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Tag: AVG

  • AVG Members Report Confusion Over Bank ‘Suspension’

    AdViewGlobal (AVG), which purports to be a professional advertising company operating as a private association headquartered offshore, appears to have mangled an announcement that its bank account was “suspended.”

    The suspension announcement was made Monday, March 23. On Friday, March 20, AVG members said Chief Executive Officer Gary Talbert had resigned but would continue with the company as an accountant.

    Ismeal Santiago was identified as AVG’s new chief executive officer and was reported to be moving to Uruguay because “all officers should live offshore.”

    Members have not been told if the banking suspension occurred this week or last week. Nor have they been told if Talbert’s sudden resignation last week had anything to do with AVG’s banking problem.

    Adding to the confusion were the lack of a definition for the word “suspended” and a clear explanation on what would happen to funds AVG members wired into the suspended account.

    AVG did not name the bank in its announcement about the suspension. Nor did it say whether the bank was in the United States or offshore. At the same time, it did not say whether funds remained in the suspended account or if the funds were removed prior to the suspension.

    Nor did AVG identify the person notified about the suspension or the party who told the company about it. Given the lack of clarity over the banking issue, questions are being raised about whether the account was seized as part of a law-enforcement investigation.

    No AVG executive or employee signed the suspension announcement. It was signed “The AVG Management Team.”

    AdSurfDaily Inc., a Florida company with close AVG ties, had its bank accounts seized by the U.S. Secret Service on Friday, Aug. 1, 2008. Federal prosecutors said ASD was engaging in wire fraud and money-laundering, and also running a $100 million Ponzi scheme.

    Gary Talbert was a former ASD executive. George Harris, the stepson of ASD President Andy Bowdoin, was listed as an AVG trustee.

    In its announcement about the suspension, AVG blamed members — in the very first sentence — for the suspension.

    “Due to people bank wiring too many transactions over $9500.00 each, the bank we were using for Bank Wires and ACHs suspended our account,” the company said.

    AVG recently has been promoting a 200-percent, matching-bonus program. Yesterday the promotion was extended through April 3, despite the banking suspension and lack of clarity on the issue.

    Today AVG members were told about a “great” conference call AVG will hold tomorrow. Members were encouraged to invite guests, but also told to explain to guests that they would have to leave the call when requested.

    Members were given a script on how to address prospective call guests (italics added):

    “Important: When inviting guests to Thursday’s call you must use the following wording to keep us in compliance with the rules of our association.

    ‘AVGA is a Private Membership Association. I would like to invite you to a private conference call Thursday Night so you can listen to some of the exciting benefits our members enjoy. You’ll find out how our members are making themselves recession proof with our dynamic money making program.’”

    The script did not identify AVG as an “advertising” service. Rather, it identified the company as a “dynamic money-making program.” Federal prosecutors said ASD also stressed money-making elements over advertising benefits.

    AVG then instructed members that guests would have to exit the line when private association business was being discussed (italics added).

    “When you have a guest on the line and your name is called you & your guest will qualify to win page impressions. In order to win Page Impressions you must have a guest on the call. Be sure to provide your AVGA enrollment link to each of your invited guests.

    “Once the opportunity portion of the call is completed we will have to ask all Guests to exit the call. This is very important and we ask that you inform your Guests that once the Page Impression Give Away is completed that they will be asked to hang up.

    “Let your Guest know that this is standard protocol.”

  • BREAKING NEWS: AVG Loses Banking Privileges

    UPDATED 5:09 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) AdViewGlobal (AVG), a surf site with close ties to AdSurfDaily, reportedly has lost its banking privileges.

    The event occurred as AVG was running a 200-percent, matching-bonus program. The news is not posted on AVG’s main webpage. It is posted on a forum some of the Mods and members of the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum set up to promote AVG.

    AVG’s early explanation was that its bank account had been “suspended.” The development may signal that the bank, whose name was not disclosed, suspects it is being used to launder money or for another criminal purpose.

    It also may signal that AVG, which purported to be operating offshore, actually is operating from inside the United States. Promoters had been flogging the AVG 200 percent bonus program for days when news about the account suspension was announced.

    Matching-bonus programs can result in huge cash infusions for autosurfs — but also create enormous downstream liabilities.

    In a news release on Aug. 18, 2008, the U.S. Secret Service cited bank cooperation with law enforcement as one of the elements that made the seizure of tens of millions of dollars from ASD possible.

