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Tag: Andy Bowdoin

  • UPDATE: MPB Today Now Says Gary Calhoun Was Selected As 2003 ‘Businessman Of The Year’ By National Republican Congressional Committee

    Members of the purported MPB Today “grocery” program now are touting company President Gary Calhoun as 2003’s “Businessman of the Year” in promotional news releases and articles online.

    The company itself is doing the same thing on its website, explaining that Calhoun “was chosen as ‘Outstanding Young Men (sic) in America 1982’ . . . and in 2003 was selected as ‘Businessman of the Year’ by the National Republican Congressional Committee’s [NRCC] Business Advisory Council.”

    None of the promos explains how one obtains either award. Regardless, the promos plant the seed that the awards are important.

    Various references to the NRCC “Businessman of the Year” award appear online. The award is linked to Republican fund-raising, although it is unclear if all people who’ve claimed the award actually have contributed funds. It was not immediately clear if Calhoun donated money to NRCC in either his name or the name of a company to receive the award in 2003.

    AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin, accused of operating a Ponzi scheme that gathered at least $110 million and making NRCC donations with Ponzi proceeds, claimed a similar award known as the “Medal of Distinction.” Like the “Businessman of the Year” award, the “Medal of Distinction” is doled out by NRCC.

    The award can be obtained for writing a check for what amounts to the purchase of banquet tickets.

    MPB Today claims that members who pay $200 to the MLM company one time can receive free groceries for life. Promoters have claimed that liars and thieves exist within MPB Today, but that prospects nevertheless should join the company.

    At least one bank whose name has appeared in MPB Today promotions is operating under an FDIC consent agreement, according to federal records. MPB Today purports to have tens of thousands of members while enjoying an “unprecedented expansion.” Other promos show that MPB Today also has a relationship with a second bank.

    Calhoun was the subject of a 2006 inquiry by the Food and Drug Administration, amid allegations he was selling a product that purported to treat multiple diseases, including “Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, axonal and other neuropathies, Down’s and other syndromes.”

    The MPB Today program has been hawked on Internet boards associated with Ponzi schemes. The program has been targeted at senior citizens, foreclosure subjects, Food Stamp recipients, people of faith, college students and victims of the ASD Ponzi scheme.

    Promoters of MPB Today have been linked to bizarre sales presentations, including one in which President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were depicted as Nazis. One script for an MPB Today promo suggested the Obamas aspired to eat dog food and table scraps left by the family pet and emerge from the ranks of welfare recipients.

    “Hmm, I should prolly call my Food Stamp worker now that I’ve joined MPB,” the script read in part, depicting the First Family as welfare recipients. It also used the words “monkeys” and “Brown-noser” in the context of the Obama presidency.

    Despite the claim that Calhoun was a top businessman, MPB Today has not issued a news release to distance itself from the bizarre promotion that pilloried the Obamas and Clinton, who was depicted as a drunken Nazi-In-Chief who received a left-handed salute from Obama and a greeting of “Heil Hitlary.”

    Michelle Obama was depicted in the ad as having been knocked out by Clinton a short time after the First Lady experienced an embarrassing gas attack in the Oval Office after sampling beans at a Sam’s Club store.

    MPB Today has not publicly disclaimed and disassociated itself from the ad, even though some members have insisted the firm is associated with Walmart and routinely have used Walmart’s intellectual property in sales promos. Hillary Clinton was the first woman to serve on Walmart’s board of directors.

    The company removed an image of a Walmart store from its website in September. It also removed images of business tycoons Donald Trump and Warren Buffet. Regardless, MPB today promoters continue to use the images in sales promotions, giving rise to questions about whether the company has come into possession of money tainted by serial deceptions.

    Agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission say it is not uncommon for fraudsters to use the names of famous people and entities when promoting scams. In September, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it was investigating certain claims about the MPB Today program.

    MPB Today now appears to refer to Walmart as a “national grocery retailer.”

    Other promos from MPB Today have asked members to lay down their “pipe bombs” when contemplating doing business with Walmart. Still other promos have insisted that MPB Today is associated with the federal Food Stamp program.

    MPB Today now references the Food Stamp program on its website — in the context of Calhoun emerging from the ranks of Food Stamp recipients after lean times passed.

    “Gary has experienced his share of failures as well,” the site notes. “There’s a 2-picture frame on the wall in his office. In one of the picture openings, it states, ‘Remember Where God Brought You From” and in the other opening . . . his old Food Stamp card.

    “And as many successful business people have stated, it was adversity and failure that caused them to rise,” the site notes. “Gary firmly believes this. ‘Losing it all then getting up and going again brings a resolve like nothing else.

    “I really believe the success we are experiencing today is a direct result of the adversity I’ve been through[,]” Gary says.

    The NRCC “Businessman of the Year” award and the “Medal of Distinction” have been linked to scandals and bids to create legitimacy by establishing purported ties to prominent politicians.

    ASD members, for example, claimed that Bowdoin had received an important award for business achievement from the President of the United States. Meanwhile, Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, convicted of financing terror and fleecing participants in an investment scheme, also appears to have claimed to be a person whose counsel the Republican party valued.

    Earlier this month, the CFTC charged Ryan A. Nassbridges with operating a precious-metals scheme. A website registered in the name of Nassbridge’s wife purports that he was the recipient of both the “Medal of Distinction” and the “Businessman of the Year” award.

