Two domains for the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf will not resolve to a server.
The domains are:
adviewglobal.com
startavga.com
Why the domains will not resolve is unclear. The domains normally resolve to a server in Panama.
As reported previously, a third domain associated with AVG — advglobal.com — also won’t resolve. This domain appears to have resolved to the United States at one time and appears to have been suspended for spam and abuse.
AVG suspended cashouts June 25. In August, it said it had reported a theft of $2.7 million to state and federal authorities. AVG’s announcement about the purported theft occurred one day after AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin announced in court filings that he was negotiating with federal prosecutors.
AVG and ASD have close family, promoter and membership ties.
UPDATE 11:55 A.M. The AVG domains still are offline. Their IP cluster in Panama is in the same range as the server that powers BizAdSplash (BAS), yet another controversial surf firm. The BAS domains are resolving.
UPDATE 8:09 P.M. The adviewglobal.com domain and the startavga.com domain now are resolving to a server, although the members’ login page and the “Join” page are throwing a database error.
The advglobal.com domain is not resolving to a server.
UPDATED 7:53 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) AdViewGlobal (AVG), which also is known as the AV Global Association (AVGA), registered the association name as a fictitious entity in Florida in April, canceled and re-registered it in May — and canceled the registration again July 21 in a transaction that involved a hotel fax machine in Montevideo, Uruguay, according to records.
AVGA’s name initially was registered by Gary Talbert April 21 and used the same address AdSurfDaily used — 13 S. Calhoun Street, Quincy, Fla. — according to documents on file in Florida. Federal prosecutors said last year that the S. Calhoun address was bogus.
Talbert, once an ASD executive and later the chief executive officer of AVG before resigning in March, was listed as the owner in the April filing, which was dated a month after AVG had announced Talbert’s resignation.
AdViewGlobal claimed to have no ties to AdSurfDaily, but this document lists ASD's address in Quincy, Fla., as AVG's address.
It was not immediately clear why the filing occurred in April and included Talbert’s name after he had resigned a month earlier, but Talbert’s name and purported signature appear in the document. The surf announced a shift to an association structure in February, one day after AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin signed the first of his pro se pleadings in the ASD forfeiture case and two days after reports circulated that the U.S. Secret Service had seized the bank accounts of some individual ASD members.
On May 29, the surf reregistered the name, this time listing Judy Harris as the owner and using the address of the Harris home in Tallahassee as its address. The reregistration occurred two days prior to the issuance of a news release by AVG through PR Newswire that used a Tallahassee dateline.
AVG sent a follow-up email announcing its news release to members on the same day. The email hotlinked to servers at Forbes Magazine and other publishers, pulling the publishers’ logos off their servers and creating the impression that the companies had endorsed AVG. The email purported to have originated in Uruguay.
By June 25, a little more than three weeks after the issuance of the June 1 news release, AVG announced it was suspending cashouts.
Federal prosecutors said in December that the mortgage on the Harris home had been paid off in June 2008 with more than $157,000 in illegal proceeds from AdSurfDaily Inc., a Florida company accused last year in a forfeiture complaint of wire fraud, money-laundering and operating a Ponzi scheme.
The name of the Montevideo hotel appears at the top of the faxed document, as do the fax number and international dialing identifier. The document suggests the fax might have been sent to another company in the United States before being forwarded to the Florida Department of State — or the opposite, faxed from the United States to Uruguay.
The timing of the registration cancellation coincides with an unconfirmed report that AVG had fired employees in Uruguay on July 20.
Members later said that Bowdoin was the silent head of AVG.
In early February, after AVG’s graphics were seen Jan. 31 in an ASD-controlled webroom that showed AVG’s street address as the same S. Calhoun address ASD used, AVG explained the appearance of the graphic was an “operational coincidence.”
Regardless, AVG used the address in April in filings in Florida.
UPDATED 11:18 A.M. EDT (U.S.A. AUG. 25) Two men identified as having significant positions of financial trust inside AdViewGlobal (AVG) discharged more than $1.6 million in separate bankruptcy filings, records show.
One man used a mail drop as his street address in a 2004 bankruptcy filing that discharged $261,474 while claiming only $6,375 in assets, according to court filings.
At the time of the filing, the man owed $5,300 to a courier service; $3,000 to a hosting company; $42,000 to lawsuit plaintiffs in a case that appears to have dealt with a piece of candy marketed MLM-style as a diet aid; $180,000 to an industrial park; and miscellaneous other debts.
