PatrickPretty.com

Tag: ASD

  • EDITORIAL: ‘Our Mentor Has Had To Take A Break Due To Legal Reasons,’ OneX Pitchman Claims About ASD’s Andy Bowdoin

    Purported "Mentor" Andy Bowdoin

    Back in 2008 — when the U.S. Secret Service raided Florida-based AdSurfDaily in a Ponzi probe and people who called ASD’s office were told God was on the company’s side — federal prosecutors alleged that ASD President Andy Bowdoin had “followers.”

    The meaning of “followers” largely was left to the imagination. Much of the mystery was taken away, however, when a now-defunct cheerleading forum for Bowdoin known as “Surf’s Up” served up impossibly tortured defenses for the ASD patriarch around the clock for more than a year.

    Although it’s hard to distill the peculiar essence of Surf’s Up in a single thought, this one at least approximates it: ASD = good; government = evil.

    One Surf’s Up member advanced the notion that Bowdoin’s problems could be solved by a “militia” storming Washington. Another opined that the interests of justice best would be served if the then-lead federal prosecutor were placed in a torture rack and ASD members drew straws to determine who got the honor of turning the wheel. Another ASD member — on the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks — issued a “prayer” for the prosecutors to be struck dead.

    “Root them out of the land of the living!” the “prayer” petitioned. “Let evil slay them, and desolation be their lot!”

    For good measure, the “prayer” called for God to order “divine angelic prophetic assaults . . .” against the prosecution and evidence in the case, including the ASD database.

    Bowdoin himself removed some of the “followers” mystery when he compared a government raid designed to protect the financial interests of thousands of victims ensnared in an alleged $110 million Ponzi scheme to the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. He further demonized the Secret Service and federal prosecutors by comparing them to “Satan.”

    Another part of the mystery perhaps was decloaked when Bowdoin’s son — in 2010 — asserted his father “is a man with no conscience” who’d used religion for years to fleece the masses.

    The government has filed at least three civil forfeiture actions related to ASD. Two of the cases have proceeded to final judgment, with ASD on the losing side. (A third civil forfeiture case remains pending. Elements of the third case are directed at certain specific ASD members who allegedly benefited from the fraudulent scheme, meaning that the members themselves may have significant legal exposure.)

    In both cases that have proceeded to final judgment, Bowdoin unsuccessfully appealed the losses to a higher court. He filed one of the appeals, despite the fact he’d never entered a defense in that specific case. The case he did not defend is one in which certain members of  Bowdoin’s family may have significant legal exposure.

    Separately, Bowdoin was named a defendant in a lawsuit by disaffected ASD members who accused him of racketeering. By December 2010, Bowdoin had been arrested on ASD-related charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities. Although his trial date is set for September, he faces a bond-review hearing on Friday. Prosecutors now say they’ve linked Bowdoin to at least two post-ASD frauds, including one known as “OneX.”

    Bowdoin began pitching OneX in October 2011, about 10 months after he was indicted in the ASD case.

    “I believe that God has brought us OneX to provide the necessary funds to win this case,” Bowdoin said last year.

    Both Bowdoin and supporters habitually use pronouns such as “us” and “we”when discussing ASD or matters pertaining to Bowdoin. The precise reason why remains unclear. So far, Bowdoin is the only ASD figure known to have been charged publicly for alleged misconduct directly tied to ASD, which the Secret Service described as a “criminal enterprise.”

    Bowdoin’s reference in his OneX sales pitch to “this case” was in the context of the ASD-related criminal case against him. He earlier blamed the loss of the ASD  civil cases on a “single, lone judge,”  prosecutors/agents who’d allegedly “crucified” him and earlier defense attorneys who’d allegedly railroaded him.

    Did we mention that some ASD members have accused a federal judge of “treason” and that purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming — an ASD story mainstay — is jailed near Seattle on federal charges that he filed false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD case?

    Meanwhile, Christian Oesch, a Leaming colleague in a failed lawsuit against the government for alleged misdeeds in the ASD case, strangely has taken to calling himself a “transmitting utility” in response to a nonASD lawsuit in which he is named a defendant.

    Records in Washington state show that at least two companies that use the phrase “transmitting utility” in their names have a business tie to Leaming through an entity known as American-International Business Law Inc. Other records show that the phrase itself has been linked to the so-called sovereign-citizen movement. “Sovereign citizens” have an irrational belief that laws do not apply to them.

    When Leaming was arrested by an FBI terrorism task force in November 2011, he was found with two federal fugitives from Arkansas, according to court filings. Leaming also allegedly discussed a plan by which he’d serve John Roberts with a writ through the school his young children attended. That writ apparently was part of a scheme to file false liens against two U.S. prison officials for alleged misdeeds against a former Leaming business colleague serving time in a federal penitentiary.

    John Roberts is the Chief Justice of the United States.

    And yet Bowdoin — despite everything that has happened to date in the ASD case and its surrounding circus of the bizarre — still has followers.

    The PP Blog received information through a source last night that some of Bowdoin’s followers will continue on with OneX, despite the government’s recent assertion it is a “fraudulent scheme” and “pyramid” that is recycling money to members in ASD like fashion.

    An email circulating last night from Bowdoin’s OneX “team” strangely referenced Bowdoin without naming him. The email used the pronouns “our” and “we.”

    “As many have noticed our Mentor has had to take a break due to legal reasons,” the email read in part. “We had hoped for a breakthrough on the 8th, however it was postponed to later this month.”

    Bowdoin’s bond-review hearing originally had been scheduled for May 8. A federal judge later rescheduled it for May 18 — Friday.

