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Tag: Andy Bowdoin

  • BREAKING NEWS: BOA Asks Court To Dismiss Claims Against It In RICO Lawsuit Against Bowdoin, Busby, Garner

    Bank of America has filed a motion to dismiss claims against it in a class-action racketeering lawsuit against ASD President Andy Bowdoin, ASD attorney Robert Garner and Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby.

    BOA was not named a RICO defendant in the lawsuit. Instead, former ASD members Mike Collins of Savage, Minn.; Frank Greene of Washington, D.C.;  and Natures Discount of Aventura, Fla., accused the bank of aiding and abetting Bowdoin, Busby and Garner in an organized effort to defraud.

    Tens of millions of dollars connected to ASD, Golden Panda and LaFuenteDinero were seized by the U.S. Secret Service in August, amid allegations of wire fraud, money-laundering, selling unregistered securities and operating a Ponzi scheme.

    “Banks are not guarantors of their customers’ conduct,” BOA argued in its motion to dismiss. The bank further argued that the complaint was vague and speculative, lacking in facts to such a degree that U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer of the District of Columbia must dismiss BOA as a defendant.

    The bank filed the motion on its behalf, not on behalf of the RICO defendants. Neither Bowdoin nor Garner nor Busby has responded to the lawsuit, which was filed Jan. 15, more than two months ago. The court reissued the summons last week to the trio of RICO defendants.

    “All told, Plaintiffs’ allegations merely describe Bank of America as having engaged in legitimate banking services without pleading any facts that Bank of America engaged in any wrongdoing whatsoever,” BOA said in its motion.

    The plaintiffs, however, said BOA ignored red flags that should have signaled the bank that surf-operators Bowdoin and Busby were using it to launder money and conduct a criminal enterprise.

    “From ASD’s inception in November 2006, Defendant Bank of America played an integral role in ASD’s operations and success,” the plaintiffs charged. “While other financial institutions and payment processors refused to facilitate ASD’s fraud, Bank of America, even in the face of significant banking best practices ‘red flags’ and likely violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and relevant anti-money laundering statutes, not only conducted business with ASD and the RICO Defendants, but it also substantially assisted the expansion of the ASD scheme.”

  • ‘Paperless Access’ Video May Seal Bowdoin’s Slide Into Infamy

    Andy Bowdoin
    Andy Bowdoin

    UPDATED 10:45 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) History may record that ASD President Andy Bowdoin’s final slide into infamy began last week with the release of a video for Paperless Access, a new surf company.

    Some ASD members, including members of the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum, reacted with anger and horror. Surf’s Up predictably went into damage-control mode by ending debate on the subject, but it was too late. This genie refused to go back in the bottle.

    Incredibly, Bowdoin positioned PaperlessAccess as a way members could recapture funds federal agents seized in August as part of the ASD Ponzi scheme investigation. Although insisting he was not involved with the Paperless Access business, Bowdoin did not name the company owners in his video pitch. Nor did he say where the company was located.

    Nor did Bowdoin describe how the company was legal, choosing instead to make the vague claim that Paperless Access employed a business model “based solely on outside revenue.” Bowdoin didn’t mention his own name in the video. Nor did he mention the name of ASD.

    No, with nothing that resembled clarity, Andy Bowdoin told members to sign up for Paperless Access — and this only a few days after he acknowledged in court filings that ASD was operating illegally when agents seized tens of millions of dollars last summer.

    One of the ways the video can be construed is as a fail-safe for Bowdoin: He is a defendant in a private racketeering lawsuit brought by ASD members. One question, of course, is whether he is trying to minimize the number of plaintiffs against him by telling people they can get back their money by joining Paperless Access.

    Another question the video raises is whether Bowdoin is trying to limit the number of complaints ASD members file with the government, which intends to implement a refund program.

    Within hours of the release of the Paperless Access video, web records surfaced that showed Paperless Access was using virtually the same template ASD used in June 2007 — right down to the FAQs. The company called itself an “Income Generator”; ASD had been a “Cash Generator,” and Paperless Access used “viewing earnings” to describe what ASD called “rebates.”

    Surf’s Up, doing what it does, deleted complaints about Bowdoin’s decision to turn over the ASD database to Paperless Access. Members’ private information now is in the hands of people Bowdoin wouldn’t identify.

    Think about what just happened: Bowdoin, who said he spent $800,000 to try to get back money the government seized from him, submitted to the forfeiture in January. He didn’t tell members. They found out about it in the newspaper and by reading Blogs. Nor did Bowdoin tell members about a second forfeiture complaint that had been filed against assets tied to ASD in December.

    The December forfeiture complaint described how Bowdoin’s family members used company money to buy cars, water equipment and haul trailers — and then used company funds to pay off the mortgage on the home of Bowdoin’s stepson, George Harris.

    Harris is a trustee in AdViewGlobal (AVG), yet another autosurf with ASD ties.

