The ASD Business Information Zone (ASD-Biz) forum covers news and opinion on AdSurfDaily, Golden Panda Ad Builder and what the forum describes as “Related Scams.” ASD-Biz has been a central discussion site on the subject of the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA).
Some ASD-Biz members have urged Bob Guenther, the de facto head of ASDMBA, to provide straightforward, transparent accounting of how ASDMBA spent money it collected from ASD members to provide legal representation in a bid to gain back money they spent in the ASD and Golden Panda autosurfs.
Among the assertions by ASDMBA’s critics is that members received no value for the money they contributed to ASDMBA. Specific concerns have been raised about Guenther’s leadership and management skills, including his ability to interact with people. Some members said Guenther seems to operate with the presumption that all people who contributed money to ASDMBA were Republican or conservative in their political beliefs, even though ASDMBA never advised contributors when it was collecting money that it had a political agenda.
Guenther pleaded guilty in the 1990s to a felony count of bank fraud — something members said they did not know when they contributed money to ASDMBA. Earlier this year Guenther was charged with two felony counts in Arizona for allegedly ignoring a court order not to harass a company with which he has a dispute.
Guenther initially said police had obtained evidence against him unlawfully. He now says the case will be settled.
Guenther has used the ASD-Biz forum to respond to his critics. Overnight he came out firing — but not before acknowledging ASDMBA engaged in intimidation tactics to retrieve money for members of the ASD and Golden Panda autosurfs.
“Vigilanteism, is that what you call intimidating a THIEF to give back money he stole from a disabled veteran,” Guenther said. “Is that what YOU call intimidating a thief like Busby to reimburse over $50,000 to a group of active and retired police officers, is that what you call to convince a young pretty scam artist to refund $4000 she stole from a Dallas executive[?]
“You call it what you want, I call it street justice,” Guenther said.
He then brought politics into the discussion, using street language. “Ill take my chances and if it bothers you, stay right where all you left wing liberal no balled people like to sit, on the sidelines.”
Earlier Guenther had cautioned an ASD-Biz poster to “Put up or shut up, you ignorant mouthy broad.”
His comments in which he acknowledged using intimidation tactics to retrieve money came in response to a link to a March news release from the FBI about allegations of attempted extortion against a California man. The agency said the man had “attemped to extort monies” to recover funds in the alleged EIMT Ponzi scheme.
Agents described the case against Michael David Sanders as a “shake-down scheme.” As the investigation proceeded, Sanders and three others who allegedly assisted him in recovering the money by posing as federal agents were charged with serious crimes.
No one asserts that Guenther posed as a federal agent in bids to recover money from the Golden Panda and ASD schemes. But ASDMBA’s website urged visitors to make an ASD member’s life “miserable until he refunds Mr. Smith’s $2,000.00 dollars.” The site published the phone number, postal address and email address of Dan Trost, Smith’s purported ASD sponsor.
“Call, email and write this man until he gives Bill Smith, Jr. his $2,000.00,” ASDMBA’s website urged.
ASDMBA members say Guenther frequently uses coarse language and engages in threatening, menacing conduct.
Guenther said the effort to get back money for Smith, a disabled veteran, was successful. ASDMBA’s website lists the effort to gain back the money as a “Testimonial” to the group’s effectiveness.
ASDMBA, however, has no license to engage in the collection of purported debts, and efforts to collect money on behalf of members occurred while a federal investigation into the business affairs of ASD and Golden Panda was under way.
Guether said the group retrieved funds for retired and active-duty police officers in Texas and California, and for a “high profile Dallas Cowboy” executive.
More than $14 million was seized from Golden Panda last year by the U.S. Secret Service in a wire-fraud, money-laundering, securities and Ponzi scheme probe. More than $65.8 million was seized from ASD, all of it in accounts maintained by ASD President Andy Bowdoin.
In recent days, Guenther has discouraged ASD victims from going through a government program to receive restitution from the alleged fraud, suggesting he has a way that cuts through government red tape.
Visit the ASD-Biz forum.