  • A ‘MONEY MAGNET’ AT WORK: Andy Bowdoin Wows Crowd With Photo Of Building Later Seized; Indicted Autosurf Operator Gives Gordon Gekko-Like Speech In Which Greed Is Recast As A ‘Positive’

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin wowed a "rally" crowd by showing a photo of this building in Quincy, Fla. The U.S. Secret Service later seized the building, saying it was purchased from the proceeds of a massive Ponzi scheme. Federal prosecutors said the scheme traded on religion and that Bowdoin emerged with "followers."

    EDITOR’S NOTE: Two videos of sales pitches by AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin are linked below. Both are available at publicly accessible websites.

    The first video shows Bowdoin, in the summer of 2008, wowing a crowd by showing ASD rally attendees a photo of ASD’s new headquarters building in Quincy, Fla. The building later was seized by the U.S. Secret Service as the proceeds of a criminal enterprise. Also of note in the video is a claim by Bowdoin that George Harris is the head of ASD’s purported real-estate division. The video also references Judy Harris.

    George Harris is the son of Andy Bowdoin’s wife, Edna Faye Bowdoin. The Harris home in Tallahassee was seized in December 2008. Federal prosecutors said the mortgage on the home was retired with Ponzi proceeds. Neither George nor Judy Harris ever filed a claim to the home.

    The AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf, which launched after the seizure of Bowdoin’s assets, the Harris home and the filing of a racketeering lawsuit against Bowdoin, later identified George and Judy Harris as its operators. AVG purported to be a “private association” headquartered in Uruguay. The surf made the claim it was a private association in February 2009. The claim coincided with a decision by Bowdoin to reenter the ASD forfeiture case as a pro-se litigant.

    Weeks earlier, in January 2009, Bowdoin had submitted to the forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars seized from his bank accounts. Despite the fact that Bowdoin had advised a federal judge that he was withdrawing his claims to the seized money “with prejudice” — meaning he intended never again to reinstitute his claims — he nevertheless sought to reenter the case, acting as his own attorney.

    By April 2009, federal prosecutors said that, not only had Bowdoin submitted to the forfeiture and formally advised a federal judge of his decision to do so, but that Bowdoin also had signed a proffer letter and acknowledged the government’s material allegations in the case were all true.

    Bowdoin met with federal prosecutors in Florida in late 2008 and early 2009 for a period of at least four days, according to court filings.

    Of particular note in the second video is the timing: It was shot (presumably by a rally attendee) in Las Vegas on May 31, 2008. Bowdoin is shown in the video defining himself as a “money magnet” and encouraging ASD members to become the same. The federal grand jury that indicted Bowdoin began to meet in May 2009. Its indictment of Bowdoin was unsealed earlier this month and makes repeated references to the “money-magnet” line.

    The video shows Bowdoin making references to God in his Las Vegas sales pitch. It begins with a Gordon Gekko-like suggestion by Bowdoin that greed is a net positive. Gekko, of course, is the fictional character played by Michael Douglas in the 1987 movie “Wall Street.” Douglas won an Oscar for the role.

    “The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good,” the Gekko character memorably advised the movie audience. “Greed is right, greed works.”

    Here is what Bowdoin said from the stage 21 years later in Las Vegas:

    “Just like, you know, [the belief that] rich people are greedy. Turn that into a positive: Rich people are generous. All right. And you turn it into a positive like that, you repeat that — at least seven times, every time you think about it: Rich people are generous. Because you’ve got to reprogram that subconscious mind.”

    Bowdoin went on to inform Las Vegas rally attendees that he had a plan to create 100,000 millionaires in three years and that it was important for ASD members “to have an attitude of gratitude with God.”

    “And I always say, ‘Thank you, God, for developing me into a money magnet.’ And I see myself as a money magnet in attracting money and, I say, attracting large sums of money,” Bowdoin said.

    He exhorted ASD members to internalize his message and imagine riches “flowing” in from ASD, the PP Blog reported on May 7, 2009.

    About three weeks after the Las Vegas rally — a rally at which Bowdoin encouraged attendees to spend unlimited sums on ASD “ad packs” because a $50,000 ceiling on purchases would be enforced two days later — the $157,000 mortgage was retired on the Harris home.

    ASD’s spending binge actually began about 11 days after Bowdoin exited the Las Vegas stage and ultimately consumed more than $1 million, federal prosecutors said. Other post-rally purchases included jet skis, marine equipment, a Cabana boat, haul trailers, real estate and at least three automobiles, including a Lincoln. One of the automobiles was purchased for George and Judy Harris, according to prosecutors.

    The retired Harris mortgage and the car — a Honda — cost ASD members nearly $186,000, prosecutors said.

    Video One

    Video Two

  • UPDATE: E-Bullion, Firm Alleged To Have Provided Payment Services To ASD, Linked To Alleged Legisi Ponzi Scheme; Like ASD, FEDI Fraud Scheme Called Payments ‘Rebates’

    Andy Bowdoin

    UPDATED 2:25 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Still pushing autosurf and HYIP frauds?

    Last week, the PP Blog reported that the U.S. Secret Service and federal prosecutors had established a link between California-based E-Bullion and Florida-based AdSurfDaily. E-Bullion is a shuttered payment processor whose owner, James Fayed, is awaiting trial on charges of murdering his wife, Pamela Fayed, whom prosecutors said wished to cooperate in the E-Bullion probe.

