PatrickPretty.com

Tag: ASD restitution

  • EDITORIAL: As Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force Website (StopFraud.gov) Spotlights AdSurfDaily Prosecution, Bizarre Email Circulating Among ASD Members Raises New Conspiracy Theories

    UPDATED 10:31 A.M. EDT (U.S.A).

    ASD case subject of discussion in Washington’s highest power corridors: The Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force was formed by President Obama in November 2009. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, a member of the President’s cabinet and the chief law-enforcement officer of the U.S. government, presides over the Task Force.

    Secret Service is charter member of Task Force. The U.S. Secret Service, whose duties include protecting the President of the United States, the integrity of the economy and the financial infrastructure of the nation, is a member of the Task Force.

    Among the allegations in the ASD case is that members were falsely trading on the name of then-President George W. Bush to sanitize a $110 million Ponzi scheme, that ASD President Andy Bowdoin encouraged the false claims and arranged to spend Ponzi proceeds to retire the $157,000 mortgage on a home in Tallahassee occupied by his wife’s son and the son’s wife, purchase a lakefront home in Florida, purchase an $800,000 building (for cash), purchase jet skis, a Cabana boat, haul trailers and marine equipment — all while owing restitution to victims of an Alabama securities caper in the 1990s and “thousands of dollars” to an ex-wife.

    Some of the purchases occurred within days of Bowdoin’s return from a May 2008 ASD “rally” in Las Vegas at which he defined himself as a Christian “money magnet” and encouraged others to follow him in thanking God and becoming like-minded “money magnets.” At the rally, Bowdoin urged members not to miss the opportunity to provide ASD with money by the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time, according to records.

    “Thank you, God, for destining me to great wealth,” he exhorted the Las Vegas crowd to internalize and recite during the day.

    And he exhorted members to picture themselves wealthy.

    “See a big check coming in from AdSurfDaily,” he urged. “I signed a check the other day, about $22,000. See those checks like that coming for you constantly, just flowing to you.”

    One of Bowdoin’s business partners — Walter Clarence Busby Jr., the operator of the Golden Panda autosurf — was implicated by the SEC in three prime-bank schemes in the 1990s, according to records. Golden Panda, according to Busby, was hatched after he went fishing with Bowdoin on a Georgia lake in April 2008. Just days after the fishing expedition, Bowdoin boarded a plane and flew to Costa Rica, according to court filings.

    Weeks after his return from Costa Rica, Bowdoin headed to Washington, D.C., to rub elbows with politicians, according to court filings.

    Read the full news release on the AdSurfDaily case here. It is published on StopFraud.gov, the Task Force website.

    New conspiracy theory emerges after government compensates ASD victims. As often has been the case, some ASD members appear not to have taken the clue that top Justice Department officials and perhaps the White House itself are being briefed on developments in the ASD case. The ASD case became a national-security case when the U.S. Secret Service discovered in 2008 that Andy Bowdoin, a recidivist securities swindler in his seventies who allegedly had “earned no significant income from legal employment in the twenty years prior to his commencement of ASD’s operation,” suddenly was sitting on tens of millions of dollars and had handed out some of it to political rainmakers.

    Some of the handouts, which came in the form of contributions to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), occurred in early 2007, even as the first Ponzi scheme iteration of ASD was collapsing and the firm’s original members were left holding the bag while Bowdoin explained $1 million had been stolen by “Russian” hackers. Bowdoin did not file a police report about the purported theft because he did not want to draw the attention of law enforcement, according to court filings.

    The NRCC handouts continued in 2008, after Bowdoin had changed the name of his collapsed autosurfing venture from AdSurfDaily to ASD Cash Generator, plumbed it with new cash from a new group of suckers, started a second Ponzi venture known as LaFuenteDinero, arranged with Busby to form a third Ponzi-in-waiting  (Golden Panda) and had flown to Costa Rica with a “North Carolina lawyer” (and co-owner) of LaFuenteDinero, according to court filings and Federal Election Commission records.

