President Andy Bowdoin continues, a new effort by some ASD members to undermine the credibility of public officials by describing them as thieves who are encouraging ASD members to lie appears to be under way. Whether the government is taking extra security precautions in the ASD case is not known. The U.S. Marshals Service and the office of U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. in the District of Columbia did not respond immediately to the PP Blog’s requests for comment on this story. The Blog was unable today to contact the Public Information Office of the Supreme Court for comment.
UPDATED 8:10 A.M. EDT (OCT. 3, U.S.A.) Is a purported “sovereign citizen” whom records show filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against the Washington State Bar Association in 2009 that claimed he was owed an outstanding debt of more than $32 billion now leading an effort to destroy the reputations of public officials involved in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case?
On Saturday, two ASD members confirmed to the PP Blog that they had received copies of an email that encouraged them to identify federal prosecutors and a federal judge in the District of Columbia — as well as a U.S. Secret Service agent — as “DOJ thieves.”
The email accused prosecutors of running a “scam” against Florida-based ASD and encouraged ASD members to file an “affidavit” with their “county recorder” that would name the prosecutors, the judge and the Secret Service agent as criminals. It further encouraged members to send a “notary certified copy” of their claims to the home address of John G. Roberts Jr., the Chief Justice of the United States.
Why members were encouraged to send documents to Roberts at his home address was unclear. Roberts, 56, is the nation’s highest ranking judicial officer and is chief judge of the U.S. Supreme Court.
In the email, ASD members were further encouraged to send certified copies of their “DOJ thieves” claims to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the “RUST Group.” Rust Consulting Inc. is the government-approved remissions administrator in the ASD Ponzi case. Federal prosecutors last week released $55 million seized by the Secret Service, and Rust deposited the money into the bank accounts of about 8,400 ASD members who filed approved remissions claims in the case.
ASD members who participated in the remissions program would be “coerced” into lying by prosecutors to put Bowdoin in prison, according to the email.
If they did not “TESTILIE” — a new phrase that marries the words “testify” and “lie” and apparently means misrepresent their testimony at prosecutors’ requests — they will “be put into prison for false claims and fraud,” according to the email.
“MARK MY WORDS,” the email emphasized in all-caps. The word “TESTILIE” also was capitalized in the email, quotes from which were attributed to ASD figure “Keny.”
“Keny” is the nickname of ASD figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming. Leaming has been identified by the Anti-Defamation League as a so-called “sovereign citizen.”
Records in Washington state identify Leaming as one of two persons who filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) in 2009 that claimed a debt against the association of “US$32,091,000,000.00.”
The petition against the bar association was filed on Oct. 12, 2009. WSBA moved within days to have the petition dismissed and for sanctions against Leaming. Leaming moved for a continuance and to have the judge removed, according to records. The judge denied both the continuance bid and a motion styled “Notice of Duty to Recuse,” and the case was dismissed on Oct. 23, 2009. A judgment of $2,750 was entered against Leaming, and he was enjoined “forever from filing a bankruptcy petition or any other pleadings before this court without the advance leave from one of the bankruptcy judges of this court.”
Also during the month of October 2009 — while the involuntary petition against WSBA was in the courts — Leaming filed a petition to place Franciscan Health Systems, a community hospital in Washington state, in involuntary bankruptcy. That petition also was dismissed.
Records in Pierce County, Wash., show that Leaming filed a purported lien for $9.24 billion against the hospital, seeking to attach “all tangible and intangible property” of the facility, including its fixtures, furnishings, motor vehicles, bank accounts, passbooks, saving certificates, stock certificates, lines of credit, inventories, promissory notes, office equipment, educational equipment — and even its mineral and water rights.
Leaming and ASD figure Christian Oesch sought last year to file a lawsuit apparently seeking $29 trillion against the United States for the government’s actions in the ASD case. Leaming’s company — American-International Business Law Inc. — is referenced in the April 8, 2011, Congressional Record as the filer of an unspecified claim against the United States.
Some ASD members have been associated with a practice that has been called “paper terrorism.” The practice is designed to chill litigation opponents and create inconvenience for public officials such as judges and prosecutors by making them the targets of vexatious litigation pleadings or other documents designed to nuisance them.
