PatrickPretty.com

Tag: ASD Cash Generator

  • Breaking News: More ASD-Connected Assets Seized; Bowdoin Blamed Company Troubles On Russian Hackers

    Federal prosecutors quietly went to court last month, filing a second forfeiture complaint against assets tied to AdSurfDaily Inc. The complaint paints a jaw-dropping picture of insider dealings, special favors, a “silent” ASD partner, people getting paid large sums for doing virtually nothing — and a claim that Russian hackers broke into ASD’s servers and stole more than $1 million.

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin never reported the theft to police or other authorities. He also told different people different stories about the cash struggles ASD was having before the autosurf changed its name to ASD Cash Generator, prosecutors said.

    “Mr.  Bowdoin told some individuals that he had to stop operating the program over the Internet as AdSurfDaily after one or more Russians hacked into his program and caused the ASD operation to issue approximately $1 million to one or more Russians,” prosecutors said.

    Bowdoin explained the money was taken “before [he] discovered that the Russians had not paid any money to ASD to secure for themselves a portion of its revenue stream (as so-called ‘rebates’),” prosecutors said.

    The new forfeiture complaint, which is filed in the District of Columbia but has been assigned a different case number than the still-active August forfeiture complaint, names currency, real estate, luxury vehicles, a 20-foot Triton Cabana boat, jet skis, trailers and computer equipment as the property the government seeks to seize as additional proceeds of an illegal Ponzi scheme.

    Prosecutors seek $634,266 previously deposited in Bartow County Bank in the name of Golden Panda Ad Builder. The money previously was ceded to the government by ASD President Clarence Busby and his daughter, Dawn Stowers.

    In addition, they seek a 2009 Lincoln MKS in the name of Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises; a 2009 Acura registered to Hays McDougal Amos; a 2008 Honda CRV registered to Judy Shriver Harris and George Franklin Harris; a 20-foot Triton Cabana boat, Mercury outboard motor and trailer; two 2007 Bombardier jet skis and a 2008 Confab trailer.

    At the same time, they seek the old Masonic Hall building Bowdoin purchased for $800,000 cash in Quincy, and a home in Tallahassee that was purchased with ASD funds that Bowdoin’s wife diverted to her son, George Harris, with the assistance of Harris.

    On June 10 and June 11 alone, Bowdoin’s family members and employees used $239,957 derived from ASD funds to make personal purchases, prosecutors said.

    Bowdoin’s wife, Edna Faye Bowdoin, worked with her son on June 10, 2008, to create an account at Capital City Bank, into which more than $177,000 in ASD funds were transferred from Bank of America, prosecutors said.

    On June 23, 2008, Harris used $157,216 of the money to pay off the mortgage on the Tallahassee home he occupied with his wife, Judy Harris, prosecutors said.

    “In short, Edna Faye Bowdoin and her son, George Harris, created an entity that funneled ASD proceeds into a bank account from which funds were provided to George Harris, and his wife, to pay off their home mortgage,” prosecutors said.

    Andy Bowdoin and Edna Faye Bowdoin created Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises to help “conceal from the government their expenditures and assets they purchased,” prosecutors said.

    Insider Dealings

    It is clear from the new forfeiture complaint that investigators have interviewed many people, including Bowdoin relatives, and spent considerable time chasing paper. The brackets in the quoted passages below are emphasis we added.

    “Mr. Bowdoin and associates [note the use of the plural] issued ad packages to friends and family (who  paid nothing for the ad packages) as free investment, and compensation programs,” prosecutors said.

    “Mr. Bowdoin, and others [note the plural] working with or associated with ASD, also gave ad packages to employees/workers as compensation for services performed for ASD,” prosecutors said.

    “These individuals also were able to pull out considerable funds from the so-called rebate program even though in many [note the use of the word “many”] cases they put little, if any, of their own money into the scheme,” prosecutors said.

    “For example, a former employee took over $30,000 out of ASD after putting in nothing. Another former employee pulled out over $300,000 after putting in about $10,000,” prosecutors said. “One ASD promoter pulled out almost $100,000 after putting in less than $1,000.”

    Family Spending Spree

    Here is a list of major family transactions last summer that used ASD funds, according to prosecutors.