    Members again learned about unsettling events from the newspaper and Blogs. Bowdoin didn’t tell them; he simply vanished from the stage. While he was off-stage, some of the Surf’s Up Mods created a promotional site for AVG — after receiving ASD’s official endorsement in November.

    In late February, Bowdoin resurfaced. He blamed his defeat on his paid attorneys. He changed his mind about submitting to the forfeiture and started acting as his own attorney — all while AVG announced it was receiving advice from Pro Advocate Group.

    A man named Karl Dahlstrom is associated with Pro Advocate Group, which says it can help people practice law without a license. Dahlstrom was sentenced to 78 months in prison in the 1990s for securities fraud.

    Securities fraud is one of the elements in the ASD case. It could be one of the elements in any future case that might evolve against AVG or Paperless Access.

    All of this was done while Bowdoin was choosing not to respond to the RICO lawsuit filed against him by ASD members. In a prospective class-action, the members accuse Bowdoin of racketeering — and Bowdoin’s response was to ignore the lawsuit and star in a video for Paperless Access.

    The theory behind the RICO lawsuit is that Bowdoin, ASD attorney Robert Garner and Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby engaged with unnamed parties in a conspiracy to defraud. The plaintiffs claim  the defendants committed indictable racketeering offenses.

    Now Bowdoin is starring in a video for unnamed parties at Paperless Access, as controversy swirls around every square inch of the ASD and AVG operations.

    For its part, one of the first acts by Paperless Access was to turn over its brand to Andy Bowdoin, a convicted felon and suspected racketeer. The decision boggles the mind.

    Bowdoin, however, has lost what once was a considerable support base, his celebrity days at an end, the vestiges of his reputation propped up by Surf’s Up Mods and a handful of remaining loyalists.

    People want their money back. They’re growing increasingly tired of Bowdoin’s pro se legal pleadings, and the release of the Paperless Access video well may be recorded as the singular event that cemented his place in infamy.

  • BREAKING NEWS: ‘PaperlessAccess’ Web Files Mirror ASD

    A web page in Google cache from March 12, 2009, that shows information about a new surf program known as Paperless Access is identical in places to a June 16, 2007, archived page for ASD Cash Generator.

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin introduced members to Paperless Access in a video two days ago, saying the company could help ASD members recover money seized by the government in August 2008. Bowdoin said he is not involved in Paperless Access, and was vague in his description of the company program.

    Paperless Access appears to be in prelaunch phase. Google cache from March 12 reveals that a template used by the company or a promoter was similar to the template ASD used in its formative stages.

    The word “Generator” was used by both companies: Paperless Access saying it was an “Income Generator” and ASD calling itself a “Cash Generator.” Meanwhile, the FAQs for both companies were largely identical in certain places and precisely identical in others.

    Below are two screen shots of the first 20 FAQs for both companies.What ASD called “rebates,” Paperless access appears to be calling “viewing earnings.”

    Paperless Access FAQs

    Screen shot taken today from March 12, 2009, Google cache page for Paperless Access. This screen shot is of a section of FAQ's on the page and has been magnified.
    Screen shot taken today from March 12, 2009, Google cache page for Paperless Access. This screen shot is of a section of FAQ's on the page and has been magnified. Compare to the ASD Cash Generator FAQs, as reproduced in a screen shot below.

    ASD Cash Generator FAQs

    Screen shot taken today of section of ASD Cash Generator FAQs, as it existed on June 16, 2007.
    Screen shot taken today of section of ASD Cash Generator FAQs, as it existed on June 16, 2007.

    Here is the Google Cache URL from March 12, 2009, for Paperless Access. There are references on the page to PaperlessAccess.com and PaperlessAccess.org.

  • Members Criticize Bowdoin’s ‘PaperlessAccess’ Video; Some Surf’s Up Posters Say Enough Is Enough

    UPDATED 12:15 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) AdSurfDaily Inc. President Andy Bowdoin once had members eating out of his hand, but his faithful flock now appears to be splintering.

    Helping drive Bowdoin’s fall from grace is a video in which he positions “Paperless Access,” a  company that appears to use a surf model, as a way ASD members can recover money seized by the government in August by participating in the new venture.

    AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin, whose video for ASD is a major part of a federal fraud investigation, is now a video pitchman for 'Paperless Access.'
    AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin, whose video for ASD is a major part of a federal fraud investigation, is now a video pitchman for 'Paperless Access.'

    The video first appeared online two days ago. Bowdoin did not identify the owners of Paperless Access, describing them only as a small group of people. Nor did Bowdoin mention that the government is establishing an ASD refund program.

    One of the reasons it hasn’t been able to implement the program is because of Bowdoin’s self-filed legal maneuverings.

    Except for a letter Bowdoin released through Surf’s Up several days ago, he had been silent for months.  Bowdoin, for example, did not tell members about a second forfeiture complaint filed in December against assets linked to ASD. Nor did Bowdoin tell members about his January decision to submit to the forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars seized in August.

