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Tag: ASD

  • Judge Gives Plaintiffs More Time To Respond To Robert Garner In AdSurfDaily RICO Case, But Says They Missed Filing Date For Response To Golden Panda’s Clarence Busby

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This story about filings in a racketeering lawsuit against AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin, ASD attorney Robert Garner and Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby also includes an update on a lawsuit filed last year against ASD by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. The information is under a subhead below.

    Although U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer yesterday granted a motion plaintiffs filed for more time to respond to Robert Garner’s motion to be dismissed as a defendant in a racketeering lawsuit, she advised the plaintiffs that they had missed a May 26 filing deadline to respond to Clarence Busby’s motions to be dismissed as a defendant.

    Collyer ordered the plaintiffs to show cause why Busby’s motion should not be granted, giving them until June 19 to do so.

    Busby was the president of Golden Panda Ad Builder. Garner was an attorney for AdSurfDaily.

    The judge had denied a motion by the plaintiffs earlier this week for more time to respond to Garner’s dismissal motion for “failure to cite good cause.” The plaintiffs filed an amended motion, which Collyer granted yesterday.

    A response to Garner’s dismissal motion now is due July 9. Attorney’s for the plaintiffs said they agreed to examine “whether or not to voluntarily dismiss [Garner] from the proceeding” prior to the new filing deadline.

    Earlier in the week Collyer denied motions by the plaintiffs to formally add two attorneys to the case, for “failure to confer with all opposing counsel.”

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin also is a RICO defendant. He has not responded to the lawsuit.

    In a separate case filed by the government last year against assets tied to ASD and Golden Panda amid allegations of wire fraud, money-laundering, selling unregistered securities and operating a Ponzi scheme, prosecutors seized more than $65 million from Bowdoin-controlled bank accounts  and more than $14 million from Busby-controlled accounts.

    Busby, a minister who also is in the real-estate business and was implicated by the SEC in a prime-bank scheme in the 1990s, submitted to the forfeiture in September.

    Bowdoin submitted to the forfeiture in January, but now says he changed his mind after meeting with a “group” and wants to re-contest it. Golden Panda amassed the $14 million sum in only days, and ASD amassed the $65 million sum in only weeks.

    Busby’s attorney — Jonathan W. Emord of Clifton, Va. — said in court filings that claims against “Rev. Busby are precluded by the United States’ civil forfeiture action under the doctrine of res judicata.

    “Plaintiffs are barred from relitigating issues resolved against Busby on behalf of the United States and all residents, citizens, and taxpayers concerning matters adjudicated which are of public interest,” Emord argued.

    In essence, the argument holds that, since Busby already has submitted to the forfeiture of funds and the government is establishing a mechanism for refunds, the RICO litigants already have a remedy.

    Garner, meanwhile, argued that the court lacks jurisdiction over him in the case. He is representing himself in the RICO action, although court filings suggest he also has paid professional counsel working behind the scenes.

    Florida Case Against Bowdoin At Standstill

    Why Bowdoin hasn’t responded to the RICO lawsuit is unclear. Also unclear is why there has been no public action since Jan. 6 in a lawsuit filed against Bowdoin and his wife, Edna Faye Bowdoin, by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum.

    Federal prosecutors said in April that Bowdoin had signed a proffer letter in the federal case and acknowledged that ASD was operating illegally. Proffer letters sometimes mean that the one who proffers has agreed to provide the government information that is helpful in the prosecution of others.

    After signing the proffer letter, Bowdoin submitted to the forfeiture in January. Several weeks later, in late February, Bowdoin consulted with what he described as a “group” and began to file pro se court pleadings in the federal case.

    One day after Bowdoin signed his first pro-se pleading on Feb. 25, the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf introduced members to Pro Advocate Group, which says it can help people practice law without a license and help companies form “private membership associations.”

    AVG now is operating as such an association.

    Pro Advocate Group, which also pushes a “legal defense” for taxpayers and “private medical associations,” is associated with Karl Dahlstrom. Dahlstrom was convicted of securities fraud and sentenced to 78 months in federal prison in the 1990s.

    Prosecutors said he bought automobiles with investors’ funds — something Bowdoin is accused of doing.

    AVG has close family, management and promotional ties to ASD. Two of Bowdoin’s family members –  George Harris and his wife, Judy Harris — are trustees of the AVG private “association.”