    • June 10, 2008: Edna Faye Bowdoin and her son, George Harris, opened at account at Capital City Bank, funding it with $177,900 transferred from ASD’s Bank of America accounts. Harris later used $157,216 of the deposit to pay off the Tallahassee home he shared with his wife, Judy Harris.
    • June 11, 2008: Judy Harris and George Harris used $28,607 to purchase a 2008 Honda CRV. The vehicle was paid for with ASD company check No. 1337. On Aug. 8 — about a week after ASD’s assets were seized in the initial complaint — a lien was placed on the vehicle to secure a $5,000 loan Judy Harris took out with a family member.
    • June 11, 2008: ASD Chief Executive Officer Juan Fernandez issued an ASD check for $33,450 that was used to pay for a 2009 Acura registered to Hays McDougal Amos.
    • June 28, 2008: ASD Check No. 2708, for $20,506, was used to purchase the jet skis and a trailer. The bill of sale was made out to ASD, and Edna Faye Bowdoin signed for the goods.
    • July 1, 2008: A check from Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises for $23,445 was used to purchase the Triton boat and other equipment. The funds Bowdoin/Harris used originated in ASD’s Bank of America accounts.
    • July 28, 2008: A cashier’s check from Bowdoin/Harris for $48,244 was used to pay for the Lincoln. The funds originated in ASD’s accounts.

  • Ad Surf Daily Surrenders; Bowdoin Removes Claim To Tens Of Millions Of Dollars As Autosurf Ponzi Members Grumble

    BREAKING NEWS (UPDATED 9:03 P.M) Dogged by the government since August and a loser in early skirmishes with prosecutors, AdSurfDaily has done what it said it wouldn’t do: surrendered claims to tens of millions of dollars seized by the Secret Service in a Ponzi scheme investigation.

    Lawyers for ASD President Andy Bowdoin have filed a motion with U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer of the District of Columbia to consent to the forfeiture — and also to forfeit real estate prosecutors said was purchased with proceeds from the scheme.

    Collyer ruled in November that ASD had not demonstrated it was a legal business and not a Ponzi scheme. The ruling was handed down after a Sept. 30-Oct. 1 evidentiary hearing requested by ASD.

    GoldenPandaAdBuilder, which was implicated in the federal probe, surrendered its claim to seized money in September. At the time, Golden Panda’s surrender was condemned as the act of a traitor by some ardent ASD supporters.

    Clarence Busby, the president of Golden Panda, was villified by ASD members who said they believed ASD never would surrender.

    Map picture

    Now ASD itself has surrendered.  Some members are grumbling on forums, at once complaining about prosecutors but also questioning their support for Bowdoin over the past six months.

    Some people maintained from the beginning that ASD — and Bowdoin — would be vindicated and that prosecutors would be lucky to find jobs in fast-food restaurants after Bowdoin systematically destroyed their case and countersued.

    Prosecutors said in court filings today that they intended to aid victims though a liquidation process. “Meanwhile, plaintiff explores mechanisms to identify victims and losses attributable to the AdSurfDaily and Golden Panda Ad Builder Ponzi operations so that property sued because of its involvement in the fraud schemes alleged in the complaint (or the value of property upon its liquidation) may be used to compensate the frauds’ victims,” prosecutors said in a motion.

    From ASD’s court filings (emphasis added). . . Claimants, AdSurfDaily, Inc., Thomas A. Bowdoin, Jr. and Bowdoin & Harris Enterprises, Inc. (hereinafter “Claimants”), by undersigned counsel, hereby request leave of the Court to withdraw and release claims previously filed, consent to forfeiture, as follows.

    1. Claimants withdraw and release with prejudice the verified claims they filed in this civil forfeiture action.

    2. Claimants consent to the forfeiture of the properties for which they have asserted claims (i.e., the real property at 8 Gilcrease Lane and the bank account balances at the Bank of America in the names of Thomas. A. Bowdoin Jr., sole proprietor, d/b/a AdSurfDaily) and expressly announce their intention to not contest the Government’s forfeiture efforts against the properties for which they have asserted claims.

    See this TampaBay.com story.

    Bowdoin’s Surrender View

    Prosecution’s Motion View

  • Roster: Are These Autosurfs In Litigation? Troubled?

    miseryindexBack in August we began to cover AdSurfDaily Inc., a Florida company accused of being an illegal enterprise. Federal prosecutors said ASD, an autosurf, was selling unregistered securities by calling itself an “advertising” company and running a $100 million Ponzi scheme.

    A sister site, LaFuenteDinero, was named in the same federal forfeiture complaint. So was GoldenPandaAdBuilder, a site reportedly conceived on a Georgia fishing lake as a “Chinese” option for ASD members. The site reportedly came to fruition after talks between ASD President Andy Bowdoin and Clarence Busby, who went on to become the operator of Golden Panda.