    Before Bowdoin went silent late in the fall, he tried to sell members VOIP telephone service, positioning the $20-a-month offer as a gift.

    Bowdoin, now acting as his own attorney, has changed his mind about submitting to the forfeiture, an act that will delay any government refund program because prosecutors can’t liquidate seized assets to create a victims’ pool until the case is fully litigated.

    At the same time, other ASD members also are filing pro se pleadings in the forfeiture case — something the government says also affects its ability to implement a refund program.

    Why Paperless Access would choose Bowdoin for a commercial spokesman at the risk of being dragged into a major federal fraud investigation is unclear, especially when one of the issues in the federal case is Bowdoin’s appearance in a video to promote ASD.

    Prosecutors said Bowdoin was the head of a criminal enterprise. Private litigants have accused him of racketeering, and Bowdoin was accused of 89 separate counts of fraud in four Alabama counties in the 1990s, pleading guilty to felonies.

    Database Decision Ruffles Feathers

    Some ASD members were angry that Bowdoin had turned over the ASD database to Paperless Access, saying the move invaded their privacy and exposed them to identity theft.

    “They have been given access to the database for the purpose of determining losses and the structure of the network,” Bowdoin said.

    In short, Bowdoin appears to have turned over the database to a company whose owners he appears unwilling to identify. If ASD member “losses” are recorded in the database as Bowdoin says, the new owners might gain insider’s knowledge about possible targets in a federal criminal probe into ASD’s business practices. At the same time, the database would provide Paperless Access with the names of thousands of potential witnesses against ASD and the spending habits of ASD members at large.

    Bowdoin does not identify himself in the Paperless Access video. Nor does he refer to ASD by name a single time. At the same time, Bowdoin’s claims about Paperless Access are filled with vagaries and confusing information.

    Paperless Access has a “variety of outside revenue-generating sources,” Bowdoin said, without revealing the sources.

    Bowdoin said the company’s business plan was based “solely on outside revenue.” Vague claims of outside revenue was one of the things that got ASD in trouble.

    Meanwhile, Bowdoin makes the odd claim that the goal of Paperless Access is to “return the members’ legally purchased funds.” ASD members used funds to make their purchases, but they did not purchase funds.

  • Prosecutors: Richmond Filing May Lead To ‘Unconscionable’ Delays, Thus Denying ASD’s Rank-And-File Justice

    When Curtis Richmond began filing pleadings in the ASD case, the Surf’s Up forum hailed him a hero. Prosecutors see things a different way.

    A federal judge should not permit Richmond and three others to intervene in the AdSurfDaily forfeiture case because the pleadings “will cause either manifest injustice, unconscionable delay, or both,” federal prosecutors said late yesterday.

    “Movants are but an unhappy few of the many thousands of victims of the fraud schemes
    described in the complaint,” prosecutors said of Richmond and three other men who used Richmond’s pro se litigation blueprint.  “They seek to muscle aside their fellow sufferers, and cannot even pretend to be acting in the best interests of the other [ASD] victims.”

    Prosecutors said the government is establishing a mechanism to provide refunds to ASD victims and that Richmond’s filings essentially create a small, special class of victims and could result in interminable delays for rank-and-file ASD members.

    Absent in the prosecutors’ response to Richmond were direct references to assertions by Richmond and the others that the government had committed crimes. Some ASD members treated Richmond’s assertions as red meat for the masses, using them to feed dissent against the government and build support for ASD President Andy Bowdoin.

    Prosecutors virtually ignored the assertions. Richmond was convicted of contempt of court in 2007 for threatening federal judges. He also was ordered by a federal judge to pay damages and costs to Utah public employees targeted by vexatious legal filings. The employees sued Richmond, a member of a sham Utah “Indian tribe,” under federal racketeering statutes.

    The Four-Corner Offense?

    It is NCAA “March Madness” basketball tournament time in the United States. Sometimes basketball teams try to slow down the game by employing the “four-corner offense,” situating players in a square and simply passing the ball around the square, rather than advancing it toward the basket.

    Prosecutors may be anticipating a four-corner offense from Bowdoin and others to slow down the ASD case. They referenced Bowdoin’s own pro se pleadings in the case, but did not respond to them directly in their response to motions by Richmond and the others.

    It would not be surprising if the government later takes the stand that Bowdoin’s filings are designed to delay justice. Pointedly, prosecutors described Bowdoin as “apparently proceeding pro se,” a possible sign of developments to come.

    For scale, consider that the first filing in one of the Utah cases involving Richmond was entered on Aug. 11, 2004 — four and a half years ago. By Jan. 14, 2009,  the case file had grown to include 321 separate entries, not taking entries that don’t qualify as formal filings into account.

    In January, Bowdoin, acting under advice of paid counsel, submitted to the August forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars seized from him. But Bowdoin now says he has changed his mind about submitting to the forfeiture, even though he also concedes ASD was operating illegally at the time of the seizure — exactly what the government contended all along.