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

    AVG, which earlier had disclaimed any ties to ASD, now describes itself as a full-fledged advertising and communications company with a host of services.

    But the company has not explained how having ties to Bowdoin family members, friends and promoters is helpful for business, given twin forfeiture cases by the government against assets tied to ASD, the RICO case filed by ASD members and McCollum’s Florida case.

    In December — in an action separate from an August forfeiture filing by the federal government and McCollum’s August lawsuit — federal prosecutors filed a second forfeiture complaint against assets tied to ASD.

    Among other things, the December complaint alleged that Edna Faye Bowdoin and George Harris opened a checking account with nearly $180,000 in illegal proceeds from ASD. George Harris used more than $157,000 of the deposit to pay off the mortgage on the Tallahassee home he shared with his wife, prosecutors said.

    George and Judy Harris also acquired an automobile with illegal proceeds from ASD, prosecutors said.

    Last year, Bowdoin announced to ASD members that “Ponzi” allegations in the Florida case had been dropped. The announcement caused ASD members to race to online forums to share the good news, but proved to be false.

    McCollum’s office issued a statement denying Bowdoin’s assertions, saying Ponzi allegations hadn’t even been brought against ASD in Florida.

    Rather, McCollum’s office said, the state had accused ASD of operating a Pyramid scheme.

  • FOLLOW-UP: The Headline Flap Over Our AVG Story

    EDITOR’S NOTE: We published a story Wednesday that some members of AdViewGlobal (AVG) assert is unfair. At issue — particularly from a poster who uses the handle “CORRECTION!” — is the headline that accompanied the story.

    Another poster, “Pistol,” isn’t sympathic to the autosurf business and says he doesn’t suffer fools gladly on either side of the issue, but also raised a concern about the fairness of the headline. Meanwhile, other posters say the headline is fair. One of the issues is whether an AVG prospect can bypass AVG and purchase ad-packs directly from sponsors.

    Here is some background, and our response to the concerns. We’ll start by republishing a comment Pistol made. Pistol’s reference to the “200% thingy” below is a reference to an AVG matching-bonus program.

    The 200 percent program was advertised to have a June 29 expiration date, but AVG suddenly changed the expiration date to June 5. AVG members and prospects said they were concerned about not being able to get money to the company in time to qualify for the bonus, and an AVG promoter outlined a strategy by which members and prospects with “big bucks” could get the bonus by paying sponsors directly.

    Pistol: It doesn’t seem to me that the sponsor in question is suggesting that sponsors should give/sell members adpacks/page impressions from them (the sponsors) but rather a quick and easy way that they can help new members get funds available so that they can buy adpacks directly from AVGA thereby qualifying for the 200% thingy.

    OUR TAKE: During the first FOUR steps of what is described as the sponsor’s bid to provide a “quick and easy way” for prospects to buy ad-packs “directly” from AVG, the sponsor:

    1.) Gathers money from the prospect and makes a private agreement with the prospect that the final recipient of the funds will be AVG and that the funds will be used to purchase ad-packs.
    2.) Deposits the funds in the sponsor’s local bank.
    3.) Causes a wire to be sent to an offshore payment processor or sends a check via overnight mail to the offshore payment processor.
    4.) Waits for the payment processor to receive the funds and credit the sponsor’s account.

    That’s FOUR steps — or FIVE, if you count the private agreement as a separate step — so an argument that positions this as a purchase made “directly” from AVG isn’t a very compelling one.

    This deal cannot happen as the promoter describes, absent a private agreement between the sponsor and the prospect and subterfuge aimed at the local bank. Moreover, it can’t happen without use of the bank’s wire facility or use of a banking instrument, and it necessarily must involve the offshore processors because the prospect can’t wire funds to AVG directly.

    There’s that word again — “directly.”  With the exception of the prospect’s direct payment to the sponsor, there is virtually nothing direct about this transaction.

    At this point, the prospect’s bank thinks he is doing business with the sponsor, the sponsor’s bank thinks he is doing business with the prospect, and the payment processor thinks it is doing business with the sponsor.

    ONLY the prospect and the sponsor know that AVG is the intended final recipient — and they haven’t told anybody, FOUR or FIVE steps into the process.