    It was the first public assertion by the government that ASD had a tie to E-Bullion.

    The Blog further reported that E-Bullion had been linked to at least three alleged Ponzi or fraud schemes: ASD, Gold Quest International (GQI) and Flat Electronic Data Interchange (FEDI), whose convicted operator, Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, was associated with convicted Ponzi schemer Brian David Anderson.

    Alishtari, also known as Michael Mixon, was convicted in 2009 of financing terrorism. Anderson, a FEDI pitchman, was sentenced to federal prison for his role in yet-another Ponzi scheme known as Frontier Assets. He also has been linked to a mysterious scheme known as the “Alpha Project.”

    Like ASD’s Andy Bowdoin, Alishtari donated money to the National Republican Congressional Committee, according to the Federal Election Commission database. Documents reviewed by the PP Blog show that payments from the FEDI scheme were referred to as “rebates.” ASD also called its payments to participants “rebates.”

    Today the PP Blog is reporting that federal investigators also have established a link between E-Bullion and Legisi, a company whose operator, Gregory N. McKnight, was accused by the SEC in May 2008 of operating a massive Ponzi and fraud scheme based in Michigan. During the same month, the SEC also accused GQI of operating a massive Ponzi and fraud scheme from Las Vegas. Investigators likewise established a GQI link to E-Bullion.

    Documents reviewed by the PP Blog show that records maintained by E-Bullion were the subject of a subpoena issued on Aug. 6, 2008 — five days after tens of millions of dollars were seized by the U.S. Secret Service from bank accounts controlled by ASD’s  Bowdoin. The subpoena was issued in the Legisi case.

    As the PP Blog previously reported, the Secret Service, which used undercover operatives in the ASD case, also used an undercover operative in the Legisi case. In fact, the Blog reported, the Secret Service undercover operative and an undercover operative from the state of Michigan, had a face-to-face meeting with Legisi’s McKnight in his office.

    Legisi later began to act in a fashion that only can be described as bizarre, allegedly morphing into a sort of super-secret enterprise that was exhibiting clear signs of paranoia. Investors, for example, were asked to submit to a loyalty oath and pledge that they weren’t government investigators or informants.

    The AdViewGlobal autosurf, which has close ties to ASD, later began to operate in a similar fashion, morphing into a so-called “private association,” scolding members for asking questions in public and exhibiting paranoia.

    “This Association of members hereby declares that our main objective is to protect our rights to freedom of choice regarding our advertising and marketing information and conduct, through maintaining our Constitutional rights,” AVG announced on its website in February 2009.

    Court records show that the Secret Service also employed undercover operatives in the investigation of the INetGlobal autosurf. An affidavit in the case notes that at least two operatives were present at an INetGlobal function in New York earlier this year and that one undercover agent had been introduced to INetGlobal by an ASD member.

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin was indicted earlier this month on federal charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities. Prosecutors alleged he was operating a Ponzi scheme that had gathered at least $110 million. The indictment accused Bowdoin of making campaign donations to the National Republican Congressional Committee with proceeds from the ASD Ponzi scheme.

    Six days ago, prosecutors alleged in a forfeiture complaint that ASD member Erma Seabaugh used E-Bullion in November 2007 to transfer $10,510 to ASD. The alleged transfer occurred about six months before E-Bullion’s name surfaced in the GQI and Legisi cases brought by the SEC.

    When investigators later searched the home of James Fayed in the murder investigation, they found “approximately $60,000 in cash wrapped in plastic material; approximately $3,000,000 in gold; and approximately 31 firearms, including one with a long-range night vision scope, along with thousands of rounds of matching ammunition,” prosecutors alleged.

    Pamela Fayed was stabbed to death in a California parking garage on July 28, 2008. The Secret Service, which had begun its investigation of Bowdoin less than a month earlier, seized his assets three days later, on Aug. 1, 2008.

    The agents said Bowdoin was moving large sums of money outside the United States and had talked about buying a home in another country. In September 2008, the month after ASD’s assets were seized, an indictment was unsealed in Connecticut that accused Robert Hodgins of Virtual Money Inc. of helping a Colombia narcotics operation launder money at ATMs in Medellin.

    Virtual Money Inc. once provided debit cards to ASD, according to an ASD downline group.

    CLOSING NOTE: Read this chilling document from the case against Fayed in California.  Also see this 2007 report from CBS News. CBS reported FEDI operator Alishtari claimed to be “[National Republican Congressional Committee] New York State Businessman of the Year. ASD members later would make similar claims about Bowdoin.)

  • Is An AdViewGlobal Member Unhappy With AdSurfDaily Members Who Choose To File Remission Forms? Rant Accuses Filers Of Selling Their Souls And Destroying Lives

    EDITOR’S NOTE: Content from an email referenced in the story below has not been edited by the PP Blog for spelling, punctuation, grammar or clarity.

    Some AdSurfDaily members have received a disturbing email that accuses them of selling their souls and destroying lives by participating in the government-approved remissions program designed to mitigate their losses, the PP Blog has learned.

    The author of the email is unclear.

    It is possible, however, that the email rant originated with a member of the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf, which had members and promoters in common with ASD and crashed and burned in June 2009. An email address under which the rant against ASD members appeared included the apparent abbreviations “fms” and “avg” as part of the address in this format: fms.avg@

    Even so, it was unclear if the person who used the address was the author of the rant, which was unsigned and appears to have been forwarded to multiple ASD members. The rant makes the claim that ASD never sold an “investment” product and that the company was an “online advertising system.”