    That Bowdoin — an accused felon with a felonious history — gets accorded the description of “Mentor” (with an uppercase “M”) hardly can be a source of comfort to the good men and women at the Department of Justice and the U.S. Secret Service. Agents and prosecutors alike must be scratching their heads today and wondering where it all will end.

    Here is the OneX email in its entirety (italics added):

    Ninja Success Team Updates

    Dear Team,

    As most know we have been going through some changes with the Ninja Success Team. As many have noticed our Mentor has had to take a break due to legal reasons. We had hoped for a breakthrough on the 8th, however it was postponed to later this month.

    I have gotten a lot of emails in the last week and I hope that my honesty has made you feel at ease and I hope that you will find patience until the challenge has been met.

    Another challenge that we are facing is the financing of the servers that everybody’s Lead Capture Page Systems, the 1xTraining Site, and the Ninja Back Office sit [sic]. Our Mentor has been paying this out of his own pocket for all time. Because of the legal challenges, we are left to finance ourselves.

    The management team has been tossing around a bunch of ideas, from donations to selling the lead packages. We have decided to ask for donations as well as to continue to sell the new ninja tools (which are getting awesome results).

    As we all know we are at a very big momentum right now and are at the downhill roll to making all of our business worth quite a bit of money and this is due to the working of our Ninja Success Team. In order to continue as one of the biggest, most successful teams of the OneX opportunity, I implore everybody to at least make a donation or purchase of the New Ninja Turbo tools available on the training site or the Ninja Back Office.

    Below is the link to make a donation or you can find on the menu part of the Training Site. A donation of $10 or $20/mon. would be extremely welcome.

    [Link deleted by PP Blog]

    I want to personally thank everybody as well for the patience they have shown during this challenge.

    Alan

    The Ninja Success Team

    If the government is right, it means that Bowdoin is pushing a pyramid scheme even as he awaits trial in a major Ponzi scheme case.

    And if purported email author and OneX pitchman “Alan” is right, then the Bowdoin “team” is getting “awesome results” from selling “tools” to drive traffic to a program the government says is a pyramid scheme.

    “Alan” apparently does not feel compelled to pull the plug on the Bowdoin “team” OneX promos even though the “Mentor” possibly faces severe bond restrictions or potentially even loss of his freedom owing to the pitches.

    What’s important to “Alan,” apparently, is that the “breakthrough” now is expected to come through on May 18 after a 10-day delay.

    Whether the judge conducting the bond-review hearing might have a differing notion on the meaning of the word “breakthrough” is a question that may be answered in the coming days.

    In any event, “followers” — a word used by the ASD prosecutors long ago — proved to be pretty much spot on. What no one knew at the time was that not even three forfeiture cases, a racketeering lawsuit, an arrest on serious criminal charges and Bowdoin’s own felonious history could deter some of those followers from seeing him as anything other than a mentor.

     

  • A PONZI WORLD FIRST? JSS Tripler 2 Collapses — And Obvious Ponzi ‘Program’ Blames Ponzi-Pushers’ Forum For Demise

    UPDATED 4:05 PM EDT (U.S.A.): It’s MoneyMakerGroup’s fault that JSS Tripler 2 (T2) — also known as T2MoneyKlub — has collapsed.

    And it’s also the fault of “Elmer,” a forum poster who apparently committed the unpardonable sin of questioning the legitimacy of a scheme that advertised a return of 2 percent a day — after naming itself after another scheme that advertised 2 percent a day and after T2 gave birth to itself in a forum referenced in U.S. court filings as a place from which massive HYIP Ponzi schemes such as Legisi and Pathway to Prosperity were promoted.

    The bizarre assertions were made by T2 Admin “Dave,” a self-described newlywed apparently fully recovered from a recent bout with Dengue Fever but no longer able to ward off a case of Ponzi topplitis fatalis.

    “CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!!” the T2 site screamed last night in all-caps and red type. “DUE TO INCESSANT UNDERMINING BY THE STAFF AND A SELECTION OF ‘STAFF ASSISTED’ MEMBERS OF MONEYMAKERGROUP.COM.”

    Only days before, “Dave” announced that members who plowed money into the scheme would begin receiving payments to make them whole and put them in profit. Whether those payments were made remains an open question. Serial scammers and willfully blind Ponzi recruiters who populate the Ponzi boards and organize their public and private sales pitches to speed the flow of cash to the schemes as a means of harvesting commissions as illegal broker-dealers may be the only winners — other than “Dave” himself.

    Whether “Dave” assigned himself a Ponzi “rake” is unclear. In the AdSurfDaily online Ponzi case, federal prosecutors said ASD President Andy Bowdoin and a “silent partner” who was Bowdoin’s sponsor in the 12DailyPro online Ponzi scheme agreed to a rake of 10 percent of ASD’s “gross sales.”

    The U.S. Secret Service said ASD had gathered at least $110 million. Bowdoin was charged in 2010 with wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities. He faces a Ponzi trial in September and a bond-review hearing May 18. Investigators say he continued to scam after the  Secret Service raided ASD in August 2008.

    Ponzi-board posts suggest “Dave” had access to hundreds of thousands of dollars sent in by T2 members, beginning late last year and at least into the early part of 2012. But a problem with an offshore (from a U.S. perspective)  payment processor purportedly developed, a situation that purportedly led to a freeze on cashouts. “Dave” claimed he was operating the program from both Britain and Thailand, while also venturing to countries such as Cambodia.

    The collapse of T2 occurred just days after the conclusion of a conference in Israel at which INTERPOL President Khoo Boon Hui described two recent online scams operating in Asia that had gathered billions of dollars and resulted in 220 arrests.

    Some of the suspects were trying to make a fast getaway at an airport, Hui said, describing the purveyors as transnational criminals.