    Additional Steps

    In the next step, the sponsor tells the offshore payment processor that AVG is the intended recipient, but the payment processor doesn’t know the prospect is hidden in the deal or is choosing not to know. The prospect’s role is to give money to the sponsor, so he can use the sponsor’s bank to get the money to the offshore processor in an environment that is conducive for AVG and most advantageous for the prospect.

    The payment processor obliges the sponsor and wires the money to AVG, but the transaction still is at least TWO steps away from completion, because the money or the value thereof somehow has to get back in the hands of the real customer, the prospect.

    So, the sponsor funds his AVG account, so he can use AVG’s internal system to get the money or the value thereof to the real customer, the prospect, for the purchase of ad-packs.

    A sale made “directly” through AVG? Hardly. This process is at least SEVEN steps removed from a direct transaction with AVG and perhaps as many as EIGHT. This sale cannot occur — and the prospect cannot get the 200 percent bonus — unless the prospect pays the sponsor directly. The sponsor is getting paid directly for the purchase of ad packs.

    Here, a person might want to ask why the prospect in search of a matching bonus before a deadline passes just can’t send the money to AVG directly and have it credited immediately. That’s the question some AVG members are asking right now. In fact, they asked it as soon as the sponsor laid out the strategy, and some AVG members are complaining out loud about money procedures that appear to be convoluted and complex.

    A person also might want to ask why AVG isn’t using PayPal, and instead is using the offshore surfing favorites: SolidTrustPay and StrictPay. PayPal does not touch this kind of business because it is fraught with secret agendas.

    Worth Noting

    It’s worth pointing out that some of the government personnel involved in the AdSurfDaily (ASD) case also were involved in the successful prosecution of e-Gold, which basically was accused of looking the other way while it processed payments for people who were laundering money.

    ASD, a Florida company federal prosecutors say once used e-Gold and engaged in wire fraud,  money-laundering and the sale of unregistered securities, has close ties to AVG.

    AVG, for example, lists ASD President Andy Bowdoin’s stepson — George Harris — as a “Trustee” of the AVG “private association.” Judy Harris, the wife of George Harris, also is listed as an AVG “Trustee.”

    A home and a car prosecutors say George and Judy Harris acquired with money from ASD was seized as the proceeds of a criminal enterprise in a December forfeiture complaint filed by the Feds.

    One of the issues in the e-Gold case was secret money transactions, and look what’s happening in the strategy outlined by the AVG promoter: The banks don’t know that the prospect and the sponsor just worked together to get funds to a final beneficiary unknown to the bank — AVG — and the processor doesn’t know the prospect is hidden in the deal or may be choosing not to know.

    Incongruous Messages

    AVG purports to be headquartered in Uruguay, has servers that resolve to Panama, receives money from offshore processors in Canada and Panama, but issued a news release this week with a dateline of Tallahassee.

    Many of our readers probably noticed that AVG didn’t use the words “Uruguay” or “Panama” or  “offshore” in its news release, but then immediately sent members an email purported to have originated in Uruguay — to celebrate a news release with a Tallahassee dateline.

    It’s a message hopelessly at odds with itself. It is particularly incongruous because AVG also now claims it provides professional PR services — but just look at what is happening:

    AVG can’t reconcile its own message. It is creating the appearance that it is in Tallahassee when it wants to look clean and proper — indeed, some people now say it is selling legitimate services priced from $30,000 to $200,000 — but it’s in Uruguay when it wants “advertising” rotator cash from folks who need to believe the Securities and Exchange Commission can’t touch them offshore.

    How do those competing notions come into balance? And why would a company that says it can command legitimate fees of up to $200,000 from clients not be running like a man on fire to exit the autosurf business? Incredibly, one promoter said today that AVG’s plan is to remain in the surf business and use the fees it collects for legitimate services to fund the surf.

    In the strategy outlined by the promoter, where is the money that started out at a local bank now? Uruguay? Panama? Florida? Elsewhere? And what routes will it take in the form of payouts to get back to members so it becomes spendable in their hometowns?

    The Headline Flap

    As many of our readers know, “CORRECTION!” is none too happy about this headline, which appears on this Blog.

    AdViewGlobal Promoter Says Prospects Can Bypass Company And Purchase Ad-Packs Directly From Sponsors To Ensure They Get Credited With 200 Percent Match Before Deadline

    CORRECTION repeatedly has demanded a retraction, although he has not identified himself as an AVG spokesperson or person in position of authority at AVG to bring a concern to our attention and ask for a clarification or a retraction. At the same time, CORRECTION will not answer basic questions about AVG’s business practices or provide evidence of verifiable income streams to refute concerns AVG is selling unregistered securities and operating as a Ponzi scheme.