Meanwhile, a second man who held a position of trust inside AVG filed bankruptcy twice — a personal filing (2005) and a business filing (2004) — and discharged nearly $1.4 million while claiming only $3,500 in assets, research shows.
Like the first man, the second man used a mail drop as his street address, advising the court the address was an apartment. The address actually was a UPS Store that once operated as a Mailboxes Etc, research shows.
About four years later, the man went to work for AVG, according to research.
Like ASD President Andy Bowdoin, whom members now say was the silent head of AVG, the men were involved in multiple businesses in multiple states and presided over enterprises that were sued over financial matters or for violations of federal law, records show.
A former business partner of one of the men committed suicide in 2002, after allegations surfaced that a large sum of money was missing from a co-op venture managed by the former partner. Prior to taking his own life, the former partner made inquiries about banking in Switzerland and the Caribbean, according to court filings.
The PatrickPretty.com Blog is withholding publication of the names of the men, who are not named in any ASD-related litigation.
In 2006 and 2007, AdSurfDaily Inc. used the services of Virtual Money Inc., a debit-card provider accused last year of laundering money for a major narco business in Medellin, Colombia.
ASD also has been linked to the CEP Ponzi scheme, the PhoenixSurf Ponzi scheme (which also used Virtual Money debit cards), the 12DailyPro Ponzi scheme and e-Gold, which was indicted and convicted of money-laundering.
ASD President Andy Bowdoin also has been linked to a little-known (and now gone) enterprise known as DailyProSurf, which preceded ASD and used two of the three words that comprised the title of the infamous 12DailyPro Ponzi scheme — and, as it turned out, one of two words that comprised the title of the infamous PhoenixSurf Ponzi scheme.
Earlier this year Bowdoin appeared in a video pitch for a purported surf known as PaperlessAccess. It was a way for ASD members to get their money back, he explained. The Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum later explained that PaperlessAccess has misrepresented itself to Bowdoin. Some people observed that PaperlessAccess appeared to be using the same surf script ASD used — and the same database.
Bowdoin’s public support largely has evaporated. Although he continues to have apologists willing to twist facts and conflate new realities to explain away every bit of bad news — including people who cling to a fantasy that ASD can demonstrate it was not a Ponzi scheme — his remaining loyalists long ago lost the PR battle. “Evil government” never was much of an argument, mostly because people generally support the police. Bowdoin himself exposed the fallaciousness when he acknowledged ASD was operating illegally.
The court already has rejected one argument advanced by an ASD expert witness, ruling that attorney Gerald Nehra had “demonstrated the fallibilities of the professional expert witness, who was defensive on his client’s behalf rather than neutral in his expertise.”
Among the problems with Nehra’s testimony at an evidentiary hearing last fall, the judge said, was that it contradicted the testimony of other ASD witnesses and “relied solely on the written words contained in the Terms of Service without independent investigation or review of ASD’s business records to ascertain how ASD operates in fact before opining.”
Keith B. Laggos, another expert ASD reportedly has on its side, had problems with the SEC for publishing “laudatory” press releases and a “laudatory article” about a company without disclosing he was being compensated by the company.
“[T]he final judgment entered against Laggos provides for disgorgement of $11,989.87, plus prejudgment interest in the amount of $1,996.77, for a total of $13,986.64; the imposition of a civil penalty of $19,500; and a five-year penny stock bar,” the SEC said in 2005.
Moreover, some ASD promoters have been linked to any number of failed schemes, including MegaLido, Noobing and Regenesis 2×2, which now is under investigation by the U.S. Secret Service in Washington state. One of the purported Regenesis principals was released from federal prison only in January, after serving time in a previous fraud scheme.
Larry Cook, the receiver in a fraud case against Noobing’s parent company, Affiliate Strategies Inc., said in court filings Thursday that the company and affiliated companies were broke.
In the early stages, it has been hard to get a fix on finances because “several thousand intercompany transfers” occurred, Cook said, adding that “for at least all of 2009, Defendants operated only by signing up new victims faster than the old victims could obtain refunds.â€
Some ASD promoters, of course, also pitched BizAdSplash (BAS) — even though “chief consultant” Clarence Busby operated Golden Panda Ad Builder, whose assets ($14 million) were seized in the ASD probe. BAS currently is paying no one. Neither is AdGateWorld (AGW), another surf pitched by ASD members. ASD’s name once appeared in the AGW Terms of Service.