    In a bizarre email that began to circulate among ASD members yesterday, the seed was planted that that the government was trying to recruit witnesses by luring them with remissions payments — and that prosecutors might claw back the remissions money if  the member “did not cooperate in testifying against ASD.”

    The date upon which the email was written could not immediately be determined, but the email appears to be the second in a two-part series sent after ASD members began to receive remissions payments late last week.

    The content of the email, which was described as “insider information” and attributed in part to an unamed third party who purportedly overheard a conversation involving a federal prosecutor at an unspecified location, was titled, “Important Warning: ASD/Golden Panda.”

    Among the suggestions in the email was that the government planned to “force” ASD members who received remissions distributions to testify against Bowdoin in his upcoming criminal trial on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities. The email was signed “Sara.”

    Here is the email verbatim (italics added):

    “Hi Everyone-

    Since I sent the last email update about ASD/Golden Panda monies being received by members, I received some very important insider information you should know. This is an important warning.

    The information (these are not quotes) I am sharing with you was spoken by and was heard directly from an attorney for the government, in relation to the ASD legal case. I must protect the source but I can assure you it is reliable (it is not Andy). I was told that the person heard the government attorney say they had hired the Rust Company to send a remission form by email and US-mail to ASD and Golden Panda members. The form was to be sent under the pretense that the member would get their money back if they filled out the form to request a remission of their ASD/Golden Panda monies seized by the government on 8/1/08. Those members would then receive their remission monies directly into their bank accounts, but the attorney said that their names would go onto a list and they would then be summoned by the court (at the members own expense) to testify against ASD. They would be forced to testify against ASD even if they did not believe that ASD was illegal, because the form they signed was set up in such a way that the member was essentially stating that ASD victimized them in an illegal business. I’m imagining a typical scenario in court would be: The attorney for the government would read statements from the form and the member’s answers and then say something like, “Is this your signature?” to force the member into saying that the statements were theirs.  And, take note, that it was also mentioned by the attorney that the direct deposit into the member’s account could be reversed at any time if ASD should eventually lose the case or if the member did not cooperate in testifying against ASD. If the money isn’t in the account anymore, it would be money owed back to the government, so moving the money would not help. The addendum that I was advised to suggest to you if you were drawn to fill out the form (sent by the Rust Company on behalf of the government) that stated that you did not make an investment in ASD/Golden Panda, but rather bought advertising, would apparently protect you from the government’s tactics, but I honestly do not know that for sure.

    Many of us had major red flags when we read the form as it was obvious what the government was trying to do. That’s why it was advised that members add the addendum to their form, to protect themselves from the government’s deceptive practices. So pray about how you should proceed. Please don’t ask me. I can’t make this decision for you.

    God’s Blessings,

    Sara

    The email appears to have followed the email below, which divines a construction by which  the government seized ASD money illegally and set up the remissions program only because ASD members outraged at the illegal seizure demanded the return of their funds (verbatim/italics added):

    “Dear ASD & Golden Panda Members-

    I have some news! ASD and Golden Panda Members have recently received a “remission” of the money that was in their ASD and/or Golden Panda accounts, deposited directly into their personal bank accounts by the government; amounts like $50,000 and $60,000 and it was apparently 100% of the money that was owed to them!

    Personally, I am stunned. My experience over the last decade or more has been that the government has never fulfilled their obligation to return money they have seized from programs they deemed illegal. My opinion is that they are scrambling to do this in order to diffuse the outrage ASD members have felt toward the government from their (in my opinion, illegal) seizure of members’ account funds, so that members will have less opposition toward the government during the eventual ASD trial.

    But, for whatever reason the government is doing it, it is irrelevant to those relieved members who are finally receiving justice from this (in my opinion, illegal) seizure.