    The ASD case was nearly litigated to conclusion when pro se pleadings began to pour in. In their response to Richmond, prosecutors streamlined their pleadings — addressing Richmond’s filing and three similar ones by other pro se litigants in the same document, rather than producing an individual response to each of the four motions.

    Individual motions might have required to court to act on four more documents, thus slowing down the case even more.

    If history is a guide, though, ASD members should not be surprised if the case slows to a crawl, thus delaying refunds. In the past, Richmond has filed pro se document after pro se document — and then turned to appeals courts for remedies when denied by district courts.

    He even has named judges defendants in his pleadings.

  • Something Going On At Surf’s Up?

    UPDATED 8:13 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) An inquiry about AdViewGlobal (AVG) at the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum has not been answered for hours by the moderator to which it was directed or any Mod.

    The Mods appear either to have been away from the forum for virtually the entire U.S. East Coast business day or simply made the choice not to moderate.

    At the time of this update, more than eight hours have passed since the AVG inquiry was made. Update 6:45 P.M: After nine hours, the post referencing AVG at the Surf’s Up forum was deleted. Here is a screen shot taken prior to the deletion. The shot was reduced in size to fit into this space:

    terralynnavgaccountfundingsmall

    Meanwhile, a post highly critical of ASD President Andy Bowdoin has been permitted to stand. Update: 6:45 P.M: The critical post from “adam” has been deleted, along with a second critical post by another Surf’s Up member. Here is a screen shot of “adam’s” post prior to deletion. It has been reduced in size to fit into this space:

    adam800000small

    Update 7:14 P.M:. As noted above, the post from “adam” critical of Andy Bowdoin has been deleted. Left standing was a post critical of “adam” for being critical of Andy Bowdoin. Here is a screen shot:

    adamidiotclaimsmall

    At the same time, members’ inquiries on a forum some of the Surf’s Up Mods and members set up for AVG are not being answered. Update 8:13 P.M: It appears as though a Mod is answering inquiries now at the AVG forum.

    AVG recently announced a 200 percent, matching-bonus offer. The site has transitioned to what it calls a “private association” that involves figures associated with ASD, including George Harris, Bowdoin’s stepson.

    Why the Mods appear to have been away so long is unclear.

  • Ramping Up The AdSurfDaily Insanity

    UPDATED 11:41 A.M. EDT (March 12, U.S.A.) AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin, acting as his own attorney, acknowledged in court filings yesterday that the company had been operating illegally when the government seized tens of millions of dollars last summer.

    The concession was nuclear. It undermines the work of his previous paid attorneys and puts Bowdoin in the position of having to explain previous representations given the court that are completely at odds with what he is saying now.

    At the same time, it undermines self-filed pleadings Bowdoin entered into the record last week. Meanwhile, it undermines pleadings by others, including four people who told the court that they were permitted to enter into commercial contracts with whomever they pleased and for whatever commercial interest they pleased.

    Bowdoin now has told the court that he was operating an illegal commercial enterprise, thus nuking the argument of Curtis Richmond and three others. Richmond, himself a pro se litigant, is linked to a sham Utah “Indian tribe” known for filing vexatious pleadings that make tortured legal constructions.

    “Professor” Patrick Moriarty, an ASD mainstay, has advanced commercial theories similar to Richmond’s. Moriarty got nuked yesterday, too, only a few days after congratulating Bowdoin in a column for his excellent, pro-se pleadings.

    Andy Bowdoin’s pleadings, though, are jeopardizing the freedom of members of his family, ASD insiders and top promoters, and strategic shills.

    Yesterday, the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum celebrated the filings. The forum Mods appear not to have connected the dots that Bowdoin just nuked them. Some of the Mods and members set up a site to promote AdViewGlobal (AVG), which has close ties to ASD. Bowdoin nuked AVG yesterday, too.

    Today Surf’s Up has banned at least one member for not carrying Bowdoin’s water bucket. The forum even has banned members who post unflattering opinions about Bowdoin or ASD on other forums.

    The Mods can tell you until they’re blue in the face that Bowdoin’s filings were something to celebrate; the announcement, as always, came with exclamation points, both in the thread and in an email Surf’s Up members received.

    But this was nothing to celebrate if you’re a top promoter, an insider or a strategic shill. And it certainly was nothing to celebrate  if you’re a rank-and-file member of ASD: Bowdoin just told you he ripped you off. His excuse was that the government didn’t give him fair notice that he was ripping you off.

    Surf’s Up, which previously postioned Bowdoin as a genius, now is telling you his genius didn’t extend to the recognition of a Ponzi scheme and money-laundering operation. A Mod explained that Andy didn’t know he was ripping people off because the government never told him until after it seized the cash.

    ASD advertised CEP Trust.
    ASD advertised CEP Trust.