    Let’s take the headline sections one at a time:

    /AdViewGlobal Promoter Says/

    Yes, it was an AVG promoter who shared the strategy of prospects paying sponsors directly and engaging in a process that involves at least SEVEN steps and ultimately results in the purchase of ad-packs. (AVG calls ad-packs “page impressions” or “viewer impressions.”)

    /Prospects Can Bypass Company/

    Yes, the prospect bypasses the company and pays money directly to the sponsor, under the strategy outlined by the promoter. The only thing AVG does in this transaction is make sure the electrons settle in the proper places when told to do so.

    /And Purchase Ad-Packs Directly From Sponsors/

    Yes, the sponsor is selling ad-packs directly because he directly collects the money for the ad-packs, routes the money offshore, causes it to be delivered to AVG, funds his own AVG account with his prospects’ money, and then causes AVG to redistribute the funds or the value thereof to complete the sale. In this case, the sponsor is more directly involved in the sale of ad-packs than AVG itself.

    /To Ensure They Get Credited With 200 Percent Match Before Deadline/

    Yes, this whole strategy was published because someone wanted to know the quickest way a person with $10,000 could get the money to AVG before the deadline to qualify for the 200 percent match.

    The promoter said it was a way to take care of the folks with “big bucks.”

  • BREAKING NEWS: Judge Denies Plaintiffs’ Motion In AdSurfDaily RICO Case For More Time To Respond To Garner Dismissal Motion; Bowdoin Still A No-Show

    A federal judge has denied a motion by the plaintiffs in a racketeering lawsuit against AdSurfDaily attorney Robert Garner for more time to respond to Garner’s motion to be dismissed as a defendant.

    Judge Rosemary Collyer said the plaintiffs had failed to cite “a good cause” to grant the delay.

    Meanwhile, Collyer also denied motions by the plaintiffs to let two additional attorneys enter the case, saying the plaintiffs’ attorneys failed “to confer with all opposing counsel” as required by a Local Rule.

    How things will proceed is unclear. The plaintiffs’ answer to Garner’s dismissal motion is due tomorrow. They had sought a delay until July 6.

    Garner’s RICO co-defendants include ASD President Andy Bowdoin and Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby.

    Bowdoin has not responded to the lawsuit, which was filed in January and amended in April.

  • Garner May Have Paid Counsel In AdSurfDaily RICO Case

    UPDATED 5:42 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) In a flurry of activity in the racketeering lawsuit against ASD President Andy Bowdoin, ASD attorney Robert Garner and Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby, the plaintiffs in the case have formally added two attorneys and filed a motion for more time to respond to Garner’s motion to be dismissed as a defendant.

    Filing pro se despite the fact he is an attorney, Garner earlier asked U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer to dismiss him as a defendant, arguing the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had no jurisdiction over him.

    New court filings by the plaintiffs suggest Garner has retained paid counsel and that his attorney has agreed to give the plaintiffs until July 6 to respond to Garner’s self-filed dismissal motion. The response had been due tomorrow.

    The formal move by the plaintiffs — all of whom are ASD members — balances an earlier move by Bank of America to add two attorneys to its legal team. The bank is a Non-RICO defendant in the case.

    Bowdoin, Garner and Busby engaged in racketeering with unnamed others, and Bank of America aided and abetted the scheme, the plaintiffs alleged.

    Bowdoin still has not answered the RICO complaint, which was filed in January and amended in April.

  • AdViewGlobal Promoter Says Prospects Can Bypass Company And Purchase Ad-Packs Directly From Sponsors To Ensure They Get Credited With 200 Percent Match Before Deadline

    An AdViewGlobal (AVG) promoter has shared a strategy that potentially could cause a legal calamity for individual AVG promoters and members. The member posted his strategy on an AdViewGlobal forum set up by some Mods and members of the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum.

    AVG, which purports to be headquartered in Uruguay and also is known as AVGA, launched a new website Monday, redefining itself as a full-fledged advertising company with a host of services. Within hours, the surf firm announced that a 200 percent, matching-bonus program would end June 5, not June 29 as originally advertised.