If that were not enough, members now say that ASD President Andy Bowdoin was the silent head of AdViewGlobal (AVG), which suspended cashouts June 25, closed its forum, announced it was keeping all money sent in by members under a “rebates aren’t guaranteed” clause and conducting an audit of itself.
AVG recently announced it had reported the theft of $2.7 million to state and federal authorities. The announcement was made one day after ASD announced in court filings that it was negotiating with federal prosecutors.
Bowdoin, who also has been named a defendant in a racketeering lawsuit but has not responded to the complaint, even acknowledged in his own court filings that ASD was operating illegally, claiming the government had an extraordinary duty to inform him that what he was doing was breaking the law.
AVG launched despite ASD’s unresolved legal nightmare, which leads to questions about whether Bowdoin also believed the government had an extraordinary duty to tell him that AVG was illegal.
The ASD case is strange by any standard one chooses to apply, including the incongruous standards of the autosurf world. At various times it has featured court filings by Curtis Richmond, a man associated with a group that declared itself a sovereign Indian tribe and organized its own Supreme Court, using the address of a Utah doughnut shop. The group derisively became known as the “Arby’s Indians” because it once held a meeting at an Arby’s in Provo.
Richmond and co-defendants in a Utah civil case were found by a federal judge last year to have engaged in racketeering in a scheme to destroy the credit of public officials involved in litigation against the tribe, which the judge ruled a “complete sham.”
Even jailed racketeer and former U.S. Rep. James Traficant became a side note in the ASD case, after some ASD members circulated this PDF in sympathy of his views on what they view as a banking and Federal Reserve conspiracy.
“Redeemable currency must promise to pay a dollar equivalent in gold or silver money,” Traficant was quoted as saying in 1993, before he was jailed. “Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs) make no such promises, and are not ‘money.’”
ASD-related litigation is not the only trouble that has dogged Bowdoin since the filing of the federal forfeiture case last August. In December 2008 — in an unrelated case in Gadsden County, Fla. — a process server attempted unsuccessfully to serve Bowdoin with a lawsuit for an unpaid bill, and reported back to the court that “the address appears vacant.”
Bowdoin’s last known address was 8 Gilcrease Lane in Quincy, according to April court filings by his former attorneys. Bowdoin fired his attorneys and proceeded as a pro se litigant, but later was ordered to hire a new attorney.
Meanwhile, there has been virtually no public activity since early January in the case against Bowdoin filed last year by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, whom some ASD members said should be charged with Deceptive Trade Practices for suggesting ASD was illegal. The Florida case has been reassigned to different judges twice this year.
Bowdoin claimed last year that Ponzi allegations brought by McCollum had been dropped, which triggered ASD members to race to forums to share the good news and caused McCollum’s office to issue a statement denying that Ponzi allegations even had been brought in Florida. The Florida prosecution was brought as a pyramid scheme.
While it was awaiting a court ruling in October pertaining to the Ponzi allegations in federal court and the allegations that ASD had virtually no revenue other than fees paid by new members, ASD suddenly announced it expected to receive a $200 million infusion from Praebius Communications, a penny-stock firm that publishes no financials.
Members were skeptical and said they’d try to confirm the story through Praebius, and ASD quickly removed the announcement from its Breaking News website — but not until other members once again had raced to forums to share good news that turned out to be disappointing news.
In the federal forfeiture case filed in August, Bowdoin ceded tens of millions of dollars to the federal government in mid-January, but signed a court document Feb. 25 saying he’d changed his mind and planned to continue to litigate as his own attorney.
Reduced screen shot of Bowdoin's sworn certification in a pro se pleading. Feb. 25 was the recorded date of the signature. A day earlier — on Feb. 24 — reports circulated that the Secret Service had seized the banks accounts of some individual ASD members. On Feb. 26, AVG announced it was switching to an "association" structure.
Bowdoin signed the document one day after reports surfaced that the U.S. Secret Service had seized other bank accounts in the ASD case. On Feb. 26, one day after Bowdoin signed the first of his pro se pleadings, AVG announced it had consulted with Pro Advocate Group and was switching to an “association” structure.
Pro Advocate Group is associated with Karl Dahlstrom, who was convicted of securities fraud in the 1990s and sentenced to 78 months in federal prison. The “association” structure that emerged cited the U.S. Constitution as the document from which it derived its authority, but AVG said it was headquartered in Uruguay and its servers resolved to Panama.