    Golden Panda has officially dissolved its articles of incorporation and removed its claim to funds seized in the ASD probe. The case still is in litigation.

    Since August, a number of other autosurfs have appeared, some positioning themselves as attractive alternatives to ASD. At least two of them — MegaLido and Frogress — already have failed.

    We decided to keep a running chart of autosurfs. Names will be added over time, as readers contact us or we learn independently of their operations. One of the purposes of this chart is to get a sense about how many autosurfs are involved in litigation, are operating in troubled fashion or are operating freely.

    Autosurf Roster (Updated Jan. 14, 2009)

    NAME LITIGATION (Y/N) NOTES
    AdSurfDaily (Andy Bowdoin) Y Ongoing
    GoldenPandaAdBuilder (Clarence Busby) Y Ongoing
    LaFuenteDinero (Andy Bowdoin) Y Ongoing
    MegaLido (“Michael?”) N DOA
    Frogress (“Jake?”) N DOA
    CEP Y Ongoing/DOA
    PhoenixSurf Y DOA
    12DailyPro Y Ongoing/DOA
    DailyProfitPond N Offline/DOA?
    AdGateWorld (No owner takes credit) N (Debuted Jan. 14) Panama?
    AdViewGlobal (Some former ASD members) N (Prelaunch Buzz) Uruguay?
    Bernard Madoff Y (Nonautosurf Ponzi) $50 B Ponzi
    American Investors Network (AIN) Y (Nonautosurf Ponzi) Bogus Ad. Co.
    Biz Ad Splash (Ownership undeclared) N Panama?
    Increaser.biz (Ownership undeclared) N Netherlands?
    Instant2u (“Billy?”) N DOA. Uzbekistan?
    Noobing (Ownership undeclared) N Kansas?
    Premium Ads Club (135% over 15 days) N DOA 2-23-09
    Aggero Investment (Tied to Premium Ads Club) N Slow-mo DOA 3/1-09
    Name Name Name
    Name Name Name

  • 2008 Concluded With ‘Ponzi-Equals-Pain’ Message

    Bernard Madoff
    Bernard Madoff

    Dear Readers,

    Our best to you with the dawning of the new year — and our thanks for making this Blog one of your stopping points.

    If you have a moment in the coming days, think about leaving a comment that answers this question: What will you remember most about 2008?

    One of the things we’ll remember most is the AdSurfDaily, LaFuente Dinero and Golden Panda Ad Builder case. As mentioned in a previous post, we never intended to do more than a few posts on the subject.

    The ASD case kept itself in the news, though, mostly because of the behavior of some of its more ardent supporters. Andy Bowdoin’s own declaration that Satan was at work — as well as comparing what the company was confronting to the 9/11 terrorist attacks — set the standard for some of the oddities that followed.

    There were Kool-Aid campaigns to Bill O’Reilly of Fox News; letter-writing campaigns to the

    Elie Wiesel, Ponzi Victim
    Elie Wiesel, Ponzi Victim

    Inspector General for the Justice Department; petition drives to the U.S. Senate; a call for a million-person march on Washington; prayer campaigns; name-calling; rants; a gleeful forum party after the Sept. 30-Oct. 1 evidentiary hearing concluded; claims that the prosecutors, Secret Service agents and judge were brainless.

    None of these messages was consistent with a comprehensible PR strategy or the behavior one normally would expect from a company that called itself a professional advertising firm. The presence of numerous other autosurfs also didn’t help. ASD’s claim of offering an exciting, new business model was just plain silly. Scam.com and other sites have been covering autosurfs for years.

    Another thing that didn’t help ASD were the Ponzi allegations against financier Bernard Madoff. The accusations alone brought the word “Ponzi” into widespread public use. The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News, in particular, have been providing exceptional coverage of the Madoff case. Practically everyone knows what a Ponzi is now, something that could affect juror pools in the ASD case. Madoff has become a national disgrace, a punch-line for late-night comics and a source of global disgust and heartache.

    “Ponzi” has become a radioactive word. In short, “Ponzi” = “pain” — the kind of pain that destroys people, dreams, fortunes and the good works of charities, endowments and universities.

    The word “Ponzi” became central to many lives in 2008. It is our sincere hope that 2009 will be defined by a much better word:

    Prosperity.

    Our warm wishes to you.

    Sincerely,

    Patrick

  • Madoff Case Sparks Talk Of ‘Clawbacks’

    Bernard Madoff
    Bernard Madoff

    BLOG UPDATE 2:19 P.M. EST (U.S.A.): La Tribune, a French business newspaper, is reporting that a founder of Access International Advisors, a hedge fund with large sums invested with Bernard Madoff, has been found dead in his New York City office building.

    Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, 65, was found this morning. The French newspaper called it a suicide, as have other media outlets, but the medical examiner hasn’t listed a cause of death.

    Here, below, our earlier post . . .

    In the CEP autosurf Ponzi scheme case, a court-appointed receiver filed dozens of lawsuits against program “winners,” forcing them to return profits on the theory there can be no winners in an illegal enterprise. The receiver, William F. Perkins, placed CEP in bankruptcy and then methodically went about the task of clawing back money for the estate.

    Perkins, who effectively is running CEP as a debtor-in-possession, has negotiated settlements with a number of winners.

    Last month he triumphed over CEP’s owners, Clayton Kimbrell and Trevor Reed, in a civil trial for fraud and breach of fidiciary duty.

    Judge James E. Massey ordered Kimbrell and Reed to return about $1.5 million in fraudulent transfers they made to themselves, family members, employees and other CEP principals.

    Some of the clawback cases against CEP winners still are being heard, about 17 months after the initial filing. More than 20 trials against individual defendants are scheduled next month in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Atlanta.

    CEP was declared a Ponzi by a federal judge, while Madoff remains an alleged Ponzi operator who told authoritites that the Ponzi could amount to $50 billion in losses.  The July 2007 SEC complaint against CEP said about $12 million flowed through the firm in an illegal securities offering.

    Perkins maintains a CEP website from which visitors may access all the court documents. It’s well worth a visit.

    Talk in the Madoff case has turned to what the court-appointed receiver might do to recover cash. Owing to the size of the alleged scheme, things could get downright ugly. In theory, people who made withdrawals could be ordered to return them — and this group includes individual investors, money managers and charities.

    Lawyers are apt to use terms such as “fictitious profits” and “fraudulent conveyance” to describe redemptions by investors before the Ponzi collapse. The prospects are horrifying because investors didn’t know anything untoward was occurring behind the scenes, and many of them likely have spent all or part of the money.

    See this Bloomberg News story.

    If the case follows the CEP model, Madoff and insiders — if any — could be forced to return illegal transfers. Prior to his arrest, Madoff said he wanted to distribute up to $300 million to employees. If such transfers were made — recently or in years past in the form of bonuses — it’s possible that the money could be ordered returned even if spent.

    Ugly doesn’t even begin to describe the battles that could ensue. Charities that relied on Madoff to manage money used for good deeds and took dedemptions could be targeted to pay the money back. There is the potential for pain in many, many places, and it’s possible the clawbacks could go back six years.

    Blinded to the reality that Ponzi schemes can have devastasting consequences, some autosurf supporters still are arguing that the government has no business sticking its nose in where it doesn’t belong.

    Incredibly, an autosurf whose launch is set for next year has targeted nonprofits in early promotions. Promoters have suggested it’s a great way to publicize the business and get cash flow.

    AdSurfDaily, which has ceased to operate in the wake of the government’s August seizure of nearly $100 million, promoted at least one nonprofit, funding it with $100,000 in “ad packs” and asking members to contribute.

    “ASD President, Andy Bowdoin, has generously donated 100,000 ad packages to this organization,” the ASD Breaking News site said on July 5, about a month prior to the seizure.

    ASD encouraged members to send donations for the charity to ASD headquarters and even to transfer “donations from your [ASD] Cash Balance.”

  • Ad View Global, New ‘Advertising’ Program, Debuts

    This morning we read an early pitch for Ad View Global (AVGlobal), a new “advertising” company that is coming online in the wake of the $100 million government seizure of assets tied to AdSurfDaily Inc.

    AVGlobal, according to the promoter’s ad we read, is positioning itself as a guarantee against the recession and poor economy. You’ll have to plunk down a minimum of $360 to get paid for viewing ads. ASD’s minimum purchase was $10, so AVGlobal wants 36 times more to get you started earning fabulous amounts of money for viewing ads while the economy is in the tank.

    Talk about stoking the furnace.

    AVGlobal, which for shorthand purposes also is called AVG, is headquarted in Uruguay, according to the promoter. You shouldn’t worry about this, he implied, because the company has banking relationships throughout the free world and “many” of its employees are “citizens” of the United States or other affluent countries.

    It’s not clear if the “citizens” employed by AVG will continue to live in the United States while they’re running a business from South America.