    AVG prospects and existing members expressed concern that they would not be able to get their accounts credited with purchases or the bonus before the June 5 deadline. The new deadline shaved 24 days off the original deadline.

    One AVG promoter, however, said there was a workaround by which established program sponsors could serve as a conduit for AVG.

    Under the workaround, established sponsors could gather money from individual prospects, deposit it in the sponsors’ local banks and then send a check by overnight mail to international payment processors in Canada and Panama.

    Alternatively, the sponsors could use their local bank’s wire facility to wire money to the processors, the promoter explained.

    Once the offshore payment processors credited the sponsors’ accounts, the sponsors could transfer the money to AVG and use AVG’s internal system to transfer ad packs to the prospects’ accounts in the amounts they desired to purchase, ensuring that the matching bonuses also would be credited by the June 5 deadline.

    “Many new members may or may not be able to become verified AND have their account funded in time to qualify for the match,” the promoter said. “So as a sponsor what you can do is bank wire or overnight your payment processor ([SolidTrustPay] or [StrictPay]).

    “You are guarantee[d] to have it into your account by Friday. Once it hit[s] your account, log into backoffice and ‘Fund your AVGA account’. This will bring the money into your cash balance. Once it’s in your cash balance, then you can INSTANTLY transfer it to your members. Once money hits their account, they can make a purchase and “BAM” get[] the 200% match.

    “You can have your members wire you their funds or whatever the 2 of you decide upon,” the promoter continued.

    “Unless [there] is a direct wire to AVGA for funding, this is probably the best way that I can see that you can help all your present AND new members get the 200% match,” the promoter said.

    Such an approach potentially brings many issues into play at the individual level, including mail fraud, wire fraud, money-laundering, tax evasion, selling unregistered securities and acting as a securities broker-dealer without a license.

    Some members of AdSurfDaily, a Florida company accused of wire fraud, selling unregistered securities and operating a Ponzi scheme, also gathered money directly from prospects and used ASD’s internal system to transfer credits.

    ASD’s internal laxity and inability to post purchases in timely fashion led to assertions that individual promoters could use the company to make tax-free side deals with prospects. If a promoter already was in “profit” and had a stockpile of ad-packs on the books, he or she could sell the ad-packs at a discount to prospects, transfer the ad-packs to prospects using ASD’s internal system and pocket the cash.

    The prospects would “earn” at ASD’s advertised rate, even though they paid less than others for ad-packs by purchasing through sponsors and bypassing the company. Other ASD members who had paid full price through ASD would inherit the burden of paying for the discounted ad-packs and their full “earning” potential.

    Collecting money from prospects and transferring ad-packs using AVG’s internal system may be problematic even if the ad-packs aren’t offered at a discount. The government views the autosurf business model as foundationally corrupt, and makes no secret that participants are subject to prosecution under securities, wire-fraud, mail-fraud, money-laundering and racketeering statutes.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Prosecutors Seek Final GP Forfeiture Order

    Federal prosecutors have asked U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer for an order that would finalize the forfeiture of more than $14 million seized from Golden Panda Ad Builder last year as part of the AdSurfDaily case.

    Golden Panda, whose president was Clarence Busby, amassed the amount in only days. The final sum, taking credits and offsets into account, was $14,048,598.07.  The government seized five Golden Panda accounts in all, including one that contained precisely $6 million.

    If Collyer signs the order, it would mean that the government gets final possession of the money. It also would mean that the government would be one step closer to implementing a refund procedure for for members who certified they were crime victims.

    A timeline for the full implementation of a refund program is far from clear because ASD President Andy Bowdoin and various pro se litigants are still fighting the forfeiture.

    More than $65.8 million was seized from Bowdoin accounts, including three accounts that contained the exact same amount: $1,000,338.91.

    Bowdoin’s largest account contained more than $31.6 million. Another Bowdoin account contained more than $23.7 million. A third Bowdoin account contained more than $4.99 million. (An additional $107 would have made it an even $5 million.)

    Ten Bowdoin accounts were seized in all.

  • Garner Says D.C. Court Has No Jurisdiction Over Him In RICO Case; Claims Bowdoin Solely Responsible For AdSurfDaily

    Filing as a pro se litigant even though he is an attorney, Robert Garner argued in court filings today that he should be dismissed as a RICO defendant in a complaint brought by members of AdSurfDaily because U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has no jurisdiction over him.