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin was indicted earlier this month. Federal prosecutors described ASD as a wink-nod investment business through which Bowdoin sold unregistered securities as investment contracts by calling member payouts “rebates” to avoid regulatory scrutiny.

    AVG, which launched in the aftermath of the seizure of tens of millions of dollars from Bowdoin in 2008, advertised 200 percent “bonuses” for months. The surf announced it was suspending payouts in June 2009. Just days later, AVG’s name was cited in a racketeering lawsuit filed against Bowdoin by ASD members.

    The rant surfaced yesterday, in advance of a purported phone conference to be held by Sheldon Drobny of AnShell Financial Services at 9 p.m. (ET) today. Drobny, whose company is not the official ASD claims administrator, says he can assist in helping ASD members file claims forms with Rust Consulting Inc., the official administrator, and help them recover money.

    Apparently unhappy that ASD members even would think about filing claims, the author of the email rant wrote that participants who filed a claim would be signing their “morals and soul away” and supporting “innocent peoples lives being destroyed.”

    The email claimed that a “back lash” would occur against any ASD member who participated in the claims program. The author did not say who would carry out the purported backlash and what it would entail.

    “Again, if you continue to pass on and support meaningless calls like this and help people build their belief the actions done to ASD were right and the claim form is asking you the appropriate questions and truly believe it was an invstment you made and your friends and family referred you to a securities investment then by all means fill out the scandalist claim form,” the author wrote. “Just be prepared for the back lash and consequences to come.”

    Persons who agreed with the government’s contention that ASD scammed investors “should hide under a rock and stay their,” according to the rant.

    Some ASD victims are believed to have lost tens of thousands of dollars in the alleged, $110 million Ponzi scheme. Regardless, the rant implied that there are no victims and that ASD members who filed claims did so at the cost of the “sacrafice of other decent human beings such as your family and friends.”

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Secret Service Has Seized More ASD Cash; Forfeiture Complaint Filed Today Against Bank Accounts Controlled By Erma ‘Web Room Lady’ Seabaugh And Robyn Lynn Stevenson

    Andy Bowdoin

    BULLETIN: UPDATED 6:27 A.M. ET (U.S.A., DEC. 18) The U.S. Secret Service and federal prosecutors have seized nearly $250,000  from two alleged ASD promoters and filed a new forfeiture complaint dated today.

    More than $153,000 has been seized from a bank account controlled by ASD promoter Erma Seabaugh, known as the “Web Room Lady.” Seabaugh was a purported ASD “trainer,” prosecutors said.

    She was accused in the complaint of accepting checks made out to ASD, depositing them into her bank account and transferring “ad packs” to her downline by using ASD’s internal system.

    Meanwhile, more than $96,000 has been seized from bank accounts controlled by ASD member Robyn Lynn Stevenson, who operated a company known as Robyn Lynn LLC and worked briefly for ASD itself, prosecutors said.

    At the same time, investigators seized nearly $500,000 from a bank account once controlled by ASD President Andy Bowdoin and nearly $50,000 from an account controlled by Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby.

    Busby, prosecutors said, already has ceded the money to the government. The money was ceded in September 2008, about two months after an undercover agent had been invited by an ASD member to listen to Busby talk in July 2008, as Golden Panda was ramping up for its formal launch.

    The additional sum of nearly $500,000 ($496,505) seized from Bowdoin was a balance left in an account that once contained more than $31.6 million, prosecutors said. The lion’s share of the money in the account already has been declared forfeited, but agents worked out an agreement with Bank of America to permit about $500,000 to remain in the account on the date of the Aug. 1, 2008, seizure of Bowdoin’s assets.

    The buffer was necessary to permit checks already drawn on the account prior to the effective date of the seizure warrant to clear, prosecutors said.

    All in all, the forfeiture complaint filed today targeted $794,718 in illegal ASD proceeds, prosecutors said.

    The seizure of cash tied to Seabaugh and Stevenson traced its roots to the opening days of 2009, months after the seizure of the lion’s share of money from Bowdoin’s bank accounts, according to the complaint.

    On Feb. 26, 2009, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer authorized the seizure of “up to” $213,693 in the name of “Carpe Diem or Erma Seabaugh,” prosecutors said. The seizure occurred one day after Bowdoin had signed a document in which he sought to reverse an earlier decision he made to submit to the forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars in his bank accounts, records show.

    When the Secret Service executed the warrant to seize the money from Seabaugh, only $153,097 was found in the account, according to the complaint.

    Between July 15 and July 30, 2008 — effectively the two week period leading up to the ASD seizure — Seabaugh received nine ASD checks totaling $203,993, prosecutors said.

    On July 25, 2008, just days before the seizure of Bowdoin’s bank accounts, Seabaugh deposited into her bank account seven checks made out to ASD totaling $9,700 prosecutors said.

    The checks came from “third parties,” and Seabaugh transferred a corresponding number of “ad packs” to the buyers by using ASD’s internal system, prosecutors said.

    “Based on these facts, it appears Ms. Seabaugh was selling her own investment ‘ad packs’ to clients and representing herself as ASD,” prosecutors said.

    Seabaugh had at least three ASD accounts and appeared to be using ASD’s “advertising” rotator  to sell other pyramid schemes, prosecutors said. All three of the accounts used a form of the “Carpe Diem” name, according to the complaint.