    “Cooperation among investigators, including the private sector partners who brought this case to our attention, allows us to combine not only our resources, but also our expertise in order to more effectively address evolving criminal methods, such as these online schemes,” said Michael Merritt, assistant director of investigations.

    Federal prosecutors said the ASD seizure prevented a Ponzi scheme from mushrooming.

    Banks outside of the United States also have ramped up efforts to detect money-laundering in the wake of the Allen Stanford Ponzi scheme in Antigua. The scheme had a ripple effect on banking from Antigua in the Caribbean to Central America and South America.

    Here is the AVG announcement (italics added). Notably, the message was not signed by an individual executive of AVG. Rather, it was signed “The AVG Management Team.”

    Due to people bank wiring too many transactions over $9500.00 each, the bank we were using for Bank Wires and ACHs suspended our account. We will get this resolved as soon as possible but in the meantime we will have to postpone bank wires and ACHs until we secure a bank that will accept them without a problem. Until we find the right bank, sales and cash outs must be done through Strict Pay and Solid Trust Pay. We will soon be able to pay cash outs on our debit card.

    If you have requested a cash out through a bank wire or an ACH, the transaction will be voided and your funds will be returned to eWallet. You can then request your cash out through Solid Trust or Strict Pay.

    Sorry for the inconvenience, but we were eliminating all wire transfers and ACHs with the new site because of the U.S. banking system and their resistance to a lot of large bank wires. We want to abide by all banking laws and keep AVG a safe place for people to advertise.

    The AVG Management Team

    George Harris, the stepson of ASD President Andy Bowdoin, is listed as an AVG trustee. Gary Talbert, a former ASD executive who filed sworn documents in the ASD civil-forfeiture case, at one time served as AVG’s chief executive officer. Only days ago, Talbert relinquished his AVG title and was said to be working as a U.S.-based accountant for the firm, an AVG promoter told downline members last week.

    The precise date AVG lost its banking privileges was not immediately clear. Ismeal Santiago is AVG’s new chief executive officer and will move to Uruguay because “all officers should live offshore,” according to the promoter.

    Nate Boyd, a former compliance officer at ASD, was listed as “Protector” of the AVG association. Chuck Osmin, a former ASD employee who testified on ASD’s behalf at a Sept. 30-Oct. evidentiary hearing, later identified himself as an AVG employee.

    In November, after a federal judge ruled that ASD had not demonstrated at the hearing that it was a legal business and not a Ponzi scheme, ASD gave its official endorsement to the Surf’s Up site. In December, early promotions for AVG began to appear online, and some of the Surf’s Up Mods and members ultimately created a forum to support AVG.

  • ‘Paperless Access’ Video May Seal Bowdoin’s Slide Into Infamy

    Andy Bowdoin
    Andy Bowdoin

    UPDATED 10:45 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) History may record that ASD President Andy Bowdoin’s final slide into infamy began last week with the release of a video for Paperless Access, a new surf company.

    Some ASD members, including members of the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum, reacted with anger and horror. Surf’s Up predictably went into damage-control mode by ending debate on the subject, but it was too late. This genie refused to go back in the bottle.

    Incredibly, Bowdoin positioned PaperlessAccess as a way members could recapture funds federal agents seized in August as part of the ASD Ponzi scheme investigation. Although insisting he was not involved with the Paperless Access business, Bowdoin did not name the company owners in his video pitch. Nor did he say where the company was located.

    Nor did Bowdoin describe how the company was legal, choosing instead to make the vague claim that Paperless Access employed a business model “based solely on outside revenue.” Bowdoin didn’t mention his own name in the video. Nor did he mention the name of ASD.

    No, with nothing that resembled clarity, Andy Bowdoin told members to sign up for Paperless Access — and this only a few days after he acknowledged in court filings that ASD was operating illegally when agents seized tens of millions of dollars last summer.

    One of the ways the video can be construed is as a fail-safe for Bowdoin: He is a defendant in a private racketeering lawsuit brought by ASD members. One question, of course, is whether he is trying to minimize the number of plaintiffs against him by telling people they can get back their money by joining Paperless Access.

    Another question the video raises is whether Bowdoin is trying to limit the number of complaints ASD members file with the government, which intends to implement a refund program.

    Within hours of the release of the Paperless Access video, web records surfaced that showed Paperless Access was using virtually the same template ASD used in June 2007 — right down to the FAQs. The company called itself an “Income Generator”; ASD had been a “Cash Generator,” and Paperless Access used “viewing earnings” to describe what ASD called “rebates.”