AVG used U.S.-based Google services for communications, even though it had its own server. The likely reason for that was to preserve an ability to communicate in case the company’s servers were shut down.
ASD’s servers were shut down for spam and abuse last year. At least one domain associated with AVG — http://advglobal.com — has been shut down this year. A note in the domain data suggested the server was suspended for spam and abuse.
Beyond that, there is confusion over precisely who owns eWalletPlus, the online payment processor associated with AVG. Bowdoin was said to have paid $75,000 for eWalletPlus in November — the same month a federal judge ruled ASD had not demonstrated it was a legal business and not a Ponzi scheme — but at least three other companies or individuals have claimed to own the firm.
The situation is both a maze and amazing. A company known as Vana Blue Inc. that trades as a penny stock now has specifically disclaimed ownership of Karveck International — yet another name associated with AVG — and yet Vana Blue once boasted that it had acquired Karveck International, after earlier boasting it had acquired a company known as Karveck Corp.
Vana Blue also claimed to own TMS Corp., which had claimed to own eWalletPlus. Meanwhile, an entity known as TMS Association also claimed to own eWalletPlus. A third entity — TMS Corp. USA LLC — also has become part of the AVG alphabet soup.
Amid these bizarre circumstances, Andy Bowdoin’s support has collapsed — with the exception of a small universe of people eager to trot out a new conspiracy theory to deflect blame from the responsible parties.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Information in this story was gleaned Tuesday and Wednesday from a source who spoke to the PatrickPretty.com Blog on the condition of anonymity. We interviewed the source Wednesday. The source said a large group of individuals once loyal to Andy Bowdoin no longer could stand in his corner. “We got mixed up in ASD and feel horrible about it,” the source said.
UPDATED 10:22 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Andy Bowdoin was the recognized head of AdViewGlobal among a core group of insiders and dispatched his stepson, George Harris, to Switzerland to establish bank accounts, according to information provided the PatrickPretty.com Blog.
In an email that circulated among ASD members — some of whom were described as sickened by Bowdoin’s gall — Bowdoin denied that Swiss accounts ever were opened. He acknowledged, though, that both George and Judy Harris trekked to Switzerland, accompanied by another individual.
His concession has led to questions about whether Bowdoin was telling the truth that no Swiss accounts were opened. The U.S. government is engaged in an active campaign to pierce Swiss banking secrecy and has scored landmark wins in recent months that have resulted in indictments against Americans who were using the banks to evade income taxes.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Secret Service has seized at least one computer used by an AVG insider and the Phoenix Police Department is investigating a purported theft of $2.7 million from AVG, according to the email.
“There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever” that remarks attributed to Bowdoin in the email were authored by Bowdoin, the source said.
Bowdoin told a person who questioned his business judgment that Harris was unable to open Swiss accounts because “the banks said they did not like accounts with a lot of out going transactions,” according to the email.
A person who participated in AVG took Bowdoin to task for laissez-faire management, a lack of follow-up controls and various business blunders — one of which purportedly was a deal assembled in November 2008 to acquire the Phoenix-based EWalletPlus payment processor for $75,000.
(NOTE: Even after reviewing the email, we could not determine who actually owns eWalletPlus. At least three companies or individuals have claimed to own the web-based payment processor, which is offline. The website now resolves to a parked page and appears to be for sale on sedo.com.)
Bowdoin performed virtually no due diligence before acquiring eWalletPlus, according to the email, but explained “[a] lot of business is conducted without ever meeting the owner because there are so many ways to perform due deligence [sic] in this high tech world.”
The purported deal, according to the email, involved a purchase contract and occurred the same month a federal judge ruled that ASD had not demonstrated it was a legal enterprise and not a Ponzi scheme at a Sept. 30-Oct. 1 evidentiary hearing ASD specifically requested.
Bowdoin’s purported actions lead to questions about whether he was prepared to remain in the illegal autosurf business no matter what a federal judge said. At the same time, the email leads to questions about why a group of AVG insiders ever would follow Bowdoin from ASD to the new company with serious legal business still on the table.
“It doesn’t make sense,” the source said. “These guys got greedy and thought by running things offshore,” they were . . . “[untouchable.]”
Plans to develop AVG were discussed at a private meeting on a cruise ship among 13 people, the source said.