    One of Seabaugh’s ASD accounts was opened with a transfer of “ad packs” from La Fuente Dinero, yet-another autosurf scheme tied to ASD, prosecutors said.

    Noting that Seabaugh deposited no “new money” into the account, prosecutors said she withdrew $83,994 from the account via checks from ASD.

    Seabaugh recruited 48 ASD members, according to the complaint. She withdrew an additional $107,997 from another ASD account.

    Stevenson, meanwhile, made only one deposit with ASD — for $500 — and yet received $96,525, prosecutors said. The withdrawals came in the form of 17 checks issued by ASD between July 10 and July 25, 2008, just days before the seizure of ASD’s assets, according to records.

    The checks were deposited into two bank accounts that Stevenson opened July 31, 2008, one day before the seizure of Bowdoin’s bank accounts, according to records.

    Separately, Bowdoin pleaded not guilty today to criminal charges filed against him in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Prosecutors said he was at the helm of a massive Ponzi scheme that gathered at least $110 million.

  • Now, Highly Confusing, Competing Claims About The AdSurfDaily Remissions Program Appear On RipoffReport.com; Post Fractures Facts; DON’T BE CONFUSED

    Andy Bowdoin

    First, don’t be confused. Rust Consulting Inc. is the official claims administrator under contract with the U.S. government to handle claims from victims of the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme. ASD also is known as ASD Cash Generator.

    See this document at Justia.com. It is signed by Ronald C. Machen Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and appears on the court docket of U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer. The document lists the URL for the official claims site: http://www.adsurfdailyremission.com

    Today a highly confusing report appeared on RipoffReport.com suggesting that, not only was ASD a ripoff,  but so is the claims program. The PP Blog became aware of the report after receiving a message from Google Alerts, which the Blog uses to track mentions of ASD Cash Generator across the web.

    The PP Blog sought to contact Rust about the Ripoff Report, but it was past business hours. The Blog left a detailed message for the firm.

    Here is the headline of the Ripoff Report: “Asd cash generator ad Surf daily remission administrator Beware…scam, Internet . . .”

    Meanwhile, the report says this, “do not reply to remission forms that says from secret services asking for your bank account and social security number informations. secret services do not send out such forms asking specific account numbers. and secret services do not use post office box numbers address.”

    At the same time, the report urges readers to “report your forms to your better business bureau.”

    Other mistakes dot the Ripoff Report — for example, the Minnesota address of the claims administrator is listed as the address for ASD and the URL for the official claims site is incorrect.

    The U.S. Secret Service conducted the ASD investigation. Rust, the government-approved claims administrator, is using a Post Office Box to receive completed claims forms. The company specifically informs ASD members on the remissions site that it is asking victims to provide bank-account information so they can receive restitution by electronic deposit.

    “Payment will be disbursed by electronic funds transfer after all Remission Forms are decided,” the company notes on the website. “Therefore it is necessary to ensure that the section requiring your banking information is completed in full on the Remission Form in order to receive a remission payment.”

    The official remissions form also asks for a Social Security number or Employer Identification Number (EIN).

    Why a poster on RipoffReport.com appeared to imply that the “secret services” did not authorize the information to be gathered was unclear. The U.S. Secret Service has the duty of assisting the U.S. Department of Justice in reviewing the claims.

    The ASD case has been marked by one bizarre event after another. In recent weeks, some ASD members have tried to confuse others about the remissions process.

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin, who was indicted on felony charges earlier this month, is scheduled to make his first court appearance in the District of Columbia tomorrow.

  • BIZARRE: California Man Charged In Precious Metals And Commodities Swindle Claimed Same Award As Andy Bowdoin; Ryan A. Nassbridges Charged By CFTC In $5.5 Million, Ponzi-Like Scheme In California

    The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has gone to federal court in California to halt a precious-metals and options scheme operated by a man who claimed to have the same award for business achievement as AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin, according to web listings.

    Like Bowdoin, the head of Florida-based AdSurfDaily, Ryan A. Nassbridges of Laguna Niguel, Calif., claimed to possess an important award known as the Congressional Medal of Distinction, according to a website that bears his name and is registered in his wife’s name.

    Also like Bowdoin, Nassbridges now has been charged in a massive fraud scheme. The CFTC said today that Nassbridges, who once was known as Ryan Nasserabadi, was operating a “precious metals futures and options fraud” that gathered $5.5 million from at least 80 customers.

    He also was accused of lying to investigators about the scheme.

    Also charged were Nassbridges-affiliated companies known as American Bullion Exchange (ABEX Corp.) and American Bullion Exchange LLC (ABEX LLC).

    Other web listings suggest Nassbridges was referred to by multiple names online. While one site refers to him as Ryan A. Nassbridges, another refers to him as both Ryan A. Bridges and Ryan N. Bridges. The site that uses the  Ryan A. Bridges and Ryan N. Bridges names is registered behind a proxy, meaning the owner of the domain is unclear. Curiously, documents on the domain list the name of Ryan A. Nassbridges.

    Equally curiously, the entire left sidebar of both websites stream images of the awards purportedly received by Ryan A. Nassbridges.

    It was not immediately clear if Nassbridges operates the sites and why the sites used different names.

    Both sites tout the Congressional Medal of Distinction and include photographs of Nassbridges posing with prominent Republican politicians, including former President George W. Bush. Whether the photos were authentic was not immediately clear.