    It is a steaming pile. ASD once advertised that it used CEP Trust, the failed payment processor run by the operators of the CEP Ponzi scheme. This Blog published a screen shot of ASD’s CEP pitch months ago, along with a screen shot of an ad that told the audience that ASD deposits were insured by the FDIC.

    Bowdoin’s claims do not pass the giggle test — not that anybody is laughing at this point. There simply is no delight in unmasking these lies.

    Claim that ASD deposits were FDIC-insured.
    Claim that ASD deposits were FDIC-insured.

    This Blog has refrained from calling Surf’s Up the “Loony Bin” as it is known elsewhere, and it has refrained from using the phrase “Kool-Aid drinkers,” except in cases such as quotations. We have used the word “crackpot” to describe “Surf’s Up.” It was the least-objectionable word we could think of to instill a sense of the madness taking place at Surf’s Up.

    Despite everything that happened to ASD last summer, the insiders at AVG implemented a new surf and started collecting money. The operation has ASD’s fingerprints all over it, and the inescapable conclusion is that Bowdoin’s pleadings in the ASD case are setting the stage for the planned defense of AVG.

    The operative word in the previous sentence is “planned.” Bowdoin and insiders got caught again. Now they are desperately trying to wiggle out of a prosecution against AVG by making the no “fair-notice” claim. It is utterly preposterous, and yet the Surf’s Up Mods serve it up daily.

    AVG, by the way, is still online — despite Bowdoin’s concession to a federal judge and the prosecution that ASD was operating illegally.

    They have taken no hints — including the RICO lawsuit filed by other ASD members in which Bowdoin, ASD Attorney Robert Garner and Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby were accused of racketeering. None of the principal defendants has filed a single piece of paperwork in the case — not after two months.

    We believe it likely there are sealed criminal indictments in the ASD case. At the same time, we believe it probable that some ASD/AVG insiders know they are targets of a criminal probe.

    And we believe it equally likely that Bowdoin and the insiders have shielded members from this knowledge, while using Surf’s Up to whip up support. If the Mods have insider’s knowledge they are at risk of indictment. Even a whiff of it is enough.

    No AVG participant also in ASD, for example, will be able to claim they did not know the possible consequences of their actions as they pertained to AVG. And with George Harris, Bowdoin’s stepson; Gary Talbert, a former ASD executive; and Chuck Osmin, a former ASD employee who testified for ASD at the evidentiary hearing in the AVG lineup, there will be no credible way to claim ignorance. Nate Boyd, listed as the “Protector” of the AVG association, formerly was the head of compliance for ASD, members said.

    Do not be surprised if you see the no “fair notice” argument ported over to AVG.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Bowdoin Files Motion To Dismiss In Which He Acknowledges AdSurfDaily Was Illegal

    UPDATED 10:06 A.M. EDT (March 12, U.S.A.) Did Andy Bowdoin just sink AdSurfDaily’s ship — and also the ship of AdViewGlobal?

    In a court filing today, Bowdoin, the president of ASD, made a stunning acknowledgment that the company was operating illegally.

    Bowdoin’s acknowledgment came in the purported form of a motion to dismiss the forfeiture complaint against proceeds tied to the firm, which prosecutors said engaged in wire fraud, money-laundering, selling unregistered securities and operating a $100 million Ponzi scheme.

    “The defendant did not know or realize that his conduct was illegal until this instant case was filed against him,” Bowdoin said, referring to himself as “defendant.”

    Bowdoin contends in the pleading that the case is “quasi-criminal” and that he was denied due process and fair notice that his conduct was illegal.

    Bowdoin, however, is not a defendant in the forfeiture case. His self-filed pleading references the forfeiture case on its title page, but appears to be a response to a case that never was brought.

    For days, the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum has been applauding legal filings Bowdoin made last week and encouraging others to do the same.

    But today’s filing could cause Bowdoin’s remaining support to evaporate because of his concession that ASD was operating illegally. Bowdoin had spent months insisting ASD was legal and collected tens of millions of dollars from members last year, all the while advertising ASD as completely legal and above-board.

    Bowdoin now is acting as his own attorney. AdViewGlobal (AVG), an autosurf with close ties to ASD, recently formed a private association and turned to a firm known as Pro Advocate Group  for advice.

    Karl Dahlstrom is associated with Pro Advocate Group.  In 1997, Dahlstrom was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for his role in a securities scheme.

    Today’s filing by Bowdoin is potentially devastating both for ASD and AVG because of the concession that ASD was operating illegally. Prosecutors could claim the document has the effect of a signed confession.

    Bowdoin’s stepson is an AVG trustee. So is Gary Talbert, AVG’s chief executive officer and a former ASD executive. Chuck Osmin, a former ASD employee who testified for the firm at a hearing last year, also works for AVG. Nate Boyd, whom ASD members said once was a compliance officer for ASD, is listed as the “Protector” for the AVG association. Some of the Mods and members of Surf’s Up started a forum for AVG.