Problems developed when AVG was unable to gain or maintain control over bank accounts — including one at First Caribbean Bank — needed to operate the business. One of the issues was who had signature authority over accounts, according to the email.
AVG blindly paid $20,000 to a formerly trusted person to set up a legal structure and bank account in Costa Rica — and George and Judy Harris “went down” to Costa Rica to get the lay of the legal landscape and review the corporate documentation, according to Bowdoin’s remarks in the email.
While in Costa Rica, George Harris was advised by a local attorney that the fee for setting up a corporation was only $1,200, which led to questions about whether the formerly trusted party had skimmed $18,800 in the purported $20,000 deal.
“[S]omeone made a lot of profit,” Bowdoin said, according to the email.
In any event, the bank account in Costa Rica was needed as a conduit to forward funds to Uruguay, according to Bowdoin, citing a claim made by the formerly trusted party.
No money made its way into the account in Costa Rica, even though the formerly trusted party was supposed to place $2.2 million in the account for later transfer to Uruguay, according to the email.
Bowdoin appointed Judy Harris an AVG trustee in a bid to get control of the money, according to the email.
“Yes, I asked Judy to be trustee to see if we could over come the money that had been stolen,” Bowdoin said, according to the email. “But when people started cashing out excessively it was soon apparant (sic) that it could not be overcome without some changes in page impressions. If the money had not been stolen all of the cash out requests could of been paid and there would of been plenty of operating capital. Hopefully some of the members will be able to come up with a solution.”
Infighting developed over whether AVG would be operated from the United States or Uruguay. Bowdoin groused that labor was less costly in Uruguay, but an AVG insider insisted the company operate from inside the United States, according to the email.
“I never had all of these problems with ASD,” Bowdoin said, according to the email. “It is evident now that I should of been more hands on in management.”
Bowdoin’s behavior cannot be reconciled, said the source, who acknowledged embarrassment for having participated in ASD after his instincts told him something was wrong.
At an ASD rally in Florida last year, the source said, he observed a man holding a briefcase. The man explained that the briefcase was “full of cashiers checks for $50,000 apiece,” the source said.
Later, members of his downline group shared reports that “people with piles and piles of cash” had attended ASD rallies.
“I don’t believe [Andy Bowdoin] for a second,” the source said. “He lost all credibility in our camp after firing his attorneys — and [filing] all those [pro se] motions.”
By the time the government seized Bowdoin’s assets last summer, the source said, a family member had lost tens of thousands of dollars consisting of an initial outlay and unredeemed paper profits that ASD displayed in the family member’s back office.
UPDATED 2:55 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) In a short Business Wire news release late this morning, Vana Blue Inc. said it “has canceled all agreements with Karveck Int’l and has no affiliation with [the] company or its affiliates.”
The company claimed to own Karveck International in February 2009, declaring it a “newly acquired asset” that had produced $1.8 million in revenue in January. Karveck was described as a company that “specializes in internet advertising and promotion in a search engine and ad clicking type environment.”
Today’s news release, however, said the deal once described as completed never was finalized and that the cancellation came as a result of “further due diligence.”
“Vana Blue was unable to complete this transaction but is in the final stages of negotiation with an oil company to continue its plans of acquisitions,” said Donald Rex Gay, Vana Blue’s president.
Vana Blue is a Pinksheet stock that trades under the symbol VBLU.
Among other things, Vana Blue has said it owned the eWalletPlus payment processor that has been associated with AdViewGlobal (AVG), an autosurf with ties to AdSurfDaily Inc. Karveck’s name also has been associated with AVG, but AVG identified George and Judy Harris as its owners.
George Harris is the stepson of ASD President Andy Bowdoin.
AVG was in prelaunch phase in January, the month before Vana Blue announced the sales figures for Karveck International. There has been one report that AVG registered in Uruguay as Karveck International, but that report has not been confirmed.
Vana Blue’s domain name now resolves to a GoDaddy.com parked page. Meanwhile, the domain for eWalletPlus also resolves to a parked page and appears to be for sale on sedo.com.
Today’s Vana Blue news release used a Gmail address. Previous news releases by the firm used an email address at the Vana Blue domain.
AVG announced to members Aug. 5 that it had reported a theft of $2.7 million to state and federal authorities. The surf made the announcement one day after ASD announced in court filings that it was negotiating with federal prosecutors in a case that involved the seizure of tens of millions of dollars last August from Bowdoin.