Here are the comments attributed to “Keny” in the email ASD members reported receiving yesterday on the heels of the remissions payouts by the government last week. (Italics added.)
SCAM by DOJ …. By accepting these funds, they claim to be ASD/Andy’s VICTIMS (NOT DOJ victims) who will be required to testify that they were victims of ASD/Andy if they don’t want to be arrested and prosecuted for perjury /false claims. It will totally bury Andy.
As a “victim refund” they will now be coerced into testifying that they were a victim of Andy, not the DOJ, and unless they TESTILIE claiming that Andy scammed them, they will be put into prison for false claims and fraud. MARK MY WORDS.
They MUST (within 72 hrs) acknowledge “receipt of the funds stolen by the DOJ, and specifically (name the ss agent, us attys, and judge as the DOJ thieves), and do so in affidavit form, filing a certified copy into public records (county recorder, etc,) and sending a notary certified copy to Eric Holder, DOJ, and the Chief Justice (Roberts) of the Supreme Court of the United States (at home), and to the RUST Group.
ALSO, maybe close out with “Claimant hereby conditionally waives any punitive and/or exemplary and consequential damages claims in the event the funds taken are returned to me within 30 days of (NAME OF AGENT/OFFICER) receiving this claim.”
“Keny”
Whether the government has taken or will take extra security measures because of the strange nature of the ASD case was not immediately clear. There have been repeated attempts for months by some ASD members to discourage ASD members from filing for remissions from proceeds seized in the Secret Service’s ASD Ponzi probe and to cast prosecutors, investigators and judicial officers as corrupt.
Screen shot from the Congessional Record of April 8, 2011. (Also see image and link to full-scale PDF below.)
UPDATED 6:55 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A garden-variety, lawful protest commonly received in mailrooms within the halls of power? A self-serving, reality-inverting tale of the civil-forfeiture case against the proceeds of an alleged $110 million autosurf Ponzi scheme? A backdoor bid to end-run rulings made by the U.S. Judiciary and hand an invoice to the U.S. Congress for purported damages and financial penalties against public officials sprouting from the government’s alleged mishandling of the ASD case?
The staff of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, did not immediately respond to a PP Blog request for comment this afternoon on a document apparently tabled by the panel after it was received in April after having been submitted by American-International Business Law Inc.
AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming, a purported “sovereign citizen,” is listed in Washington state records (as “Kenneth Wayne”) as the chairman and president of American-International Business Law Inc. The firm’s name appears in the Congressional Record of April 8 as the presenter of a “petition . . . relative to a claim against the United States of America.”
Among other things, Leaming, who once was convicted of piloting an airplane without a license, also was accused of practicing law without a license. He has purported to be a specialist in admiralty law — and has advertised the availability of a lower rate for “prepaid” clients.
Details about the April document were not provided in the Congressional Record entry, and Leahy’s committee staff was unable to provide details immediately. The Blog asked the staff staff to provide a copy of the claim and, if possible, forward it to the Blog. Whether the staff will be able to accommodate the request was not immediately clear.
Leaming and ASD member Christian Oesch unsuccessfully sought to sue the United States last year in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, apparently seeking the staggering sum of more than $29 TRILLION — more than twice the U.S. Gross Domestic Product in 2009.
Their lawsuit targeted federal employees who had a role in the civil-forfeiture case filed against tens of millions of dollars alleged to be the proceeds of a massive Ponzi scheme conducted by Florida-based ASD. About $65.8 million was seized by the U.S. Secret Service from the personal bank accounts of ASD President Andy Bowdoin, and federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia scored a clean sweep in forfeiture-related litigation. The government now holds title to about $80 million seized from ASD-related bank accounts.
The lawsuit came in the form of purported “Certificates of Default” issued against public officials on Feb. 16, 2010, by Tina M. Hall, a notary public with ties to Leaming.
Hall’s notary license was revoked by the state of Washington in October 2010, about three months after Leaming and Oesch filed their lawsuit. The PP Blog reported yesterday that the license of Kathryn E. Aschlea, a second notary with a tie to Leaming and American-International Business Law Inc., also had her license revoked by the state of Washington.