    Surf’s Up, doing what it does, deleted complaints about Bowdoin’s decision to turn over the ASD database to Paperless Access. Members’ private information now is in the hands of people Bowdoin wouldn’t identify.

    Think about what just happened: Bowdoin, who said he spent $800,000 to try to get back money the government seized from him, submitted to the forfeiture in January. He didn’t tell members. They found out about it in the newspaper and by reading Blogs. Nor did Bowdoin tell members about a second forfeiture complaint that had been filed against assets tied to ASD in December.

    The December forfeiture complaint described how Bowdoin’s family members used company money to buy cars, water equipment and haul trailers — and then used company funds to pay off the mortgage on the home of Bowdoin’s stepson, George Harris.

    Harris is a trustee in AdViewGlobal (AVG), yet another autosurf with ASD ties.

    Members again learned about unsettling events from the newspaper and Blogs. Bowdoin didn’t tell them; he simply vanished from the stage. While he was off-stage, some of the Surf’s Up Mods created a promotional site for AVG — after receiving ASD’s official endorsement in November.

    In late February, Bowdoin resurfaced. He blamed his defeat on his paid attorneys. He changed his mind about submitting to the forfeiture and started acting as his own attorney — all while AVG announced it was receiving advice from Pro Advocate Group.

    A man named Karl Dahlstrom is associated with Pro Advocate Group, which says it can help people practice law without a license. Dahlstrom was sentenced to 78 months in prison in the 1990s for securities fraud.

    Securities fraud is one of the elements in the ASD case. It could be one of the elements in any future case that might evolve against AVG or Paperless Access.

    All of this was done while Bowdoin was choosing not to respond to the RICO lawsuit filed against him by ASD members. In a prospective class-action, the members accuse Bowdoin of racketeering — and Bowdoin’s response was to ignore the lawsuit and star in a video for Paperless Access.

    The theory behind the RICO lawsuit is that Bowdoin, ASD attorney Robert Garner and Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby engaged with unnamed parties in a conspiracy to defraud. The plaintiffs claim  the defendants committed indictable racketeering offenses.

    Now Bowdoin is starring in a video for unnamed parties at Paperless Access, as controversy swirls around every square inch of the ASD and AVG operations.

    For its part, one of the first acts by Paperless Access was to turn over its brand to Andy Bowdoin, a convicted felon and suspected racketeer. The decision boggles the mind.

    Bowdoin, however, has lost what once was a considerable support base, his celebrity days at an end, the vestiges of his reputation propped up by Surf’s Up Mods and a handful of remaining loyalists.

    People want their money back. They’re growing increasingly tired of Bowdoin’s pro se legal pleadings, and the release of the Paperless Access video well may be recorded as the singular event that cemented his place in infamy.

  • DISCUSSION: What Has Shaped Your ASD Thinking?

    Below are two discussion topics. The idea of this thread is to provide some space for readers to explain how their thinking about AdSurfDaily has evolved over time.

    Please leave a comment on one or both topics.

    TOPIC ONE: When you reflect on ASD, what single event or series of events has most influenced your thinking?

    TOPIC TWO: Describe your thoughts when you observed the emergence of AdViewGlobal and came to learn it had very close ties to ASD.

  • Something Going On At Surf’s Up?

    UPDATED 8:13 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) An inquiry about AdViewGlobal (AVG) at the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum has not been answered for hours by the moderator to which it was directed or any Mod.

    The Mods appear either to have been away from the forum for virtually the entire U.S. East Coast business day or simply made the choice not to moderate.

    At the time of this update, more than eight hours have passed since the AVG inquiry was made. Update 6:45 P.M: After nine hours, the post referencing AVG at the Surf’s Up forum was deleted. Here is a screen shot taken prior to the deletion. The shot was reduced in size to fit into this space:

    terralynnavgaccountfundingsmall

    Meanwhile, a post highly critical of ASD President Andy Bowdoin has been permitted to stand. Update: 6:45 P.M: The critical post from “adam” has been deleted, along with a second critical post by another Surf’s Up member. Here is a screen shot of “adam’s” post prior to deletion. It has been reduced in size to fit into this space:

    adam800000small

    Update 7:14 P.M:. As noted above, the post from “adam” critical of Andy Bowdoin has been deleted. Left standing was a post critical of “adam” for being critical of Andy Bowdoin. Here is a screen shot:

    adamidiotclaimsmall

    At the same time, members’ inquiries on a forum some of the Surf’s Up Mods and members set up for AVG are not being answered. Update 8:13 P.M: It appears as though a Mod is answering inquiries now at the AVG forum.