    “[Eighty] per cent of crime committed online is now connected to organized gangs operating across borders,” Hui said, citing figures from a study by London Metropolitan University. “Criminal gangs now find that transnational and cybercrime are far more rewarding and profitable than other riskier forms of making money.”

    MoneyMakerGroup is referenced in both the Legisi and Pathway To Prosperity cases as a place from which Ponzi and fraud schemes are promoted. The combined hauls of those schemes exceeded $140 million, according to court filings.

    The combined hauls of ASD, Legisi and Pathway To Prosperity exceeded $250 million, according to court filings. Like Legisi, Pathway To Prosperity and T2, ASD also was promoted on the Ponzi forums. Federal prosecutors now say that OneX — yet another “opportunity” promoted on the forums — is a “fraudulent scheme” and “pyramid.”

    Bowdoin now is accused of promoting OneX.

    Although the closure announcement on the T2 site did not reference Elmer, remarks attributed to “Dave” (as Peakr8) on MoneyMakerGroup made it plain that “Dave” holds Elmer equally accountable for the collapse of the T2 scheme, which recently started a Ponzi feeder program known as “Compound150.”

    Here’s “Dave” as Peakr8 yesterday on MoneyMakerGroup (italics added):

    I got an email from [MoneyMakerGroup Admin] Yippee some months back. Included in it was one line I will never forget.

    Elmer and his friends will NEVER be banned from MMG, the owner wants them there. To create ‘interesting discussion’.

    My kids found this doing a search about T2MK… The youngest is 9 years old, the oldest is 13… they cried.

    Hope you feel great about that Elmer and friends.. Hope you all feel great!!

    I am closing both programs down as of NOW, and i will leave it to the processors to distribute the funds.

    Yippee said hogwash.

    “This is a BOLD FACED LIE!” Yippee exclaimed.

    Elmer said “Dave’s” Ponzi experienced a meltdown and that “Dave” had become the “newest member of the ‘Crazy admin excuses’ club.”

    “Why don’t you just tell the truth Dave? Elmer quizzed. “Your ponzi imploded. It ran out of cash to pay with.”

    As part of its fraud, T2 maintained its own fraud forum. In a moment of almost-perfect fraud symmetry, legendary fraudster “Ken Russo” made the last “I got paid” post in T2s subfraud forum for its Compound150 fraud.

    Ken Russo’s signature line at T2’s fraud forum led to an “opportunity” known as “Wealth 4 All Team,” which appears to have a cheerleader who is planting the seed that the RealScam.com antifraud forum may get sued for publishing information unfriendly to Wealth4AllTeam.

    Whether “Ken Russo” had plowed into Wealth4All any of his purported May 11 net payout of $535.95 from “Dave’s” multifaceted T2 Ponzi venture is unknown.

    “Ask About My Matching Loan Offer,” “Ken Russo” prompted in his ad for Wealth4AllTeam at “Dave’s” forum for the combined T2 frauds.

    In March, “Dave” asserted that the PP Blog and “all your lackies” had “completely undermined your credibility . . .  from the word go” in stories and comments about T2.

    The T2 death notice followed about two months after “Dave’s” assertions on the PP Blog.

     

  • BULLETIN: JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid Hit By Hackers, Members Claim In Conference Call; Reports Surface About Unauthorized Purchases — And Companion Site May Be Target Of DDoS Attack

    Frederick Mann

    BULLETIN: There are multiple reports this morning from self-identified residents of the United States and Canada about account hackings and unresponsive support at JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, the  “program” purportedly operated by former AdSurfDaily pitchman Frederick Mann. JSS/JBP purports to pay a monthly return of 60 percent, double that of the now-defunct ASD, an alleged Ponzi scheme.

    Accompanying the hacking reports were comments by Mann that a JSS/JBP-related website known as Tripler.biz was offline, possibly because of a DDoS attack. If the DDoS claim is true, it marks at least the second time a JSS/JBP-related site has been targeted.

    Whether the purported account hackings and server-crippling attacks had been reported to law enforcement by either JSS/JBP or its members was not immediately clear.

    In a conference call last night, a JSS/JBP member who identified himself as “Kaleem” (sp?) said he’d been blocked out of his account since March 29 and that the “opportunity” had not solved the problem.

    “I’ve put my last $2,000 in here,” Kaleem said.

    Meanwhile, a JSS/JBP member who identified himself as “Norm” from “Alberta” said “a couple of people” in his group had their accounts hacked.

    “I’ve had some sleepless nights on that because I’m managing some of these accounts for these members,” Norm said.

    JSS/JBP “support” has dropped the ball, Norm suggested.

    “Right now, we’re not getting these accounts back to the people who rightfully own them,” Norm said.

    Separately, a woman from “California” who suggested she was helping to manage 21 accounts said this during the call:

    “For a few of the accounts, a week after they were opened, they went into Nevis.”

    Nevis is an island in the Caribbean Sea.

    JSS/JBP support has been unhelpful after her submission of “numerous tickets,” the woman said, adding that someone in a JSS/JBP-related chatroom was “immensely rude” to her.

    Although Mann spoke to the purported hackings last night by encouraging members to use the JSS/JBP support function, members appeared to be none too pleased with his guidance.  The hacking issue could prove to be a thorny one because JSS/JBP operates in an environment of secrecy, does not disclose its base of operations and makes members avow they are not with the “government.”  Nor does the purported “opportunity” have any known securities registrations with regulators. At the same time, at least some JSS/JBP members appear to be acting as unregistered broker-dealers and investment advisers who are managing both the JSS/JBP accounts and the payment-processing accounts of their downline recruits.

    “My bills are backed up and I still can’t get in,” Kaleem told Mann and the conference-call audience. “Somebody hacked into your system and was moving money to Michael at BigBooster.”