When Judge Christine Odell Cook Miller dismissed the Leaming/Oesch lawsuit in December 2010, she noted that the complaint included a claim by Hall that the officials had failed to respond to “claims in admiralty.”
“At this point the complaint deteriorates into rambling,” the judge wrote in her dismissal order.
Whether the Judiciary Committee received a similar rambling narrative from Leaming and Oesch and one or more notaries public is unclear.
Kenneth Wayne Leaming, aka "Kenneth Wayne" and "Keny."
BULLETIN: The state of Washington has revoked the notary license of Kathryn E. Aschlea. The precise reason for the revocation was not immediately clear, although the state’s website said Aschlea “failed to comply with [a] fine and education sanction.”
Aschlea is listed in Washington state records as a business associate of AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming, a purported “sovereign citizen.” On June 11, 2010, Aschlea was blocked by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer from filing a document styled “Claim by Notary Presentment/Acceptance” in the ASD forfeiture case in the District of Columbia.
The revocation of Aschlea’s license occurred about 10 months after the state revoked the notary license of Tina M. Hall, another Leaming business associate who tried to file notary claims in the civil-forfeiture case against the assets of ASD President Andy Bowdoin.
Collyer blocked Hall from filing claims on Jan. 27, 2010, and Feb. 9, 2010, according to the docket of the case.
Aschlea is listed in Washington records as vice president of American-International Business Law Inc., Leaming’s Spanaway-based firm.
In 2010, some ASD members said Leaming was performing legal work for them. There is no record that he is a licensed attorney, despite the fact advertisements describing him as one have appeared online.
Cornell University Law School, Justia.com and Oyez.org removed Leaming’s online profiles in November 2010. The profiles had featured a photograph of Leaming — and advertised a fee structure of up to $250 an hour.
In December 2010, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims dismissed a bizarre, ASD-connected, pro se lawsuit brought against the United States by Leaming and ASD figure Christian Oesch. Hall’s also name is referenced in the dismissal.
Dozens of pro se litigants sought unsuccessfully to intervene in the ASD civil-forfeiture case brought by federal prosecutors and the U.S. Secret Service in August 2008 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Among the bizarre claims in the pleadings was that the government had produced no “EVIDENCE” against ASD — despite the fact that some of the evidence had appeared on the public record of the case a year before the claims that no “EVIDENCE” had been produced were made.
At least one other notary public in Washington state lost her license as a result of performing work for Leaming, according to records. In 2005, the notary — a woman — told the Washington State Bar Association that Leaming had coerced her into notarizing documents and that he had been “physically and emotionally abusive to her.”
The woman “voluntarily resigned her notary license as a consequence of the acts” directed at her by Leaming and obtained a protection order against Leaming, according to a letter the Practice of Law Board of the State of Washington sent Leaming in 2005.
Kenneth Wayne Leaming, also known as "Kenneth Wayne" and "Keny."
UPDATED 5:52 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) A Washington state man emerging as a figure in the AdSurfDaily forfeiture case claimed a small town targeted him for “DEATH” and threatened to kill him by “HUNTING” him down “in screaming packs and mobs” and using “several armed street gangs” that served as police, according to records.
Kenneth Wayne Leaming of Spanaway filed a lien for $10 million in 2009 against the city of Puyallup, Wash., in the case. Among the claims were that Puyallup engaged in terrorism by controlling “multiple electronic broadcast media” and employing police who used “chemical and biological weapons,” “machine guns” and “explosives.”
The lien was notarized by Tina M. Hall, a Leaming business associate and another emerging figure in the ASD case. Hall’s notary license was revoked last month. Leaming has been linked by the Anti-Defamation League to an “extremist group” known as “Little Shell Pembina Band of North America.”
Puyallup is a city of about 33,000 in Pierce County.
Pattern Of Filing Astronomical Liens
In a separate case in which Leaming’s name is referenced as a co-defendant with Janice Kay Bryson, a lien for more than $19 billion was placed against several individuals and the city of Fife, Wash., another small town in Pierce County. Records show that Leaming has been assessed sanctions of at least $15,000 in Washington state for filing false liens.