Vana Blue used mail services in both Phoenix and Las Vegas for its street address, according to records. Vana Blue also has said it had an agreement with a company known as Net Auction Plus, an eBay alternative, “to provide online, affordable, and flexible payment services.”
The NetAuctionPlus.com domain name is registered to Michael Austin and uses the same Phoenix mail-service address as Vana Blue. The NetAuctionPlus.com domain throws a server error.
Austin’s name also has been associated with eWalletPlus, but is only one of several names associated with the payment processor and money-services business. AVG promoters have claimed that eWalletPlus was AVG’s in-house payment processor.
The names of at least two other companies — TMS Corp. and TMS Association — also have been associated with Vana Blue. Both firms purportedly owned eWalletPlus.
A third firm with a similar-sounding name — TMS Corp. USA LLC — is registered in Nevada and Arizona.
Records show the registration of TMS Corp. USA LLC was recorded by Gary Talbert, a former ASD executive. The Arizona registration lists ASD’s street address in Quincy, Fla.
Federal prosecutors said last year that ASD’s Quincy address was bogus.
In January, Karveck International was referred to in this Business Wire news release carried by Reuters as “Karveck Corporation.” It was described as a media company with “international reach that provides high volume exposure for websites thus creating advanced advertising on the internet for big and small businesses and for individuals who have products and services to sell.”
The name change from Karveck Corp. to Karveck International was not explained.
AVG has a history of issuing confusing announcements. In May — on the same day the Obama administration announced a crackdown on international monetary fraud — AVG announced it had secured a new offshore wire facility after losing a previous facility in March.
The surf, which purports to be headquartered in Uruguay, provided account numbers and detailed wire instructions for members. Three days later, a company AVG identified as a facilitator of the transfers issued an express, public denial that it had any business relationship with AVG.
AVG never acknowledged the denial. Instead, the surf issued an announcement signed “AVGA Management†that the wire deal it just had described as completed had failed because of unsuccessful negotiations.
Not a single share of Vana Blue’s penny stock has traded hands since July 30, a period of seven full trading days, according to Yahoo Finance. In news releases, Vana Blue identified itself as the owner of eWalletPlus, a payment processor later linked to the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf.
Vana Blue, which used mailing services in Phoenix and Las Vegas as its address, is a registered corporation in Nevada. Its website now resolves to a server that beams ads from GoDaddy.com, but until recently resolved to a server from which the company told its story.
The company has claimed to own a company that variously has been described as TMS Corp. and TMS Association, which purportedly developed eWalletPlus. In January, Vana Blue also claimed to own a company that variously has been described as Karveck Corp. or Karveck International, a purported advertising and media company.
In February, Vana Blue reported that Karveck had posted $1.8 million in revenue in January — the month AVG was in prelaunch.
Among other things, Vana Blue also had said it signed an agreement with a company known as Native Express Inc. “to develop oil and gas resources” in Utah. Vana Blue also has said it had an agreement with a firm in Jamaica known as Internet Mobile & Caribbean Network Ltd. to “facilitate the sales of the Compass Pre Paid debit card throughout Jamaica and the Caribbean.”
Meanwhile, Vana Blue also has said it had an agreement with a company known as Net Auction Plus, an eBay alternative, “to provide online, affordable, and flexible payment services.” The NetAuctionPlus.com domain name is registered to Michael Austin and uses the same Phoenix mail-service address as Vana Blue.
The NetAuctionPlus.com domain throws a server error. Austin’s name was mentioned in an announcement last week by AVG that it had reported a theft of $2.7 million to unspecified law enforcement agencies. AVG, which purports to be headquartered in Uruguay, did not explain when the alleged theft occurred and did not provide details.
Austin’s name also has been associated with eWalletPlus, but is only one of several names associated with the payment processor and money-services business. AVG promoters have claimed that eWalletPlus was AVG’s in-house payment processor. At one time, the eWalletPlus domain resolved to the same server in Panama that hosted AVG, but the domain now resolves to a parked page and appears to be offered for sale on sedo.com.
In a purported public filing dated March 31, Vana Blue identified its officers as Donald Rex Gay, Leonard Capelli and Michael Reis, saying it owned TMS Corp and Karveck International.
Only days later, a man associated with both the AdSurfDaily and AVG autosurfs — Gary Talbert — registered an entity known as TMS Corp. USA LLC, according to records. Talbert’s U.S. registrations occurred within days of a March 20 announcement by AVG that he had resigned as its chief executive officer and a March 23 announcement that AVG’s bank account had been suspended because too many members had wired transactions in excess of $9,500.