    Bowdoin’s pleadings today appear to attempt to manufacture a criminal defense out of whole cloth, by rewriting the history of the forfeiture case — a civil proceeding — and turning the case into something it never was: a criminal prosecution against Andy Bowdoin. The only defendants in the case to date are money and property prosecutors claim are the proceeds of a criminal enterprise.

    At the same time, today’s pleadings may be designed so potential ASD co-defendants in any criminal case that evolves will have a legal template for a self-filed defense. There have been reports that bank accounts owned by ASD members beyond Bowdoin have been seized in the past two weeks.

    Meanwhile, the cheerleading for Bowdoin at the Surf’s Up forum appears to be particularly unseemly now because today’s pleadings had everything to do with Andy Bowdoin, and nothing to do with the rank-and-file members who’d been asked to support him. The document does not cite the membership in a single place.

    Read today’s Bowdoin pleadings.

  • EDITORIAL: Andy Bowdoin, Have You No Shame?

    Andy Bowdoin, have you no shame? Once again your closest followers and insiders are asking rank-and-file members to believe you are acting in their interests. They do this after you turned to the membership in August and asked for letters of support while not sharing details members needed to make informed decisions.

    The membership delivered more than 3,000 letters. And then the lies were exposed, and they looked like fools for having lent their voices to this awful chorus. Andy Bowdoin should be held accountable for that. So should the followers and insiders who are helping him cloud the issues.

    Members should ask Bowdoin why he was running an ad for a failed, dissolved business in his own rotator. And they should ask why Bowdoin was paying an employee to surf for his son. They also should ask why a police report never was filed when Russian hackers purportedly stole $1 million from ASD — and why a police report wasn’t filed when others purportedly stole money from the firm.

    Those questions are just for starters, of course. There are lots of suspicious financial transactions involving family members and insiders.

    Playing The Deflection Game

    Some of those pulling strings are doing it because they have financial exposure; some are doing it because they have criminal exposure, and some are doing it for both reasons. Even so, some are almost catastrophically ignorant of the danger they are in. The information is being disseminated by crackpots and filtered through crackpots. Much of it is self-validating drivel, the stuff from which indictments are made.

    If you’re an AdSurfDaily member, you’ll serve yourself ill if you attach any importance to any of today’s self-filed legal pleadings by Andy Bowdoin or if you listen to anything the closest followers and insiders have to say. You got hoodwinked the first time. Don’t let it happen again.

    Think of his principal cheerleaders and major promoters as potential co-defendants in both civil and criminal prosecutions. Ask yourself if you’re being asked to provide cover for criminals before you invest in any of this, including the writing of letters to politicians.

    Bowdoin does not dispute a single fact in today’s filings. All three documents offer technical challenges to the forfeiture actions. The documents paint Bowdoin the victim of a police state despite the fact he hasn’t been arrested or incarcerated. It is a subdued rant against a perceived police state. Nothing more.

    Any person who tells you that Americans are free to sign contracts and engage in commerce for any purpose that pleases them is a crackpot.  If this were the case, drug dealers and customers could escape prosecution simply by agreeing not to call a crime a crime.

    The documents appear to have been written by someone who wishes the case were a criminal indictment, not a civil forfeiture proceeding. The person may get his wish soon enough. Prosecutors wouldn’t have to use a word Bowdoin said in the presence of any Secret Service agent to bring an indictment or get a conviction.

    Bowdoin also appears to be confused about his own case — something that’s not surprising, considering he once told members that Ponzi charges had been dropped against him in Florida when they had never been brought to begin with.

    In his current pleadings, Bowdoin appears to be claiming he submitted to forfeiture under duress. But he never submitted to the forfeiture of the money and property he points to in today’s pleadings. He has submitted only to the forfeiture of money and property seized in August, not December, and Bowdoin appears to be trying to have the December forfeiture reversed while not mentioning the August forfeiture or providing corresponding dates when specific actions took place. At present, the documents appear to show that Bowdoin isn’t challenging the August seizure of $93.5 million and other property, including two homes.

    Members should ask him about that. They need to know if he is challenging the August seizure. They need to know precisely why he appears only to be challenging the seizure of property linked to his family members and Golden Panda President Clarence Busby.

    So Simple, Anybody Can Be A Lawyer

    Earlier Bowdoin had competent attorneys from a prominent law firm. He also paid $24,000 to retain an expert witness. All of these people went to real law schools and are members of the bar.

    Neither the attorneys nor the expert could score a win for ASD at the Sept. 30-Oct. 1.  evidentiary hearing that ASD itself requested. Bowdoin could have scored his own win by producing documents and audited financial statements that demonstrated ASD was not a Ponzi scheme. He didn’t do it. Not only did he not do it, he didn’t even do what his attorneys asked him to do, namely submit documentation to them to aid in the preparation of his case in the forfeiture matter.

    And now he’s doing what Andy Bowdoin does: playing the victim and creating hope where none exists. He did largely the same thing when he was accused of a huge fraud in Alabama a decade ago.