    In the motion, Garner argued that he has no ties to Washington, D.C., saying his only visit to the district in recent memory was to attend a dinner that had nothing to do with the ASD case. Garner disclosed no other details about the dinner, including a date or time.

    Garner also argued that ASD President Andy Bowdoin is uniquely responsible for the company and that Garner ceased being a director of AdSurfDaily in May 2008, about three months prior to the seizure of ASD’s assets.

    As part of his argument, Garner produced a document showing that Bowdoin had registered ASD as a Nevada “foreign corporation” in Florida on May 23, 2008. Bowdoin’s entire Florida filing is in longhand, signed by Bowdoin and listing Bowdoin as registered agent for ASD, secretary, chairman, president and the sole director of the company.

    Bowdoin used the address of 13 S. Calhoun Street, Quincy, Fla. — an address federal prosecutors said was bogus — eight times in the Florida filing. The filing itself may explain in part why the plaintiffs in the RICO case have been unable to perfect service of the complaint on Bowdoin: Bowdoin listed himself as registered agent at an address that doesn’t exist.

    Meanwhile, ASD’s corporate registration in Nevada is marked “default,” and ASD does not appear to have filed a new slate of officers or the identity of a registered agent who could accept process.

    Bowdoin is the sole RICO defendant not to have responded to the complaint, which was filed Jan. 15 and amended in April. Although he has appeared in a video for a firm known as PaperlessAccess, filed multiple pro se pleadings in the ASD forfeiture case brought by the government and promised in March to hold a conference call to update ASD members on developments, Bowdoin has not held the conference call and never has explained why he has not answered the RICO complaint.

    The RICO plaintiffs, all of whom are ASD members, accuse Bowdoin, Garner and Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby of engaging in racketeering with unnamed co-conspirators.

  • ‘Professor’ Moriarty Started Nonprofit In Name Of Suspect Accused Of Murdering Woman And Shooting Police Officer

    UPDATED 4:28 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) On June 2, 2006, Bryan Tullock ran a stop sign in his white Cadillac and was pulled over by police in Montgomery City, Mo., investigators said.

    As officer Brandon LyBarger, 25, approached the car shortly after midnight, Tullock shot him four times with a 9-mm handgun and also opened fire on LyBarger’s partner.

    The second officer, Jarrod Brooks, returned fire, striking the Cadillac but not Tullock.

    When officer Brooks called for backup and went to the aid of his downed colleague, Tullock fled, police said.

    Tullock stopped about a block away and broke into the home of Heidi Casagrand. He shot Casagrand twice. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

    Casagrand, 32, was just just days away from the start of her college career, having recently passed her entrance exams.

    Tullock also shot at Casagrand’s husband, David McManus, before leaving the home.

    About a block away from the murder scene, Tullock confronted Ricky Fry, 33. Tullock shot Fry eight times outside of his home, leaving him for dead.

    A manhunt ensued by Montgomery City Police, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, the Audrain County Sheriff’s Office, Wellsville Police, Jonesburg Police, the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

    Police captured Tullock at 5:42 a.m., less than six hours after the shootings. The date was June 2, 2006.

    On Oct. 2, 2006, four months to the day after the rampage, the state of Missouri recorded the registration of a nonprofit corporation in Tullock’s name.

    Records show that AdSurfDaily mainstay Patrick Moriarty was the registrant of the corporation. Moriarty uses the title “Professor,” and also claims to be a minister and “Tax Return Specialist” who also is skilled in “Karma Restoration.”

    Both officer LyBarger and Ricky Fry survived Tullock’s rampage. They had been struck by a combined total of 12 bullets, according to witness accounts. Two bullets had been fatal to Casagrand.

    After nearly three years, Tullock pleaded guilty to the crimes last month and threw himself on the mercy of the court. He was sentenced to life in prison without opportunity for parole, but could have been sentenced to death. The guilty pleas to multiple crimes, including first-degree murder and shooting a police officer, were not the result of a deal with prosecutors.

    Some of his supporters said Tullock had been abused by a priest as a child, insisting that the shootings were an expression of rage against the priest.

    Others said Tullock coldly planned the shootings and carried them out in a jealous rage because he was unhappy that his ex-girlfriend was friends with Fry. Casagrand was the best friend of Tullock’s ex-girlfriend.