    The name “michael” and a Mann-related domain known as BigBooster.com form an email address through which JSS/JBP conducts business. Mann has described “Michael” as a business partner.

    Mann pushed AdSurfDaily at the BigBooster domain in 2008, according to records. The U.S. Secret Service later described ASD as an international Ponzi scheme that had gathered $110 million. ASD President Andy Bowdoin was arrested in December 2010 on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities. He faces a trial date in September — and prosecutors now say Bowdoin is pushing a fraudulent scheme known as OneX.

    In December 2009, prosecutors said Bowdoin never filed a police report when individuals described as “Russian” hackers purportedly stole $1 million from ASD.

    A woman on last night’s call who described herself as “Jackie” in “Arkansas” said her boss — “Leon” — had provided four employees $100 each to join JSS/JBP.

    “I have signed up four of my 11 grandchildren,” Jackie said.

    But she noted that Leon appeared not to have been given proper credit for at least one person who joined under him, suggesting that an email address had been tampered with.

    Kaleem appeared to become increasingly frustrated during the call, suggesting he has lost both his $2,000 outlay and expected profits of thousands of dollars because of the hacking.

     

  • AdSurfDaily Figure Christian Oesch Named Defendant In Lawsuit Filed By Fannie Mae; Utah Man Calls Himself ‘Fiction & Transmitting Utility’ In Response To Complaint

    From pleadings by Christian Oesch in a lawsuit filed against him in Utah by Fannie Mae. (Redaction/emphasis by PP Blog.)

    EDITOR’S NOTE: In July 2010, Christian Oesch of Utah, and Kenneth Wayne Leaming of Spanaway, Wash., sought to sue the United States — apparently for the staggering sum of more than $29 trillion — for its actions in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi forfeiture case brought by the U.S. Secret Service in August 2008. The Secret Service described ASD as a “criminal enterprise” operated by Andy Bowdoin, a 77-year-old recidivist con man.

    ASD had gathered at least $110 million from tiny Quincy, Fla., by offering outsize investment returns of 1 percent a day, the Secret Service alleged. It has been known since the earliest months of the ASD case that the business had ties to so-called “sovereign citizens.”

    One of the calling cards of the “sovereign citizen movement” is what has been described as “paper terrorism”: an effort to clog the courts with baseless or vexatious litigation and legal pleadings designed to tie the hands of public servants and/or courtroom opponents

    Leaming, a 56-year-old purported “sovereign citizen,” was arrested by an FBI terrorism task force in November 2011 on charges of filing false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD case. A superseding indictment was returned against Leaming earlier this year. He remains jailed at a federal detention facility near Seattle. A September trial date for Leaming has been set in federal court in Washington state, the venue from which he allegedly filed the false liens and committed other crimes such as harboring fugitives and possessing firearms as a convicted felon.

    Judge Christine Odell Cook Miller of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ultimately dismissed the lawsuit brought by Oesch and Leaming, saying in December 2010 that the “complaint deteriorates into rambling.” Earlier — in July 2009 — Oesch had sought to intervene in the ASD case and set aside the forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars in the personal bank accounts of Andy Bowdoin. Like Leaming, Bowdoin is scheduled to go on trial in September. Bowdoin’s trial will be conducted in the District of Columbia.

    Oesch, known to have business ties to Leaming, has not been accused of wrongdoing in the ASD case.

    U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer of the District of Columbia — later allegedly targeted by Leaming with false liens — denied standing to Oesch and numerous other pro se litigants in the ASD case.

    The ASD case has been marked by strangeness, including pro se court filings that accused Collyer of treason and operating a “Kangaroo Court.” Oesch accused Collyer of interfering with commerce, arguing that the judge and federal prosecutors also were guilty of “Anti-Trust Violations” and “Criminal RICO” violations.

    That same type of language now is being used by Oesch in his responses to a January 2012 lawsuit in Utah in which he was named a defendant by mortgage giant Fannie Mae . . .

    Using the same street address in Midvale, Utah, that appears in court filings in the civil-forfeiture portion of the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case, ASD figure Christian Oesch curiously declared himself a “Fiction & Transmitting Utility” in his response to a lawsuit in which he was named a defendant by the Federal National Mortgage Association, the PP Blog has learned.

    The U.S. mortgage giant commonly known as Fannie Mae initially sued Oesch, Becky Oesch, Michael A. King and two alleged “Doe” occupants of a home on South Wayside Drive in Sandy, Utah, in January 2012. The complaint was removed to federal court in Salt Lake City in February, but now has been kicked back to Utah state court, according to court dockets.

    Oesch, who once claimed that U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer and other public officials involved in the ASD case were guilty of racketeering and antitrust violations, now has essentially accused Fannie Mae of the same thing.

    “Securitization is illegal under US legislation — primarily because it is fraudulent and causes specific violations of R.I.C.O., usury, Antitrust and bankruptcy laws,” Oesch argued.

    At issue in the case is a dispute over the ownership of the Sandy home. King was listed as the owner of the home in a September 2011 notice of trustee’s sale for the property. Fannie Mae said in court filings that it purchased the home at the September trustee’s sale and that “Defendants have failed to vacate and yield possession of the Subject Property” and hold it in “unlawful detainer.”

    Oesch went on to argue that “US authorities from the highest level downwards, financial institutions, intermediaries, Intelligence Power operatives and others are gearing up for what they doubtless hope will be intensified racketeering and trading activity with (corrupt) foreign counterparties.

    “This behavior is being fine-tuned ‘as we speak’ . . .” Oesch ventured.

    He went on to advance a conspiracy theory that involved the “US Treasury, the White House, the US State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency and its subsidiaries such as the lethal Office of Naval Intelligence . . .”