    One thing that is clear is that the medal now has been linked to at least two alleged Ponzi schemes and that both alleged schemes have traded on the name of the President of the United States.

    In the ASD case, the medal was described as a marketing memento for making campaign contributions to the National Republican Congressional Committee. Bowdoin was accused earlier this month of using Ponzi proceeds to make the donations and not correcting the record when affiliates told prospects he had received an important award from the President of the United States.

    The websites that use the one or more forms of the Nassbridges’ name claim that he received the medal for his “contribution toward the passage of the tax cut.”

    CFTC did not reference the medal in its allegations against Nassbridges, saying only that he used participants’ funds to make “political contributions” of an unspecified amount.

    He also used about $586,100 to make mortgage payments, $305,000 to make credit-card payments, $90,100 to make car payments and $157,700 for cash withdrawals, CFTC charged.

    Some investors received Ponzi-like payments, CFTC charged. It added that investors did not know that Nassbridges and the companies were trading commodity futures and options while “sustaining significant trading losses.”

    Investors believed they were trading in precious metals, including gold, palladium, platinum, silver bullion and gold and silver coins, CFTC said, noting that the alleged scheme was advertised on Fox, MSNBC and Home and Garden Television.

    The complaint described an operation by which “account representatives” were required to make a minimum of 350 “prospecting calls” per day.

    The websites tout Nassbridges as the “2005 Businessman of Year” and the recipient of the “Presidential Certificate of Merit Signed by the President of United States of America.”

    “[H]e is among those few who are Awarded with the ‘Eisenhower Commission’ Signed and presented by 3 former President’s (sic) of United States of America for helping the USA Small Business Organization and talented entrepreneurs create jobs for the American working class,” according to the websites.

    His wife, Bita Nassbridges, who was named a relief defendant by CFTC for allegedly receiving ill-gotten gains from the scheme, is referred to as “Mrs. Bridges” on one of the sites and “Mrs. Nassbridges” on the other. The couple is pictured in poses with Republicans Bush, former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani and Sen. John Thune.

  • BULLETIN:’3 Hebrew Boys’ Sentenced To Prison Terms Totaling 84 Years; Case Has Bizarre Elements In Common With AdSurfDaily Litigation

    In a case that features elements remarkably similar to the AdSurfDaily litigation, a federal judge in South Carolina has sentenced three defendants in the “3 Hebrew Boys” fraud case to a combined total of 84 years in prison.

    Joseph Brunson, Tim McQueen and Tony Pough were jailed immediately after their convictions a year ago in an $82 million, foreign-currency fraud and Ponzi scheme case that traded on religion. The men, who called their business a debt-relief ministry, accused former U.S. Attorney Walt Wilkens of “treason” last year and of committing acts of war against them.

    The sentencing occurred today, with U.S. District Judge Margaret Seymour giving Pough 30 years and Brunson and McQueen 27 years each. The office of U.S. Attorney William N. Nettles of the District of South Carolina did not immediately return a call from the PP Blog for comment. The Associated Press first reported on the lengths of the sentences tonight, noting that the terms were “so harsh in part because the judge found they tried to obstruct justice at every turn.”

    Brunson, McQueen and Pough became known as “3 Hebrew Boys” after operating a website with the same name, which is based on a biblical story of believers who escaped a furnace by relying on their faith. The Ponzi scheme operated under the name Capital Consortium Group LLC.

    In 2007, the men filed a court document that described their investment program as an effort to free people from government “bondage” and referred to the investigation as “Satan’s handiwork.”

    A year later, in 2008, AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin described the case against his purported Florida “advertising” firm as the work of “Satan,” comparing it to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

    Bowdoin, 76, was indicted earlier this month on Ponzi scheme charges.

    The 3 Hebrew Boys’ operation sought to chill law enforcement, regulators and members of the media from scrutinizing operations, prosecutors said.

    In an approach similar to one used by the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf, members were forced to agree to a confidentially clause that purportedly prohibited them from discussing the company outside the confines of meeting places. Participants were threatened with a $1 million penalty for sharing information.

    A court-appointed receiver published documents that listed an astonishing array of luxury purchases made by the 3 Hebrew Boys schemers with investors’ money. Among the items were a Gulf Stream jet, a Prevost Motorcoach and automobiles with famous names such as Mercedes, Lexus, BMW, Saab, Cadillac and Lincoln.

    In the “3 Hebrew Boys” case, Brunson filed documents that appear to have asserted immunity from prosecution on the grounds of purported sovereignty. The documents appear to have been designed to force Wilkens, then the U.S. Attorney, to default on a contact to which he never had agreed. The approach sometimes is referred to as “paper terrorism” or “mailbox arbitration.”

    A similar approach has been used by litigants in the ASD case.

    Screen shot: Joseph Brunson declared last year that then-U.S. Attorney Walt Wilkens was guilty of treason, insurrection and conspiracy to overthow the U.S. government in his efforts to prosecute Brunson.

    Brunson wrote in a court filing he described as a “Bill of Peace” that Wilkens had a duty to appear before a notary public and acknowledge Brunson’s assertion of sovereignty in “red ink.” The document demanded that Wilkens use his “Christian name” in his response to Brunson.

    A refusal by Wilkens to carry out the demands within three days, Brunson said, would result in a contractual agreement that Wilkens was “an enemy of One and the [U]nited States of America and the people, Constitution, and Government thereof.”