TMS Corp. USA LLC is registered in Nevada, and lists Gary D. Talbert of 2601 E Thomas Rd, Ste 220-A Phoenix, AZ 85016, as its manager. A company by the same name also is listed as a foreign LLC in Arizona, with Gary D. Talbert of 13. S. Calhoun Street, P.O. Box 109, Quincy, FL 32351, as its manager.
The S. Calhoun Street building address is the same address AdSurfDaily Inc. used.
In a forfeiture complaint against ASD last year that alleged wire fraud, money-laundering, the sale of unregistered securities and a Ponzi scheme, federal prosecutors said the building address was bogus.
One of the officers of Vana Blue is named a defendant in a counterclaim by the U.S. government that alleges more than $252,000 in federal income tax is unpaid. The same individual — Donald Rex Gay — is listed in Louisiana records as a person who has been involved in a number of businesses.
Gay denied in pro se court filings that he owed the taxes.
Records in Illinois note that Michael Reis, also listed by Vana Blue as an officer, was ordered in 2000 to cease and desist from the practice of public accounting without a license.
Members of AdGateWorld (AGW) are complaining today that the surf is not paying rebates. AGW now joins AdViewGlobal (AVG) and BizAdSplash (BAS) in the nonpaying lineup.
All three surfs launched in the aftermath of the seizure of tens of millions of dollars last year from Florida-based AdSurfDaily Inc., amid allegations of wire fraud, money-laundering, engaging in the sale of unregistered securities and operating a Ponzi scheme. The surfs quickly became known as ASD clones, with promoters that touted offshore locations as a safety buffer between participants and U.S.-based regulators and law-enforcement agencies.
At one point, the acronym ASD appeared in the Terms of Service on the AGW website.
In recent weeks, AGW said it had new owners in the Middle East. Those reports could not be confirmed.
Members today, however, said that AGW announced yesterday it had no money to pay rebates this week.
The surf did announce that it would provide members a new splash page to create interest in the program, members said. The idea was to create an “AdGateWorld awareness campaign.”
AGW recently took bonuses away from members, members said. Yesterday’s announcement was simply signed “AdGateworld.”
Two days ago we received a note from a woman who identified herself as a member of AdViewGlobal (AVG). The note was intended for publication, but we declined to publish it.
The woman described herself as angry about developments at the surf. We would have published the note, except for one thing: The woman included two URLs, along with an appeal for readers to click on PTCÂ ads on her website.
So, in one breath, she was condemning AVG. In the next, she was encouraging people to engage in click fraud so she could earn a fee. There was virtually no editorial content on the site.
Bids to commit click fraud were an element of the ASD case, of course. Despite all that has happened, some people continue to show annoyance that their favorite surf or surfs aren’t paying, and yet try to line their own pockets with fraudulent fees.
Reduced screen shot of pitch last year for ASD members to commit click fraud.
It’s hard to imagine that anyone actually joined AVG, given the events at ASD. But it’s even harder to imagine that a person bitter about suspended AVG payouts then would arrive at the conclusion that she could make up for lost money by taking money out of the pockets of PTC advertisers.
And, speaking of the word “imagine,” we offer this — with our apologies to the late John Lennon.
Imagine there’s no Surfing
It’s easy if you try
No Ponzi below you
Nothing above you to deny
Imagine all the Surfers
Saying no to pay to play
Imagine there’s no Cashouts
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to shill or ply for
And no soiled commissions too
Imagine all the Surfers
Saying no to clicking for a fee
You may say that he’s a schemer
But he’s not the only one
He hopes someday you’ll join him
And the Ponzis will be as one
Imagine no rebate schemes
I wonder if you can
No appeals to greed or hunger
A brotherhood of anti-scam
Imagine all the Surfers
Respecting the nobility of the working man
You may say that he’s a schemer
But he’s not the only one
He knows now you won’t join him
And the Ponzis will die as one
A federal judge has granted Andy Bowdoin more time to respond to an order to show cause.
Judge Rosemary Collyer said Bowdoin and AdSurfDaily Inc. could have until Aug. 28 to show cause why its motion to reverse Bowdoin’s decision to forfeit tens of millions of dollars to the government should not be denied.