    ASD is not referenced in the Utah complaint against Oesch and the others. Filings suggest, however, that Oesch lived at one time in the Sandy house that is the center of the case. Fannie Mae is seeking treble damages for an alleged failure of the defendants to vacate the property when requested.

     

  • BULLETIN: SEC Says Boston Church Scammed By Fraudster While Dual Probes Were Under Way; Federal Judge Freezes Assets Of Arnett L. Waters; A.L. Waters Capital LLC And Moneta Management LLC Also Charged

    BULLETIN: Arnett Lanse Waters, 62, of Milton, Mass., was “permanently barred” on March 9 “from association with any” Financial Industry Regulatory Authority member for failing to provide testimony” in a FINRA probe, the SEC said.

    This ban occurred after Waters — in 1993 — was “censured and barred for two years by the New York Stock Exchange for forging a document to secure a bank loan and refusing to comply with the Exchange’s requests for information and testimony,” the SEC charged.

    Regardless, a Boston-area church appears to have plowed $500,000 into Waters’ fraud scheme via a “subscription agreement” on March 22, about 13 days after the FINRA ban and nine days after Waters was interviewed by the SEC in its developing probe based on the FINRA matters, the agency said.

    The church received a “a copy of the Private Placement Offering Memorandum on March 15,” about six days after the FINRA ban and a week before entrusting Waters with the $500,000 “capital contribution,” according to court filings.

    Early details are sketchy, but court filings by the SEC suggest that at least some of the church’s money was misdirected by Waters and his wife to pay for a lawyer and personal expenses — and none of the money went toward what the church believed it was investing in: a portfolio of securities.

    Charged in the alleged caper, which affected investors other than the church, were Waters and two business entities under his control: broker-dealer A.L. Waters Capital LLC of Braintree and investment adviser Moneta Management LLC, also of Braintree.

    Named relief defendants were Janet Lee Waters, 55, of Milton, and a purported funds business known as Port Huron Partners LLP of Braintree. The funds allegedly were under the control of her husband, with Janet Waters serving as chief compliance officer of A.L. Waters Capital.

    Janet Waters also was banned by FINRA on March 9, the SEC said.

    A federal judge has granted an asset freeze, the agency said.

    “The Court’s order further provides that the defendants are prohibited from soliciting or accepting additional investor funds and from altering or destroying any relevant documents, and also requires the defendants to provide an accounting of their assets and uses of investor funds,” the SEC said.

    “The defendants used fictitious investment-related partnerships to draw in investors, misappropriate their investment money, and spend it on personal expenses,” the SEC said, alleging that the scheme dated back at least to 2009 and raised at least $780,000 from at least eight investors, including the church.

    Stories about securities fraud and other crimes (or civil offenses) occurring even as investigations of purported opportunities are under way may be unusual, but are not rare.

    Recidivist securites huckster Robert Stinson Jr. of the Philadelphia region was accused by the FBI in 2010 of wiring stolen funds even as a raid was under way. He later was accused of hiding assets and hatching a companion fraud scheme.

    Stinson was sentenced last month to more than 33 years in federal prison.

    Meanwhile, federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia alleged last month that accused  Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin of AdSurfDaily was involved in at least two fraud schemes after the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars from his bank accounts in a 2008 Ponzi probe.

    Bowdoin faces up to 125 years in federal prison, if convicted on all counts of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities. Like Stinson and Arnett Waters, Bowdoin was described by investigators as a recidivist huckster.

    Read the SEC complaint against Waters.

  • Only Days After Negative CONSOB Finding On JSS Tripler, Affiliate Press Release Claims ‘Program’ Lets Members ‘Start With Just $10 And Turn It Into A Fortune’

    An affiliate's "press release" for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid is juxtaposed on Google News today against information about CONSOB's ban of promos for the "opportunity" in Italy. The affiliate's release ignores the CONSOB news, positions JSS/JBP as a way to make a "fortune" — and does not explain that JSS/JBP members must affirm they are not with the "government." The release also ignores conflicts between the "opportunity's" written words and the spoken words of purported operator Frederick Mann.

    At the moment, Google News is providing an interesting juxtaposition on the subject of JSS Tripler, the purported arm of the “JustBeenPaid” program that does not identify itself with a nation-state, makes members affirm they are not with the “government” and advertises an absurd monthly return of 60 percent.

    Frederick Mann, the “opportunity’s” purported operator, was identified in 2008 promos as a pitchman for AdSurfDaily. The U.S. Secret Service called ASD an online Ponzi scheme that had gathered at least $110 million and defrauded thousands of people. JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid advertises a daily payout rate twice that of ASD.

    As the screen shot above shows, Google News today is publishing information on JSS Tripler from three sources. Two of the sources report on the April 23 JSS Tripler promotional ban by CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator.

    A third source — dated May 2, nine days after CONSOB announced the JSS Tripler ban — does not reference the ban at all. Instead, it instructs readers via an affiliate’s press release that JSS Tripler is “an income-generating program that lets investors start with just $10 and turn it into a fortune. Essentially an HYIP, the program factors in the daily compounding system to increase earnings or make daily withdrawals as any investor would wish.”

    One of the issues in the ASD Ponzi case is lack of disclosure to investors.

    JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid has no known securities registrations. Regardless, the affiliate’s release defines participants as “investors” and positions the program as one that is passive in nature. Claims in the release easily could lead to questions about whether the “opportunity” and its affiliates are benefiting in ASD-like fashion from the sale of unregistered securities by a global network of unregistered brokers.

    In March, Mann told members it was OK to describe the opportunity as an investment program. Regardless, this line appears in his own program’s member agreement. (Italics added):

    5. I have NOT been led to believe that this activity is an investment activity, franchise, or employment opportunity.

    Although the release prompts readers (in the first paragraph) to “look closely at what they are getting into and ensure that they are joining income opportunities through programs that are proven to truly deliver financial freedom and sustainability,” it does not explain why the Member Agreement says one thing and Mann another.