    If you have not received your remission, you can go to this website to fill out the form there: adsurfdailyremission.com. You can also call the following toll free information line for more information and even talk to a customer service agent in person to ask any questions you might have about this process: 888-398-8214. The following email address has also been provided to communicate about this: info@adsurfremission.com You will notice that, in the recorded message, the government does NOT back down in their assertion that Golden Panda and ASD were illegal ponzi schemes, but that is obviously not stopping them from returning members’ funds.

    Some of you will notice that this form is the one that many of you did not feel inspired to fill out when it was first presented to us. It really puts members in an uncomfortable position of stating that they were victims of ASD/Golden Panda when they don’t believe they were and many felt as if they were also being set up to incriminate themselves.

    At the time, I was advised to suggest to you that, if you felt drawn to fill it out, you include an addendum that stated that you understood that you were purchasing advertising, not making an investment. That continues to be the advice. Now that people are actually receiving their money back, perhaps some of you may feel more motivated to risk filling out the form. Just be careful not to incriminate yourselves. Be alert as you do it. Do not leave any question unanswered or it will be rejected. You must also provide documentation so hopefully you kept good records.

    You will notice on that website (upper left corner) that it says that you must fill it out and submit it by a date in January, 2011. The way around this may be to say that you just found out about it (you didn’t get their letter in the mail or an email from them) and therefore you are only responding to it now. You might want to make that clear to the Customer Service agent at the number above BEFORE you take the time to fill it out, to confirm that they are still accepting them. If not, take a stand for your right to your monetary remission and ask for a supervisor. I am hearing that they are swamped trying to keep up with the communications they are receiving from members, so please be patient.

    Blessings,

    Sara

    Read a January 2011 story about ASD-related emails. Read a November 2010 story. Read another November 2010 story. Read a December 2009 story.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: ASD Victim Says His Remissions Distribution Has Been Deposited — And That It Was 100 Percent

    URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING:  The PP Blog has received the first report from an AdSurfDaily Ponzi victim that Rust Consulting Inc. has deposited his remissions distribution into his bank account and that the sum was 100 percent of his ASD loss.

    The money appeared in the member’s bank account this morning. Rust is the Minnesota-based claims administrator in the ASD case.

    Developing . . .

  • MAJOR DEVELOPMENT: AdSurfDaily Remissions Payments Will Be 100 Cents On The Dollar; ‘Thousands’ Of Payments To Go Out; ‘Overwhelming Majority’ Of Claims Approved; Members React With Joy

    “Thousands” of AdSurfDaily Ponzi victims with approved claims will receive remissions payments of “100 percent” in the coming days, a source familiar with the process tells the PP Blog.

    It is quite rare “to have a remissions program that comes back with 100 percent,” the source said.

    The claims process was administered by Rust Consulting Inc. of Minnesota. The process was coordinated by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Secret Service and the office of U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. in the District of Columbia.

    After three long years waiting for the process to be finalized after two forfeiture appeals by ASD President Andy Bowdoin and attempted pro se interventions by dozens of members who claimed the government was the bad guy, ASD members who stuck with the process expressed joy.

    “YAYAYAYAY!” exclaimed one. Another characterized the news as “amazing.”

    A small percentage of ASD members who filed claims will not receive compensation because they failed to demonstrate a loss, the source said.

    An “overwhelming majority” of claims were granted, the source said. Court records show that about 11,000 people filed claims.

    Payments are expected to begin within 15 days. The money will be deposited electronically into the accounts of ASD members whose claims were granted.

    In 2008, Bowdoin compared the prosecutors in the case to “Satan.” Other ASD members described the U.S. Secret Service as “Nazis” and “goons.” A poster on the now-defunct Surf’s Up forum said that the lead prosecutor in the case should be placed in a medieval torture rack and that ASD members should draw straws to determine who received the honor of carrying out the torture.