    Moriarty named the nonprofit “Bryan Tullock Org, Inc.” He told Missouri state officials that the organization’s mission was to “protect children from becoming victims of pedophiles and to perform any other legal acts as allowed by Missouri Law and Statutes.”

    All proceeds would be distributed to the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), Moriarty said.

    Missouri dissolved Moriarty’s nonprofit on Dec. 27, 2007, about 14 months after registration, for failure to file an annual report.

    Moriarty, a mainstay in the AdSurfDaily case — and a co-founder in October 2008 of ASD Members International (ASDMI), another nonprofit — was indicted in March on charges of filing false tax returns.

    Part of ASDMI’s stated mission was to litigate against the government in the AdSurfDaily case and perhaps even bring criminal charges against prosecutors. ASDMI dissolved itself in January 2009, less than 90 days after registering as a corporation in Missouri.

    ASDMI collected money from at least 167 contributors, but never brought any litigation.

  • BREAKING NEWS: ‘Professor’ Patrick Moriarty Indicted On Tax Charges; ASD Mainstay Simultaneously Battles Cancer

    UPDATED 3:39 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) “Professor” Patrick Moriarty has been indicted on federal tax charges. Parts of the indictment in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri were filed under seal March 19.

    A redacted True Bill charged Moriarty with filing false income-tax returns for the tax years 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. In court filings, prosecutors identified him as the owner of PCM Enterprises.

    If convicted on all counts, Moriarty would face up to 12 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million. Moriarty is suffering from cancer. The court is aware of his condition and has been flexible in scheduling proceedings. A Nov. 2 trial date has been set. The charges are felonies.

    Assistant Federal Public Defender Thomas F. Flynn, Moriarty’s attorney, described the litigation as “a complex tax fraud case involving allegedly fraudulent returns.”

    Moriarty, who fashioned a theory in the AdSurfDaily case that the government was interfering with commerce and espoused the legal theories of Curtis Richmond, was arrested March 24 and is free on recognizance bond.

    Richmond is a member of a sham Utah Indian tribe known for filing vexatious litigation, including litigation that resulted in a successful counter-suit brought by Utah public officials under federal racketeering statutes. Although not a lawyer, Richmond holds the unusual distinction of having been banned from the practice of law in Colorado.

    Moriarty Allegations

    Prosecutors said Moriarty underreported his income by an unspecified amount for the tax year 2002; claimed a false deduction of $30,000 for “legal fees” for the tax year 2003; and claimed a false amount of $23,533 withheld for the tax year 2004 and a false amount of $23,433 withheld for the tax year 2005.

    The state of Missouri dissolved PCM Enterprises in 2005 because Moriarty did not file an annual report, records show. The company’s website now resolves to a free hosting domain at tripod.com.

    Moriarty, who once sold fake academic degrees on eBay, explaining they were gag gifts, uses the title “Rev” and purports to be the “minister” of the Universal Life Church (ULC) of Troy, Mo. He lists his qualifications as a Ph.D. and a D.D., and notes he also is an accountant and “Tax Return Specialist.”

    The credentials are listed on a church-provided website, which includes a link by Moriarty to MLM opportunities at the tripod.com page.

    ULC has been the subject of controversy. The church ordains up to 10,000 individuals per month, without charging a fee or holding any classes. Advanced degrees can be obtained for as little as $29.95 with little academic effort, according to ULC’s Wikipedia entry.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Clerk Records Golden Panda ‘Default’

    On Monday, prosecutors filed papers to begin the process of finalizing the default of more than $14 million seized from Bank of America accounts controlled by Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby and his daughter, Dawn Stowers.

    A court clerk today entered a default notice for a total sum of $14,045,598.07.  The notice clears the way for the government to take final control of the money.

    Golden Panda had five Bank of America accounts, including one that contained precisely $6 million. The company operated in launch phase for only eight days, although Golden Panda also operated in “prelaunch” phase, recording nearly 20,000 members in weeks.

    Here is a list of the Golden Panda accounts and the default amounts:

    (1) $2,282,999.72 seized from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the
    name of Clarence Busby Jr. and Dawn Stowers, DBA Golden Panda Ad Builder Deposit Account;
    (2) $1,112,978.42 seized from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of Clarence Busby Jr. and Dawn Stowers, DBA Golden Panda Ad Builder Operating Account;
    (3) $1,642,039.08 seized from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of Clarence Busby Jr. and Dawn Stowers, DBA Golden Panda Ad Builder Cashout Account;
    (4) $6,000,000.00 seized from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of Golden Panda Ad Builder;
    (5) $3,007,580.85 seized from account #[deleted by this Blog] at Bank of America, in the name of Golden Panda Ad Builder.