    Read Joseph Brunson’s purported “writ” in the “3 Hebrew Boys” case.

  • BULLETIN: Court Dismisses Bizarre, ASD-Connected Lawsuit Filed By Leaming, Oesch; ‘Complaint Deteriorates Into Rambling,’ Judge Says

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming, also known as "Kenneth Wayne."

    BULLETIN: A bizarre lawsuit filed against the U.S. government by AdSurfDaily figures Kenneth Wayne Leaming and Christian Oesch has been dismissed.

    In dismissing the complaint, Judge Christine Odell Cook Miller of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims agreed with the government’s contention that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the claim.

    The judge described the complaint by Leaming, Oesch and an affiliated company known as MYHUB GROUP LLC as a bid to argue about “an unlawful taking of the forfeited property” in the ASD case, which was heard in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

    Meanwhile, the judge ruled that MYHUB GROUP inappropriately sought to act as its own attorney.

    Corporations are required to have professional counsel to appear in court, the judge ruled.

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin suffered a similar setback last year when he tried to represent ASD pro se in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

    Leaming and Oesch appear to have tried to use the U.S. Court of Federal Claims as an appeals court for U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, while apparently seeking the staggering sum of $29 trillion from a federal judge, three federal prosecutors and a U.S. Secret Service agent involved in the ASD Ponzi scheme forfeiture case.

    “Plaintiffs’ challenge took the form of presenting claims issued by Tina M. Hall, a notary public in the State of Washington to officials associated with the forfeitures,” Cook Miller noted in the order of dismissal.  “Ms. Hall issued ‘Certificates of Default  on February 16, 2010, against these government officials for failure to respond to plaintiffs’ claims ‘in admiralty.’ At this point the complaint deteriorates into rambling.”

    The judge also barred Leaming and Oesch from seeking sanctions against the government.

    “As an initial matter, this court notes that, during the course of briefing on defendant’s motion, defense counsel has suffered the opprobrium of plaintiffs’ aspersions and disparagement, including charges of unethical practices,” Cook Miller said in the ruling. “Defendant charitably characterizes this argument as hyperbole . . . and the court will lay the matter to rest by denying any request for sanctions that plaintiffs may be making.”

    Hall’s notary license was revoked by the state of Washington in October. Records show that she has notarized other bizarre claims on Leaming’s behalf, including a claim against a Franciscan hospital for more than $9 billion.

    See earlier story.

  • DISTURBING: Out On Bail After Ponzi Arrest, Is Andy Bowdoin Giving Marching Orders? Email Attributed To Former ASD Executive Gary Talbert Advises Members To Tell Claims Processor They Were Purchasing ‘Advertising’

    Andy Bowdoin

    UPDATED 9:28 A.M. ET (U.S.A.) On Dec. 1, a federal magistrate judge set bail of $350,000 for AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin and ordered him not to commit a federal, state or local crime after his arrest by the U.S. Secret Service on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities.

    Bowdoin, 76, was specifically warned that he could be held in contempt of court for violating conditions of his bail. The conditions included an order not to obstruct the investigation or tamper with witnesses.

    Now an email attributed to former ASD and AdViewGlobal executive Gary Talbert has surfaced that is raising questions about whether Bowdoin is trying to suppress the victims’ count and manipulate ASD members who seek to file restitution claims with Rust Consulting Inc., the official claims administrator in the $110 million Ponzi case.

    The email specifically references Bowdoin’s arrest, but makes no reference to the bail conditions set by U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas G. Wilson in advance of a scheduled appearance by Bowdoin in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Dec. 17.

    Bowdoin made his initial court appearance before Wilson in Florida.

    “Got a email from Andy and he told me to go ahead and send this email out to everyone,” noted the email attributed to Talbert, who filed a sworn affidavit on ASD’s behalf in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2008. “He does have a hearing on Dec. 17th in Washington D.C. He and his lawyers are still positive on the out come.”

    “Here is just a idea and I think this will work for everyone,” the email continued. “This should keep everyone legal. Because I think everyone understood it was not a investment. I believe it is time to fill out the info. from Rust inc. with the following addendum.

    “Where it asks for your signature write in there ‘See addendum’.

    “Now put this in your own words on the addendum. Here is a out line.

    “On the addendum write that you knew this was not a investment and you where purchasing advertising. Now since the gov. stopped my advertising company and I did not get my advertising I would like to get my advertising money back from whom ever is holding it now. Sign it and send it in with the forms from Rust.”

    News about the email attributed to Talbert was spreading among ASD members last night. Separately, ASD figures Kenneth Wayne Leaming and Christian Oesch have filed an ASD-related lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims that apparently seeks the spectacular sum of $29 TRILLION from a federal judge, three federal prosecutors and a Secret Service agent involved in the ASD Ponzi case.

    On June 30, 2009, AdViewGlobal was cited as an extension of ASD in a racketeering lawsuit filed against Bowdoin by ASD members. The reference was dated June 29, 2009, the same day Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in federal prison for his Ponzi scheme.

    Federal prosecutors now say Bowdoin faces up to 120 years in prison if convicted of all counts against him.