Fife has a population of about 4,800. Puyallup, named in the $10 million lien, somehow also became a party along with Fife in the $19 billion lien.
Lien For Billions Filed Against Hospital With Historic Roots To St. Francis Of Assisi And The Order Of Poor Ladies Founded By St. Clare
Leaming also filed a bogus lien for $9.2 billion against St. Clare Hospital, a faith-based facility in Washington state that admitted 6,995 patients, handled 48,363 patient visits to its Emergency Department and received 26,114 outpatient visits during the 2008 fiscal year.
Hall also affixed her notary seal to the lien against St. Clare, which is operated by Franciscan Heath Systems and traces its faith-based healthcare mission in Washington state to 1891.
The Franciscan Order is named after St. Francis, known the world over as St. Francis of Assisi, who died 784 years ago, in 1226, after rejecting earthly wealth and living in poverty as a street preacher. He is one the most revered figures in the annals of Christianity.
One of the first followers of the man who became known as St. Francis of Assisi was Chiara Offreduccio. She became known as Clare of Assisi and, after being elevated to sainthood, St. Clare. Clare of Assisi was the founder of the Order of Poor Ladies which, like the Franciscan Order, rejected earthly wealth. The Order of Poor Ladies went on to become known as the Order of St. Clare, known the world over as the “Poor Clares.”
Leaming sought to attach “all tangible and intangible property” of the St. Clare Franciscan facility, including its money, furnishings and fixtures, according to records. St. Clare was Leaming’s community hospital in Spanaway. Ironically, AdSurfDaily members had positioned ASD in promotional materials as the invention of a Christian “genius” and an attractive way for people of faith to make enormous sums of money by clicking on advertisements for less than 20 minutes a day.
Members who recruited other members were paid commissions of 10 percent. Commissions for second-level recruits in the MLM scheme were set at 5 percent. ASD member and purported company “trainer” Robert Fava claimed in a testimonial that he made $1,000 a day from ASD.
ASD President Andy Bowdoin, speaking at an event in Las Vegas in May 2008, exhorted attendees to “to have an attitude of gratitude with God” and imagine themselves in possession of “a big check coming in from AdSurfDaily.” Bowdoin thanked God from the stage for developing him into a “money magnet.”
Video from the Las Vegas event shows members standing in line to turn money over to ASD — and employees placing paperwork into plastic baskets. By Aug. 1, 2008, about two months after the Las Vegas gathering, the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars from 10 personal bank accounts held by Bowdoin, amid allegations of money-laundering, wire fraud and operating a Ponzi scheme. Court filings placed the amount seized from Bowdoin at $65.8 million.
One of his personal accounts contained more than $31.6 million; another contained more than $23.7 million. Prosecutors said ASD was not Bowdoin’s first brush with the law. In the 1990s, he pleaded guilty to felonies that flowed from an Alabama securites caper, avoiding prison by agreeing to make restitution to victims.
About $14 million more under the control of Clarence Busby and an ASD-related company known as Golden Panda Ad Builder also was seized by the Secret Service. The abbreviation “Rev.” was attached to Busby’s name 120 times in an ASD-related court filing that accused the company and unnamed co-conspirators of racketeering.
Busby was accused by the SEC in the 1990s of participating in three prime bank schemes in which investors were promised enormous returns that did not materialize.
Why Leaming, who acknowledges an “Almighty Creator” only known as “I am” in documents that identify Leaming as “Postmaster,” would seek to vex and bankrupt a faith-based hospital and two small towns in Washington state is unclear.
Also unclear is why any ASD member would put faith in the purported legal skills of Leaming, who was accused of the unauthorized practice of law in the state five years ago and was the subject of a protection-from-abuse order filed by a notary public who claimed he coerced her into notarizing documents.
At least two notaries public have lost their licenses in Washington state after performing work for Leaming, according to records.
At Least 3 ASD Filers Have Leaming Ties
Excluding himself, Leaming now has been linked to at least three people who either filed or attempted to file documents in the ASD case: Hall, Christian Oesch and Kathryn E. Aschlea.