    Nor does it explain why any reasonable person would direct money to an entity whose Member Agreement also says this. (Italics added):

    6. I affirm that I am not an employee or official of any government agency, nor am I acting on behalf of or collecting information for or on behalf of any government agency.

    7. I affirm that I am not an employee, by contract or otherwise, of any media or research company, and I am not reading any of the JBP pages in order to collect information for someone else.

    Bizarre ambiguities, incongruities and internal inconsistencies are common in the HYIP fraud sphere.

    News about CONSOB’s JSS Tripler ban was published in English on CONSOB’s own website April 23. It also was published on the PP Blog and other sites, including the sites referenced by Google News.

    Even as the affiliate was prompting JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid prospects to “look closely,” he apparently missed information that was available through simple web searches — and this apparently also occurred after he missed the conflict between Mann’s words and the “opportunity’s” published Member Agreement.

    The release concludes with these words:

    “People who want real money from a reliable online networking system without the fuss and tricks should visit [URL deleted by PP Blog] to learn more.”

  • Andy Bowdoin A No-Show In Last Night’s Conference Call For ‘OneX’; Absence Blamed On ‘Personal Problems’ Days After Prosecutors Call ‘OneX’ A ‘Fraudulent Scheme’

    Andy Bowdoin

    UPDATED 12:06 P.M. EDT (MAY 5, USA): Andy Bowdoin’s bond-review hearing has been rescheduled from May 8 to May 18. Here, below, our earlier story . . .

    Only days ago, federal prosecutors described the OneX “program” pitched online by accused Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin of AdSurfDaily as a “fraudulent scheme” and “pyramid” that “simply re-distributes funds among participants” in ASD-like fashion.

    The PP Blog learned yesterday through a source that Bowdoin was a no-show on last night’s scheduled “team” conference call for OneX. A call Monday apparently was canceled.

    According to information provided by the source, Bowdoin was unable to participate in last night’s call — after the cancellation of Monday’s call — because of “personal problems.” The specifics of the personal problems were not disclosed.

    Unless U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer postpones a May 8 bond-review hearing for Bowdoin, prosecutors are expected to argue on Tuesday that Bowdoin was pushing the OneX pyramid scheme while awaiting his September trial in the ASD Ponzi scheme case.

    Although a postponement of the bond-review hearing is possible because one of Bowdoin’s two lawyers is ill and the government has not objected to a delay, the judge has not entered an order delaying the proceeding, according to docket entries as of this morning. (May 5 update: The May 8 hearing has been rescheduled for May 18.)

    Last night’s OneX call, according to information provided by the source, was conducted by “Allen” (or Alan).

    “First and foremost, Andy has some personal problems that he has to deal with, so he will not be with us for a few days,” Allen said, according to information from the source.

    Whether Bowdoin’s OneX “team” is aware that federal prosecutors have described the “program” as a scam is unclear. What is clear, according to filings by the government, is that Bowdoin has a long history of recruiting people into financial debacles and withholding information that would enable them to make informed investment decisions.

    Prosecutors also say they’ve tied Bowdoin to the failed AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf, which came to life in the weeks and months after the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars from ASD-related bank accounts in August 2008 as part of a Ponzi probe. AVG vanished during the summer of 2009 — about a year after the ASD seizure — amid claims that someone had stolen money from the enterprise.

    Even as AVG was tanking, members and critics were threatened with lawsuits for sharing news about the purported Uruguay-based entity.

    While at ASD’s helm in 2007, Bowdoin explained that members were not getting paid because of script problems and because “Russian” hackers had stolen $1 million, according to records. Prosecutors said Bowdoin never filed a police report about the purported $1 million theft.

    Prosecutors have argued that ASD collapsed before Bowdoin resurrected it and started operating it under a new name (ASDCashGenerator). Incoming members were not told they were funding payouts to members affected by the collapse. Over time, Bowdoin dialed up the criminality to keep ASD afloat in what was at least its second iteration, according to court filings.

    In the 1990s — in at least three Alabama counties — Bowdoin was charged with securities-related crimes similar to his later illegal behavior at ASD, prosecutors now say. ASD members, however, were led to believe that the ASD patriarch’s only encounter with law enforcement had been a speeding ticket.

    Bowdoin has been participating in OneX conference calls since at least October 2011, explaining in the earliest calls that we was seeking to fund his criminal defense to the ASD-related Ponzi charges through OneX and that OneX was brought to members and prospects by “God.”

    The indictment against Bowdoin was made public in December 2010. It charges him with wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities.

    Details about OneX, including the identities of its operators, are exceptionally murky.

  • BULLETIN: Feds Now Say Andy Bowdoin Was Charged In Securities Swindle In Third Alabama County; Records Show Arrest Warrants Were Issued And Suggest AdSurfDaily Patriarch Spent Time In Jail Prior To ASD Launch And Subsequent Ponzi Probe

    These court records from Jefferson County, Ala., suggest that Andy Bowdoin was jailed at least briefly in the 1990s in an alleged securities swindle involving mobile phones. (Redactions by PP Blog.)

    In April 24 court filings, federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia described four instances in which accused Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin was charged during the 1990s with state-level, securities-related crimes in Alabama. Those crimes occurred in Montgomery and Wilcox counties, prosecutors said.

    But yesterday prosecutors informed Bowdoin’s lawyers and U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer that Bowdoin also had been indicted in 1996 in Jefferson County on 12 state-level counts related to securities fraud. The government said it intended to use evidence of Bowdoin’s criminal history in all three Alabama counties in the AdSurfDaily patriarch’s September 2012 trial on ASD-related charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities.