    You see, the whole, ugly mess in Alabama that resulted in felony charges being filed against Bowdoin was not his fault.

    Bowdoin told the St. Petersburg Times that “he ran into trouble in Alabama because his company, Mobile International, sought to raise $1-million through a stock issue, and someone was improperly paid a commission to sell the stock,” according to the newpaper.

    “That nullified the registrations that our attorney had done with the state of Alabama,” he said.

    Bowdoin did not explain why he pleaded guilty to felonies if he had done nothing wrong and how one couple got hoodwinked out of $450,000. Bowdoin and his cronies bought expensive cars and expensive office trimmings with the money.

    World-class crackpots are pulling Bowdoin’s strings now. Don’t be surprised if he gets indicted soon and takes a haf-dozen or more people down with him. An alleged $100 million Ponzi scheme is still extraordinary, despite its seeming smallness when compared to Bernard Madoff.

    The government should leave no stone unturned in its investigation into Bowdoin’s actions. On Aug. 18, Bowdoin filed an emergency motion that asked the court to free up money so ASD could operate post-seizure.

    Bowdoin did not advise the court from which it sought emergency relief in the Aug. 18 brief that ASD had more than $1 million on deposit in a bank in Antigua. Instead Bowdoin told the court that ASD couldn’t pay its bills.

    “ASD needs emergency relief,” Bowdoin said in Aug. 18 filings. ” . . .  In a matter of a few days, ASD has gone from a vibrant internet advertising business with approximately 100,000 members to a hollow shell without a working office and without the means to resume its business . . .  It has also been unable to pay its bills (to creditors, such as its landlord) and is hurtling down into a steep financial tailspin. To provide one concrete example, on August 14, 2008, ASD’s hosting company threatened to shut down the company’s servers because its bill is unpaid.”

    Only after prosecutors pointed to the Antigua money on Aug. 25 did Bowdoin acknowledge its existence in court briefs. He declared an emergency despite the fact ASD had more than $1 million offshore — in an account under a different name — and he didn’t tell members about the Antigua money until prosecutors raised the issue.

    Why not?

    At first, part of the circus surrounding ASD was mildly amusing, despite the fact a $100 million, international Ponzi scheme is very serious business. But all the air is out of the balloon now, and the government should pursue justice that is equivalent with crimes being committed right in plain sight.

    This is not a comedy; it is a tragedy.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Bowdoin, Acting As Own Attorney, Files Motion To Dismiss AdSurfDaily Forfeiture Case

    Andy Bowdoin.
    Andy Bowdoin.

    UPDATE 4:13 P.M. EST (U.S.A.) Andy Bowdoin, acting as his own attorney, has filed a motion to dismiss the AdSurfDaily forfeiture case.

    At the same time, Bowdoin appears to have filed a motion to reverse his earlier decision to submit to the forfeiture of certain property seized by the government.

    Bowdoin’s filing, however, does not appear to contest the forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars seized by the government in August. It appears to apply to property seized from members of his family in December and from Golden Panda President Clarence Busby.

    It is possible that a document is missing from the case file or has yet to be added. The petition to reverse the forfeiture, as filed, references only property seized in the December forfeiture action.

    Today’s Bowdoin filings are dated and signed Feb. 25, 2009, exactly one day before AdViewGlobal (AVG), an autosurf that defines itself as an offshore company and shares common management with ASD, announced it was going underground by forming a private association.

    Incredibly, AVG makes the claim it is not associated with ASD despite the presence of common management, common promoters and at least one common employee, Chuck Osmin. Osmin testified for ASD at the Sept. 30-Oct. 1 evidentiary hearing. Gary Talbert, a former ASD executive who is now the chief executive officer of AVG, filed a sworn affidavit in the case.

    George Harris, Bowdoin’s stepson, is listed as a trustee for the AVG private association. So is Talbert. Property was seized from Harris in the December forfeiture complaint.

    Harris is the son of Edna Faye Bowdoin, Andy Bowdoin’s wife.

    Andy Bowdoin said his decision to submit to the forfeiture was made under “severe duress” and was a “grave mistake and error.” He accused the government of “fraud, trickery and deceit.”

    Meanwhile, Bowdoin has filed a motion to suppress evidence, saying he was illegally interrogated by the U.S. Secret Service. Bowdoin claimed agents did not advise him of his Miranda rights — the right to remain silent.

    In his motion to dismiss, Bowdoin said the court was obligated to dismiss because it lacked jurisdiction. Bowdoin said the case should be viewed as a quasi-criminal matter, not a civil case.

    “There was no probable cause even to file a complaint in this instant case,” Bowdoin asserted.

    Why Bowdoin filed the documents as his own attorney isn’t clear. But the documents have the hallmarks of documents filed by inexpert litigants belonging to underground legal “associations” that purport to help nonlawyers navigate tricky waters.

    AdSurfDaily and AdViewGlobal recently have been linked to such underground associations. One of them is Pro Advocate Group, which says it can help nonlawyers and nondoctors establish private “associations” that enable members to practice law and medicine without a license.