    “AVG is the next iteration of the Ponzi scheme auto-surf programs, which [are] staffed with former ASD executives and Bowdoin disciples, including George Harris, the stepson of Bowdoin, who is listed as an AVG trustee, Gary Talbert, former ASD executive served as CEO of AVG and now serves as an accountant, Nate Boyd, a former compliance officer at ASD, serves as ‘Protector’ of the AVG association, and Chuck Osmin, a former ASD employee who testified on ASD’s behalf at the evidentiary hearing before this Court last fall is a customer service representative of AVG,” the RICO plaintiffs claimed.

    The grand jury that indicted Bowdoin began to meet in May 2009. During that same month, AVG was scurrying to reconfigure itself after gathering money from members and offering 200 percent “bonuses” for months. AVG launched in the aftermath of the seizure of tens of millions of dollars from Bowdoin in August 2008, the filing by the government of a second forfeiture complaint against ASD-connected assets in December 2008 and the filing of the racketeering lawsuit against Bowdoin.

    The December 2008 forfeiture complaint specifically named Bowdoin family members Edna Faye Bowdoin, George Harris and Judy Harris as beneficiaries of crimes committed by ASD. Edna Faye Bowdoin is Andy Bowdoin’s wife; George Harris is Bowdoin’s stepson; Judy Harris is the wife of George Harris.

    In January 2009, just days prior to its official launch in early February, AVG bizarrely both confirmed and denied it had ties to ASD.

    The appearance of AVG graphics in an ASD-controlled webroom after the federal seizure was an “operational coincidence,” AVG memorably explained. The announcement was attributed to Chuck Osmin, himself a former ASD employee.

    Even though AVG previously had denied ASD ties, the upstart surf then announced that Talbert was its CEO.

    “Since Mr. Talbert was and is the C.E.O. for both companies and had worked with the same web room company while at ASD, it would be very natural for him to choose and use many of the same venders (sic) that he had used before. So, the fact that ASD and AdView Global are using the same web room hosting company is no accident, in fact it is an operational coincidence,” AdViewGlobal said.

    Why the surf identified Talbert as ASD’s CEO was unclear. He was listed in his own sworn court documents in the ASD case as ASD’s “Human Resource Manager, Assistant CFO and Website Editor.”

    By March 2009, AVG announced that Talbert had resigned as AVG’s chief. It also announced that its bank account had been suspended, blaming the development on members.

    In May 2009, AVG announced that it had secured a new, offshore wire facilitator to help it gather money from members. The announcement was made on the same day the Obama administration announced a crackdown on offshore financial fraud. (See this story and included links for updates on AVG’s purported facilitator, KINGZ Capital Management. There is a tie between KINGZ and Minnesota Ponzi schemer Trevor Cook.)

    By June 25, 2009, AVG announced it was suspending cashouts, again blaming the development on members while threatening members and journalists with copyright-infringement lawsuits for reporting the news.

    Just four days later, on June 29, 2009, the RICO plaintiffs in the ASD lawsuit referenced AVG in a court filing docketed the following day, June 30. By September 2009, federal prosecutors made a veiled reference to AVG in filings in the ASD case.

    By Sept. 29, 2009, an email attributed to ASD spokeswoman Sara Mattoon was circulating among ASD members. The email specifically instructed members not to fill out a government form that would be used as part of the restitution process.

    “Soon after the ASD shutdown, the DOJ (Dept of Justice) set up a website for people to file a claim for the money they had in ASD,” Mattoon was quoted as saying in the email. “As soon as I heard about it, I told everyone not to do it because I could see what the Government was trying to do, but some people didn’t realize what it was and afterwards they regretted doing so.”

    The Matton email referenced an earlier email attributed to ASD member and purported trainer Robert Fava. Like the Mattoon email, the Fava email discouraged members from filling out the government form, describing it as “ammunition” that could be used against ASD.

  • AdPayDaily, Surf With ASD Ties, May Be Disintegrating; Member Says Firm Still Encouraging Participants To Send In Money As Surf Urges Troops To Keep The Faith

    A surf firm with membership and promoters’ ties to AdSurfDaily may be disintegrating — but is still encouraging participants to send in money, a member said.

    “[T]he earnings/payouts nearly [stopped] but of course we were ‘encouraged’ to continue making purchases so that our earnings/payouts could continue as before,” the member said of the surf, which is known as AdPayDaily (APD).

    Like AdViewGlobal (AVG), yet-another surf with ASD ties, APD has a history of at once asking for money from members and then scolding them.

    The PP Blog reported in June that members of the pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum were listed as having high positions in APD.

    APD’s website was registered on Nov. 18, 2008. That’s just one day before U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled that ASD had not demonstrated it was a lawful business and not a Ponzi scheme. APD’s domain-registration date also coincides with a string of registration dates by the so-called ASD clones, including AVG, AdGateWorld and BizAdSplash — all of whose domains were registered after the seizure of ASD’s assets in August 2008 and all of which eventually went missing.

    “I feel like we are being strung along to keep on paying in,” an APD member told the PP Blog.

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin was arrested last week on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities. Like Bowdoin, APD urged members to keep their faith in the enterprise.

    Also like ASD, APD told members in a recent email that it was experiencing “tech issues.”

    “Just a note to let everyone know that we’re still working on tech issues in with the Administrative section of our website,” APD wrote last month. “If you have continued to surf you know that the daily payouts are minimal at best and that probably won’t change until we secure the necessary funding.

    “In the meantime we’re still working to resolve all issues and we are extremely hopeful that we’ll have everything in order by years end,” the company said.  “We will keep you posted with our progress.”