The original deadline was Aug. 7. Bowdoin is the president of ASD. Prosecutors seized at least $65 million from Bowdoin bank accounts last year, records show.
“It is hereby ORDERED that Claimants shall file a response to . . . [the] Order to Show Cause no later than August 28, 2009,” Collyer wrote in a minute order late this afternoon.
ASD revealed in court filings yesterday that it had entered into negotiations with federal prosecutors.
Charles A. Murray, Bowdoin’s attorney, advised Collyer yesterday that the negotiations “could result in an agreement resolving the matters in dispute either in part or whole.â€
A firm with a close family, membership and promotional ties to ASD — AdViewGlobal (AVG) — announced this morning that it had filed a theft report with state and federal authorities, saying $2.7 million had been embezzled from the firm.
AVG identified two suspects, saying they once were affiliated with the eWalletPlus payment processor.
In other news, the government announced it had perfected the forfeiture of more than $14 million from Golden Panda Ad Builder, another firm associated with ASD. Prosecutors said they intended to implement a restitution program for members who certified under oath that they were victims of a crime.
UPDATED 12:03 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) One day after AdSurfDaily Inc. revealed in court filings that it was negotiating with federal prosecutors, the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf announced it had been the victim of a $2.7 million theft.
AVG, which purports to be headquartered in Uruguay, said it reported the theft to state and federal authorities. If confirmed, it may mark the first time in history that a surf filed such a report. Autosurfs frequently are associated with Ponzi schemes and the sale of unregistered securities.
“Legal complaints have been filed in both cases and are currently being pursued by law enforcement authorities at both the state and federal levels,” AVG said in an announcement to members.
It was not immediately clear if the surf was conceding it was headquartered in the United States, rather than Uruguay. The surf did not identify the agencies to which it had reported the alleged theft.
AVG identified two suspects, saying they once were affiliated with the eWalletPlus payment processor. Some members had been clamoring for the surf to name suspects.
“We’ve been reluctant to share this information with you, because we were under the impression that the money would be returned within a fairly brief period of time. In the past 24 hours, however, we’ve learned that it could take 6 months to a year to get the money back to us,” AVG said.
AVG did not say how it got the impression that the money would be returned in “a fairly brief period of time.” Nor did it reveal how it learned it could take up to a year to recover the money or that the funds even were recoverable.
Federal prosecutors said in December that ASD President Andy Bowdoin never reported a $1 million theft at the purported hands of “Russian” hackers. The allegation is contained in a Dec. 19 forfeiture complaint that names George and Judy Harris as beneficiaries of illegal conduct by ASD.
Today is the one-year anniversary of the formal seizure of tens of millions of dollars from ASD by the U.S. Secret Service.
George Harris is Andy Bowdoin’s stepson; Judy Harris is the wife of George Harris. AVG announced last month that George and Judy Harris owned AVG. Since that time, a Pinksheet stock known as Vana Blue (VBLU.PK), which says it owns Karveck International and the associated eWalletPlus payment processor, has clouded the issue of what individual or company actually owns AVG.
In today’s announcement, AVG did not say if George or Judy Harris — or another management employee — contacted authorities to report the alleged theft.
AVG did say it was seeking a new chief financial officer, compliance officer and department heads for public relations, customer service and new projects. The surf did not say whether it had fired employees who held those jobs previously.
“We’re undergoing a complete overhaul of all management positions and procedural systems,” AVG said. The surf added that it was recruiting from within and that applicants are required “to sign a confidentiality agreement that will be strictly enforced.”
The surf did not say whether the successful candidates would be required to move to Uruguay.
AVG, which announced June 25 that it was suspending member cashouts and making an 80/20 program mandatory if and when payouts resume, said today that it was “evaluating the extent to which the inflated page impressions amassed by some members created artificial cash balances.”
Members said AVG’s frequent use of 200-percent, matching bonus programs for both recruits and sponsors — coupled with an in-house, member-to-member cash button — led to some downline groups and individuals owning millions of page impressions and creating untenable liabilities for the surf.
How AVG intends to deal with the liabilities it created through unchecked bonuses and purported abuse of the cash button is not clear. By suspending payouts June 25, the surf exercised its version of a “rebates aren’t guaranteed” clause.
Some members said they will not surf until cashouts resume because each advertisement AVG displays erodes profitability for individual members.
“We sincerely hope that you’ll continue to support us . . . and keep on surfing! AVG said today.