    Bowdoin’s pleadings, in general, are much more respectful than documents other litigants acting as their own attorneys recently have filed in the case.

    Unlike Curtis Richmond and others who used the Richmond litigation blueprint, Bowdoin, for instance, does not accuse the judge and prosecutors of crimes and demand a specific result in a compressed time frame at the peril of prosecution.

    But he did accuse the government of trickery, saying the Secret Service “did not follow the supreme law of the land” in its treatment of him.

    “One cannot break the law in an attempt to ‘uphold the law,’” Bowdoin said.

    Moderators of the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum have hinted for days that something special was coming in the case. If this is it, “special” means that Bowdoin now is acting as his own attorney and citing English Common Law as one of his resources.

    How much Bowdoin spent on the lawyers previously handing his case is unknown. His earlier decision to surrender to the forfeiture, however, imperiled ASD promoters who made money. It would be hard for them to claim they were entitled to keep proceeds of what prosecutors said was a $100 million Ponzi scheme when Bowdoin himself surrendered claims.

    Prosecutors, however, always have had the option of litigating against Bowdoin’s promoters no matter what Bowdoin did.

    ASD members have reported in recent days that the Secret Service has seized the bank accounts of some individual ASD promoters, including people who also are promoting AdViewGlobal. Bowdoin has been under pressure from members who were unhappy about his two-month silence.

    He did not tell members about a second forfeiture complaint filed against ASD-connected assets in December. Nor did he tell members about his January decision to surrender the money. Both issues created problems for ASD promoters.

    Read Bowdoin’s motion to dismiss.

    Read Bowdoin’s motion to reverse his earlier decision to forfeit property.

    Read Bowdoin’s motion to supress evidence.

  • Shush! AdViewGlobal Promoters Get Tongue-Tied

    Here’s how one AdViewGlobal (AVG) promoter put it in a message to his list:

    “Ad View Global is now known as AV Global Association. AV Global Association is a private membership association. To help protect the members of this private association, I will no longer discuss AVG in my Newsletter.”

    He did not mention that AVG is taking advice from Karl Dahlstrom of Pro Advocate Group.  Dahlstrom, in 1997, was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for his role in a securities scheme. Nor did the promoter mention that Dahlstrom’s daughter also was sentenced to prison.

    No one at the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum has mentioned it either. A sister site for AVG set up by some of the Surf’s Up Mods and members, however, also has gone underground. A couple of weeks ago the AdViewGlobal forum anointed Curtis Richmond a “hero” for intervening in the ASD case, but never told members about Richmond’s conviction for threatening federal judges.

    Nor did the AdViewGlobal forum tells members about an order by a federal judge for Richmond and others to pay nearly $110,000 in damages and costs to public officials harmed by an organized nuisance campaign. Richmond is a member of a Utah “Indian” tribe the judge ruled a sham, saying the “tribe’s” efforts to undermine the legal system by filing vexatious lawsuits and trying to collect enormous judgments against public officials amounted to racketeering.

    BizAdSplash

    Here’s what the first promoter cited above had to say about BizAdSplash, yet another surf with ties to ASD that came to life in the aftermath of the government seizure of assets linked to ASD in August and December.

    “I think it is best to leave the percentages off my Newsletter going forward. For those who are already members of Biz Ad Splash, you can see the daily calculations by going to your Ad Package History and then clicking on any one of your active ad packs.

    “Biz Ad Splash announced over the weekend that they are discontinuing the Strict Pay payment processor. Strict Pay is having some problems right now which has caused Biz Ad Splash to stop using them for the time being at least.”

    Early promoters of BizAdSplash linked it to Clarence Busby, the operator of GoldenPandaAdBuilder. Assets linked to Golden Panda were seized in the ASD probe. Busby was called a “special consultant” to BizAdSplash. Other promoters said he was the owner.

    Like ASD President Andy Bowdoin and ASD attorney Robert Garner, Busby has been named a defendant in a racketeering lawsuit.

    The BizAdSplash promoter did not mention banking problems in Panama and elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean created by the collapse of the R. Allen Stanford Ponzi in Antigua. Three of three surfs that sprouted up after the government seizure of assets linked to ASD claimed ties to Panama or South America. These included BizAdSplash, AVG and AdGateWorld.

    All three surfs are trolling for cash in particularly odious ways right now — and this on the heels of other surfs that collapsed in the wake of the Stanford Ponzi. The extent of Stanford’s troubles on the autosurf trade is unclear, but two surfs — PAC and Aggero Investment — flamed out in spectacular fashion in the past week, and promoters for both surfs claimed the programs were safe because they were offshore.

    Both PAC and Aggero Investment collected money until the bitter end, saying things were just fine.

    Boom! They were gone.

    And, speaking of “gone,” MegaLido also is gone. The first promoter cited above promoted it, too, and he’s also promoting AdGateWorld.