    Warrants were issued in Jefferson County for Bowdoin’s arrest, according to exhibits federal prosecutors produced yesterday in advance of a May 8 bond-review hearing for Bowdoin in Washington. At least one of the records suggests Bowdoin was “Committed To Jail” after his arrest on the Jefferson County charges.

    How long Bowdoin actually spent in jail was not immediately clear. But records in Alabama show that he entered into plea agreements that required him to testify against at least five alleged securities fraudsters. Federal prosecutors now are suggesting that at least some of the Alabama litigation against Bowdoin was unresolved when he launched ASD in 2006 and that Bowdoin made restitution payments in the state with proceeds from the ASD Ponzi scheme.

    Bowdoin claims through ASD employees that his only encounter with law enforcement had been a speeding ticket were “false and misleading,” federal prosecutors said yesterday.

    ASD’s existing members and prospects were not told information that could have helped them in making an informed decision when joining ASD, prosecutors said.

    In August 2008, the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars from Bowdoin’s bank accounts, amid allegations he was presiding over a massive online Ponzi scheme through ASD. Bowdoin was arrested by the Secret Service in December 2010.

    Separately, new court filings suggest that Bowdoin’s May 8 bond-review hearing could be delayed, owing to the illness of one of Bowdoin’s lawyers.

    Prosecutors have said Bowdoin disguised ASD — an illegal securities business — as an “advertising” company. He also is accused of using ASD Ponzi proceeds to make campaign contributions to the National Republican Congressional Committee.

  • UPDATE: Call In Which Frederick Mann Told JSS/JBP Members That ‘Opportunity’ Was Paying Them With Funds From ‘New Members’ Goes Missing From Website

    Frederick Mann, onetime ASD pitchman and the purported operator of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid

    UPDATED 7:44 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.). A potentially damning audio recording of a March 15 conference call in which Frederick Mann told JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid members that the “opportunity” was paying them with money from “new members” has gone missing from the JSS/JBP website.

    The precise date on which the recording was removed was not immediately clear. But the removal occurred after JSS/JBP also had removed recordings of conference calls featuring Carl Pearson, a pitchman for the “opportunity” and its purported COO.

    Mann, whose name appeared in 2008 promos as a pitchman for AdSurfDaily, is the purported operator of JSS/JBP. The U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars tied to ASD in 2008, amid allegations it was conducting an international Ponzi scheme over the Internet.

    Andy Bowdoin now has been accused of serial scamming dating back at least two decades. He faces a May 8 bond-review hearing. Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSS/JBP, was identified in 2008 promos as an ASD pitchman.

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin was charged criminally in 2010. He now faces a May 8 bond-review hearing amid allegations that he continued to scam the public even after the August 2008 seizure of $65.8 million from his 10 personal bank accounts and even after his December 2010 arrest in Florida on ASD-related Ponzi charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities.

    “I (Frederick Mann) have been with ASD since January 07,” remarks attributed to Mann on a site known as BigBooster read on May 14, 2008. “Past performance indicates a strong probablility (sic) that ASD will continue to perform as advertised. (By early May 2008, I had received 14 payments totalling over $6,000!”)

    The U.S. Secret Service conducted a Ponzi raid of ASD less than three months later. Despite the Ponzi allegations against Bowdoin and ASD, Mann purportedly went on to launch JSS/JBP, which purports to pay members a return of 2 percent a day — double the purported return of ASD.

    In January 2012, JSS/JBP-related claims came under the lens of CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator. The agency banned promos for the “opportunity” last month after earlier announcing a 90-day suspension.

    Just days before CONSOB’s April 23 announcement of the ban — on April 17 — U.S. federal prosecutors sent a letter to Bowdoin’s defense attorney in the ASD Ponzi case. The letter informed the attorney — Charles A. Murray — that the government intended to introduce evidence that Bowdoin continued to commit crimes after the August 2008 ASD seizure and after Bowdoin’s subsequent indictment on charges that could put him behind bars for 125 years if he is convicted on all counts.

    Prosecutors said they had tied Bowdoin to AdViewGlobal (AVG), an autosurf that collapsed in 2009. They also said Bowdoin had emerged as a pitchman for a “fraudulent scheme” known as OneX that — in ASD-like fashion — “simply re-distributes funds among participants.”

    Online Ponzi schemes are infamous for morphing into new forms. Serial scammers who populate Ponzi boards such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup drive business to the purported “opportunities,” which often advertise MLM-style, tiered recruitment “commissions” on top of preposterous rates of return.

    ASD, AVG, OneX and JSS/JBP all have (or had) a presence on the Ponzi boards. Serial apologists for JSS/JBP have pooh-poohed the CONSOB developments.

    In the now-missing March 15 recording, a caller purportedly from “San Francisco” asked Mann where “JustBeenPaid get[s] the money to pay that kind of interest.”

    The reference was to the advertised return of 2 percent a day, which corresponds to a precompounding, annualized return of 730 percent — a figure that would make Bernard Madoff blush.

    “Well, first of all, JBP or JSS Tripler is a revenue-sharing program, so that means some of the money comes from new members buying positions,” Mann responded to the caller. “Then, we are in the process of developing additional income streams, so that’s relevant. And eventually the additional income streams may be sufficient to pay the 2 percent — maybe not.”

  • UPDATE: AdSurfDaily’s Andy Bowdoin Faces May 8 Bond-Review Hearing

    Andy Bowdoin

    With federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia now saying AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin was involved in multiple fraud schemes after the U.S. Secret Service seized  $65.8 million from his personal bank accounts in August 2008 in a Ponzi probe, the ASD patriarch now faces a bond-review hearing in Washington.