    A federal judge was called “brain dead” if she did not agree with ASD’s side of the case, and a purported “prayer” was circulated among ASD members calling for the prosecutors to be struck dead. One prosecutor was described derisively as “Gomer Pyle,” and rumors were unleashed on the Surf’s Up forum that the government had admitted secretly that ASD was not a Ponzi scheme.

    Some ASD members encouraged others not to file for remissions. Those who ignored the advice and were able to demonstrate a loss now will receive back 100 cents on the dollar.

    Remissions payments will be made from funds seized by the U.S. Secret Service in the earliest days of the ASD probe more than three years ago.

    Bowdoin filed appeals in the forfeiture cases, but lost. He is now soliciting funds to pay for his criminal defense to charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities.

    Some ASD members ignored the seizure and a parallel criminal investigation. They immediately joined other autosurfs, HYIPs and cash-gifting programs, claiming they were excellent ways to make up their ASD losses.

    In a March 2009 letter to ASD members on the Surf’s Up forum, Bowdoin chided prosecutors and the Secret Service, claiming his pro se filings in the civil portion of the case “should really get their attention.”

    A month later — in April 2009 — prosecutors revealed in a final response to a series of pro se pleadings by Bowdoin that Bowdoin had signed a proffer letter in the case and acknowledged that the government’s material allegations were all true.

    Bowdoin acknowledged in his own court filings that he had given information against his interests and had met with prosecutors over a period of at least four days in late 2008 and early 2009. In January 2009, he abandoned the forfeiture cases, releasing his claims to the seized money “with prejudice.”

    By the end of February 2009, however, Bowdoin reentered the case as a pro se litigant, claiming later that his decision was driven by a “group” of ASD members. He did not identify members of the group.

    ASD is known to have so-called “sovereign citizens” in its ranks.

    Bowdoin has not referenced the proffer letter in his fundraising bid. Nor has he referenced a racketeering lawsuit filed against him in January 2009 by some members.

    It was not immediately clear how many members destroyed their chances to receive remissions after coming under the influence of various crackpot theories spun by certain ASD members. One of the theories held that all commerce is lawful if a contract exists. Another held that members should include notes on the claims forms that explained Bowdoin was conducting business lawfully.

    Another theory held that the government had invested approximately $80 million seized in the case, had earned a return in excess of  $1 billion — and that prosecutors were partying with the money. Still another held that a federal judge was conspiring with another federal judge to deny ASD justice and that at least one of the judges was guilty of 60 felonies.

    Yet another theory held that ASD members should not cooperate with investigators and should not file remissions forms.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: AdSurfDaily Remissions Distributions Are Beginning

    URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: UPDATED 5:21 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Remissions payments to AdSurfDaily members fleeced in an alleged global Ponzi scheme are beginning, a source tells the PP Blog.

    It was not immediately clear how Minnesota-based Rust Consulting Inc. — the government-approved claims administrator — would roll out the compensation plan and how long it would take for all members with approved claims to be notified that their payment will be on the way.

    But the PP Blog has confirmed that an ASD member in Minnesota has received a formal notification that the member’s claim has been approved and that funds will be electronically deposited within the next 15 days. (See screenshot below.) The payments are being funded from money seized by the U.S. Secret Service in the civil portion of the ASD case.

    Separately, AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin — who faces criminal charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities — continues to flog away on Facebook and a separate fundraising site to raise $500,000 to pay for his criminal defense. After nearly two months of nonstop fundraising, Bowdoin reportedly has fallen 95 percent short of his goal.

    He’ll now be issuing his appeals even as ASD members he is accused of defrauding are receiving remissions payments from the proceeds of his alleged $110 million Ponzi scheme. In sworn court filings, Bowdoin has claimed the money seized in the case belonged to him.

    At least 11,000 people have identified themselves as victims of Bowdoin’s Ponzi scheme, according to court filings.

    Screenshot: Remissions payments to AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme victims are beginning, according to this letter the PP Blog obtained today from a source.

  • 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.