On June 11, 2010, Aschlea was blocked by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer from filing a document styled “Claim by Notary Presentment/Acceptance” in the ASD forfeiture case in the District of Columbia.
The nature of the blocked filing is not publicly known.
Records in Washington state identify a woman by the same name as a notary public. Meanwhile, Kathryn Aschlea is listed as a business partner of Kenneth Wayne Leaming in a venture known as FAN NW LTD INC. Aschlea is listed as a “governing person” and vice president of the firm, with Leaming — shortening his name to “Kenneth Wayne” by dropping the surname “Leaming” in the registration — listed as president and a “governing person.”
The unsuccessful bid to file in the ASD case occurred more than five months after Collyer issued a final order of forfeiture that granted the government title to the money seized by the U.S. Secret Service from Andy Bowdoin. Collyer signed an order in July 2009 that awarded the money seized from Busby’s Golden Panda to the government.
Federal prosecutors announced more than two years ago that money declared forfeited would be used to compensate victims.
Prosecutors brought the forfeiture case to enforce wire-fraud and money-laundering laws, according to court records. A racketeering statute also is referenced in the forfeiture complaint.
Collyer has consistently ruled that nonparty claimants have no standing in the ASD case.
On July 2, 2010 — nearly six months after Collyer issued the final forfeiture order and four months after Bowdoin appealed it — Collyer blocked Leaming and Christian Oesch from filing a document styled “Notice of Final Determination and Judgment by Christian Oesch and Kenneth Wayne.”
Like Aschlea and Hall, Oesch has a business tie to Leaming. A Leaming company known as AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS LAW INC. is listed as the registered agent for an Oesch-controlled company in Washington state known as HUMAN ECONOMIC RESOURCE SOLUTIONS LTD.
Records list Hall as vice president of AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL, with Leaming as its president.
Records suggest that within days of the July 2 docket entry in which Collyer blocked “Kenneth Wayne” and Oesch from filing the document styled “Notice of Final Determination and Judgment,” Leaming set the stage for ads positioning him as an “attorney” or “lawyer” to appear online. Those ads were removed by Justia.com, Oyez.org and Cornell University Law school earlier this month, after questions were raised about whether Leaming was a licensed attorney.
Records show there have been multiple complaints about Leaming engaging in the unauthorized practice of law in Washington state. At least one of the complaints came from a woman who lost her notary’s license in 2005 as a result of notarizing documents on Leaming’s behalf, according to records.
The woman also filed for a protection-from-abuse order against Leaming, according to records maintained by the Washington State Bar Association, which redacted the woman’s name in a 2005 letter to Leaming that accused him of the unauthorized practice of law.
Records at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims show that “Kenneth Wayne” and Christian Oesch filed a complaint against the United States on July 23, 2010, about three weeks after Collyer rejected their bids to file a document on the ASD docket in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
A public link to the complaint is not available. The docket, however, shows that the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a motion to dismiss the complaint. Whether Leaming and Oesch even can establish that the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC), which typically hears contract disputes in a limited number cases in which the government waives sovereign immunity, has jurisdiction to hear an ASD-related dispute is far from clear.
Leaming is listed as an “agent” for “MYHUB GROUP LLC” on the COFC docket. A company by that name is listed in Nevada records as in “default,” with Christian Oesch as its manager.
Earlier this month, some ASD members received an email that referenced “MYHUB.” The email appeared to be a compendium assembled by ASD member Sara Mattoon. The same email referenced a purported “legal opinion” by “Keny.”
“Keny” is a nickname used by Leaming.
The email asserted that ASD members who filed a restitution claim through Rust Consulting, the government-approved claims administrator, might face a lawsuit from a group of ASD members.
“Again, we are asking that our Claimants do not engage in the DOJ’s Remission Process, as long you want to maintain being part of our Group Claims whatsoever,” the portion of the email attributed to MYHUB read in part. “If you are indeed wanting to eat on the other side of the fence, you must let us know before you submit anything to the DOJ, without causing us potential harm and further damages. In case you were to fail to notify us, we would have a possible claim against you, and that’s not what you want us to do in the first place.”