    U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer has scheduled the hearing for May 8.

    Prosecutors pointedly asserted on April 17 that Bowdoin, 77, was promoting a “fraudulent scheme” known as “OneX,” informing Collyer that Bowdoin’s OneX pitches began in 2011 –after Bowdoin was indicted in 2010 on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities in his operation of ASD.

    Collyer now has ordered prosecutors to present  “all evidence (written and testimonial) regarding Defendant’s alleged involvement in OneX or any other alleged Internet scheme since the Indictment in this case.”

    Bowdoin’s OneX pitches, which mixed in commentary about his criminal case, began in October 2011.  The ASD-related indictment against him was unsealed in November 2010 and announced publicly on Dec. 1, 2010.

    Prosecutors also say Bowdoin was involved in AdViewGlobal, an autosurf that came to life in late 2008 and early 2009 — after the August 2008 Secret Service seizure. At the same time, prosecutors say Bowdoin, Clarence Busby and “others” were involved in the operation of the Golden Panda Ad Builder autosurf, the so-called “Chinese” version of ASD.

    Money from at least five Golden Panda bank accounts was seized as part of the ASD probe in 2008. All in all, the combined sums seized from ASD and Golden Panda totaled about $80 million.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: [UPDATED]: Government Says It Has Tied Andy Bowdoin To Failed AdViewGlobal Autosurf; Prosecutors Also Cite AdSurfDaily Patriarch’s ‘OneX’ Sales Pitch, Calling Program A ‘Fraudulent Scheme’

    Andy Bowdoin

    UPDATED 11:40 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.)  Federal prosecutors say they’ve tied AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin to the failed AdViewGlobal autosurf and intend to introduce evidence of “uncharged misconduct” at Bowdoin’s trial for the alleged ASD Ponzi scheme.

    Meanwhile, prosecutors say “OneX” — a “program” Bowdoin said he was pitching to help pay for his criminal defense in the ASD Ponzi case — is a “fraudulent scheme.”

    The OneX organization and its “matrix,” prosecutors said, are more accurately described as a “pyramid” and the purported opportunity “simply re-distributes funds among participants.”

    “In this latest venture, Bowdoin has again partnered with Tari Steward and Rayda Roundy, both of whom were involved in the operation of ASD,” prosecutors said.

    Prosecutors’ references to AdViewGlobal and OneX are believed to mark the first time the government has acknowledged publicly it was gathering information about the schemes. The government says its probe into Bowdoin continues and that it intends to introduce other evidence of criminal conduct at his September Ponzi trial.

    “The government is aware of additional criminal matters lodged against Bowdoin,” prosecutors said.

    Precisely what those alleged matters entailed was not immediately clear.

    Here (below) are some highlights from an April 17 letter and an April 24 list of exhibits prosecutors filed with the court and sent to Charles A. Murray, Bowdoin’s defense attorney. The letter and exhibits inform Murray about certain matters the government intends to introduce at trial. (Italics and/or bold emphasis added by PP Blog):

    • Bowdoin’s history involves at least four instances in which he was charged with securities-related crimes during the 1990s in Alabama. Three indictments were returned in Montgomery County, and one was returned in Wilcox County. There were multiple victims. Bowdoin accepted plea agreements, agreed to testify for the state against at least five defendants and agreed to make restitution to his fleeced investors. (Note: These assertions by the government may be aimed at short-circuiting any claim by Bowdoin that he was ignorant of securities laws when he started ASD. At the same time, the assertions are potentially useful in making a case that Bowdoin was committed to making a living from securities fraud even after agreeing to testify against alleged securities fraudsters.)
    • Bowdoin allegedly paid some of the Alabama restitution with proceeds from the ASD Ponzi scheme.
    • In one of the Alabama cases, a grand jury accused Bowdoin of not telling investors he was using their money to make “full and/or partial refunds to investors in earlier projects” involving a cell-phone business.
    • Bowdoin solicited $600,000 from an Alabama investor, but allegedly did not disclose that his company had been sued four times under a previous name. (Note: Lack of disclosure and a name change also are alleged parts of the ASD scheme.) Moreover, Bowdoin allegedly sold the $600,000 contract despite the fact that neither cell-phone entity had the required license to operate from the Federal Communications Commission.
    • Bowdoin was “permanently barred” from engaging in the securities industry in Alabama. (This point leads to questions about whether Bowdoin potentially could face state-level charges for selling ASD in Alabama after his ban in the 1990s.)
    • Included in Bowdoin’s history are a bankruptcy filing and string of lawsuits naming him a defendant. (Details of these are unclear, but the government says it expects to produce additional documents in the “near future.”
    • Although Bowdoin claimed to have run successful mobile-phone, GPS-tracking and dry-cleaning businesses, “those businesses were not successful and on several occasions were the subject of civil and criminal proceedings.”
    • “After the United States Secret Service seized ASD’s bank accounts in August 2008, Bowdoin, Gary Talbert . . . and others began operating another version of ASD over the Internet at adviewglobal.com (‘AVG’).” (Talbert was a former ASD executive, according to court filings.)
    • In 2009, AVG  “ceased operation when allegations arose that an individual associated with AVG purportedly stole money from AVG.” (Note: A purported theft of $1 million at the purported hands of “Russian” hackers is an alleged element of the ASD case.)
    • Bowdoin’s claims about OneX are “inherently deceptive.” Like ASD, OneX “does not generate income by selling a product to consumers outside the system. Instead, it simply re-distributes funds among participants.” (Note: The letter strongly suggests that the government is well-versed on the internal operations of OneX.)
    • Bowdoin is targeting former ASD members in his OneX promos and offered “leads” from the ASD database.

    One of the exhibits filed by the government is the AVG Terms of Service.