    In court filings, Clarence Busby said Golden Panda was born in April 2008, on a Georgia fishing lake, after discussion with AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin.

    “As a social courtesy to Bowdoin, I asked a pastor friend of mine, Rev. Charles Green, if he might bring his boat and join me in inviting Bowdoin on a relaxing fishing trip,” Busby told U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer. “I imagined that operating ASD involved a lot of stress, and I had heard Bowdoin liked to fish. I also wanted a respite from work. The invitation was extended and Bowdoin agreed to join us.”

    “On April 11, 2008, we fished at a lake in Brunswick, Georgia for a day. On that Day Bowdoin surprised me by recommending that I start a Chinese version of ASD,” Busby said.  “Bowdoin suggested that I organize the business without him. He said, ‘I can’t handle the business I already have,’ stating that I should be the one to create, own, and operate this Chinese version of ASD.”

    In his court filings, Busby said he didn’t know Bowdoin “had prior run ins with the law” and had been arrested in Alabama for defrauding investors.

    Busby did not say if he told his fishing partner about his own run-ins with the law: The Securities and Exchange Commission said Busby defrauded investors in the 1990s.

    “[T]he Commission alleged that Busby violated the antifraud provisions of the securities laws by offering and selling investment contracts in connection with three different prime bank schemes,” the SEC said.

    “Using misrepresentations and omissions in each of the three schemes, Busby raised money for purported trading programs in ‘prime bank’ notes by fraudulently representing to investors that the investments were risk-free and that the ventures would pay returns ranging from 750% to 10,000%. In total, Busby raised nearly $1 million from more than 70 investors. None of the investors earned the exorbitant returns promised by Busby,” the SEC said.

    Busby settled the case with the SEC in May 1998 by agreeing not to break securities laws. Ten years later, he once again found himself a central figure in a securities scheme, right next to Bowdoin.

  • Oddities Abound In ASD Case, ‘Surf World

    Oddity One: As first reported here yesterday, Andy Bowdoin had the exact same amount on deposit in three separate Bank of America accounts: $1,000,338.91.

    Such an oddity seems impossible, if not deliberate. Could the $338.91 tacked on the end of all three sums be interest on individual deposits of exactly $1 million each all made on the same day — not long before the Aug. 5 formal seizure?

    If so, why would ASD need three accounts containing precisely $1 million each opened on the same day?

    Oddity Two: Back in January, this Blog made a video of AdViewGlobal graphics appearing in a webroom operated by ASD and then disappearing. Yesterday the YouTube system emailed us about a comment left at the video site by a person who identified himself as “AVGACompliance” and “Juan.”

    Here is the comment left by “AVGACompliance” and “Juan”  (italics added):

    Please remove this video ASAP as you are using unauthorized material and this is part of our terms & service. If you don’t remove this information your account will be terminated.
    Thanks
    Juan

    We did a quick search of videos about the AdViewGlobal autosurf, and found that the exact same comment signed by “AVGACompliance” and “Juan” had been left elsewhere at YouTube. We also noticed that AVG now appears to have its own officially endorsed video.

    Assuming “AVGACompliance” and “Juan” have a real tie to AVG and that their aim is to make sure only the officially endorsed video gets shown on YouTube under the threat of an account termination at AVG, we have to wonder if “AVGACompliance” and “Juan” actually even watched our video.

    We don’t have an account at AVG for Compliance to terminate. The title of our video is, “Ad Surf Daily Ponzi Scheme Tie To Ad View Global.”

    So much about AVG is hard to explain. At one time, the surf said it had no ties to ASD, after prelaunch promoters for weeks did their best to tie together the two firms, even suggesting that ASD credits could be transferred to AVG.

    See this January picture story.

    AVG and ASD have common ties, common management and common promoters. Just last week AVG said it had a deal that would enable customers to wire money offshore to pay for “advertising.” Trouble was, a company AVG said was involved in the transfers said it had no business relationship with AVG, said the surf’s claims were false and added that it was conducting an investigation because it believed it had been targeted in a scam.