    At least two of the employees are identified in the promotion, and at least one is an ASD executive: “Gary,” whose last name wasn’t mentioned, appears to be the head man, and Juan Fernandez, chief executive officer of AdSurfDaily, is listed as “national sales manager.”

    Whether Fernandez’ job is to serve exclusively as “national sales manager” for a single country is unclear. One would think a company headquartered in Uruguay might appoint an “international sales manager,” as opposed to a more localized “national sales manager.”

    “National Sales Manager” is an interesting title, to be sure.

    Fernandez, through counsel, notified the federal judge in the ASD case that he would take the 5th Amendment against self-incrimination if called to testify at the Sept. 30-Oct. 1 evidentiary hearing. The judge ruled last month that ASD had not demonstrated it was operating legally and not a Ponzi scheme at the hearing.

    Just two paragraphs below the place in the pitch where the promoter mentions “Gary” and Fernandez by name, he insists “there is no connection with the company ASD . . .”

    There is no disclosure at any point in the pitch about ASD’s legal troubles and the risk associated with participating in an autosurf. What’s important, according to the promoter, is that you can “Make Your Financial Life Recession Proof” by joining Ad View Global, which permits you to plunk down up to $9,500 a day for ad purchases.

    One of the reasons ASD put itself on federal radar screens is because it permitted purchases of $10,000 or more, something that catches the attention of banks, the U.S. Secret Service and the IRS. Banks and the Secret Service and the IRS can become suspicious even of $9,500 transactions, though. They’re smart enough to understand that, if $10,000 is viewed as the magic cutoff to avoid suspicion, some folks just might dial it down a bit.

    It appears that everyone who joins AVGlobal gets dubbed an “account executive,” but if you want to earn you have to become a “VIP” account executive. VIP stands for “Viewing Incentive Program.”

    The promoter stressed that AVGlobal is selling “page impressions,” not simple advertisements.

    “Imagine if NBC paid you to watch their station during the hours of 4:00pm – 8:00 pm each evening, regardless of time zone?” the promoter droned. “What if they had hundreds of thousands of people worldwide that they could guarantee to be watching NBC during this time period? Just how valuable would this time be worth?”

    Exciting stuff, to be sure.

    Hmmm. Perhaps NBC should start paying people for viewing ads, only after making a minimum $360 purchase, registering as account executive VIPs and running things out of South America, of course. If the venture proved to be a Ponzi scheme, NBC could use its own news division to sanitize its own Bernard Madoff or Andy Bowdoin-like scandal.

    Here’s a headline idea: “Make Your Financial Life Recession Proof.”

    Oops. Already taken by AVGlobal. Regardless, NBC has lots of talented writers. Someone will be able to come up with a good headline if the network enters the paid-to-view-ads fray.

    It’s a plain fact that people are hurting as a result of poor economic times. It’s also a plain fact that many folks are turning to the Web to learn ways to supplement their income. Here’s hoping they decide against viewing “page impressions” for a living.

    The Feds believe that ASD President Andy Bowdoin was running a criminal enterprise that sold unregistered securities, called them “advertisements” and operated as a Ponzi scheme. Bowdoin’s own attorneys say he is the target of a criminal probe, and he has been sued in a separate action under federal racketeering laws.

    As pointed out above, Juan Fernandez, Bowdoin’s own CEO, took the 5th at the ASD evidentiary hearing. So did Bowdoin.

    Bowdoin also has been sued by Bill McCollum, the attorney general of Florida, under pyramid statutes. Not long ago Bowdoin claimed during a conference call that “Ponzi” allegations had been dropped in Florida, but “Ponzi” allegations never even were brought in Florida, McCollum’s office said. The state always used pyramid statutes, unlike the federal government, which brought Ponzi allegations.

    Now AVG has emerged, using a similar business model, changing a few things, running things offshore and asking for at least $360 up front so people can play. Perhaps they’ll even get the chance to meet the “national sales manager.”

  • DailyProfitPond: Another Autosurf Offline

    Members of an autosurf known as DailyProfitPond are reporting the website is offline and that they fear they’ve lost their money.

    DailyProfitPond is yet another autosurf that launched in the wake of the August seizure of tens of millions of dollars and real estate linked to Andy Bowdoin’s AdSurfDaily, also known as ASD Cash Generator.

    One ad we viewed from a DailyProfitPond promoter said it was possible to start with $12 and turn it into $12,000. The “return” was listed as 150 percent over 30 days. DailyProfitPond’s website now is returning an “Address Not Found” error.

    An autosurf known as MegaLido also will not load pages. Some MegaLido members said they were out hundreds or thousands of dollars.