    AVG recently announced a 200 percent, matching-bonus offer. The site has transitioned to what it calls a “private association” that involves figures associated with ASD, including George Harris, Bowdoin’s stepson.

    Why the Mods appear to have been away so long is unclear.

  • Surf’s Up Mod Releases Andy Bowdoin Letter To Troops; ASD Head Urges Letter-Writing Campaign To Glenn Beck

    Andy Bowdoin.
    Andy Bowdoin.

    First, members of the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum tried to whip up support for ASD President Andy Bowdoin by sending Kool Aid packets to Bill O’Reilly of Fox News. Now Bowdoin himself, through a Surf’s Up Mod, is urging members to write letters to Glenn Beck, another Fox personality.

    And, taking a page from his own playbook, Bowdoin also has asked members to write to President Obama, the Justice Department and elected officials “to stop this misuse of power.”

    The move comes on the heels of a stunning court motion Bowdoin filed March 11 in which he acknowledged ASD was operating illegally when the government seized tens of millions of dollars from Bowdoin last summer. Bowdoin claimed in the filing that he did not know ASD was operating illegally at the time of the seizure and that the government denied him fair notice and due process.

    In the filing, Bowdoin claims to be a “defendant” in a “quasi-criminal” prosecution. But Bowdoin hasn’t been named a defendant by the government, which sued the money and property for forfeiture, saying it was the proceeds of a criminal enterprise.

    Prosecutors said ASD was engaging in wire fraud, money-laundering and the sale of unregistered securities — all while operating a $100 million Ponzi scheme.

    Bowdoin had not communicated with the membership at large in months. He did not tell members about a second forfeiture complaint that had been filed in December against assets tied to the firm. Nor did Bowdoin tell members that, in January, he had submitted to the forfeiture of the money and property seized last summer.

    In court filings, Bowdoin now says he has changed his mind about submitting to the forfeiture, even though he acknowledged that ASD was operating illegally — exactly what the government contended.

    In his letter to the members, however, Bowdoin did not mention the motion in which he acknowledged ASD was operating illegally.

    His last formal contact with the members was in late fall, a few months after the initial seizure, when Bowdoin tried to sell them VOIP phone service, positioning the $19.95-a-month plan as a gift to the membership. Days before, he told members that Ponzi allegations had been dropped against ASD in Florida, even though Ponzi allegations hadn’t been brought in Florida.

    During the same time period in the fall, ASD’s Breaking News site announced a deal with Praebius Communications, saying ASD expected to pump $200 million into its coffers as a result of the deal. Praebius is a penny-stock company that does not publish financials.

    In early December, an autosurf known as AdViewGlobal (AVG) began to position itself for launch. AVG has close ties to ASD, including George Harris, Bowdoin’s stepson and an AVG trustee; Gary Talbert, a former ASD executive now an executive and trustee for AVG; Chuck Osmin, a former ASD employee now working for AVG; and Nate Boyd, a former ASD compliance officer now listed as the “Protector”  of AVG.

    By December 19, federal prosecutors filed a second forfeiture complaint, saying Bowdoin’s wife, Edna Faye Bowdoin and her son, George Harris, had used proceeds from ASD to retire the $157,216 mortgage on the home Harris shared with his wife, Judy Harris.

    Bowdoin now says that he recently was introduced to a “group” that is giving him legal advice. Bowdoin started filing his own court pleadings in late February, at the same time AVG was introducing members to Pro Advocate Group, which says it can help people practice medicine and law without a license.

    Pro Advocate Group is associated with Karl Dahlstrom. In 1997, Dahlstrom was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for orchestrating a securities scheme.

    In his letter to ASD members, Bowdoin did not disclose the name of the “group” from which he was receiving advice. Nor did Bowdoin reference or confirm reports that bank accounts belonging to ASD and AVG members recently had been seized.

    He did say he fired his paid attorneys.

    Here is Bowdoin’s letter. We added the italics.

    Hi Folks,

    It’s good to be talking to you once again. My attorneys kept me quiet for months, but after $800,000.00 and no results I fired them all.

    About a month ago, several members introduced me to a group that studied what my attorneys did. The group said that my attorneys had taken the wrong approach.
    The group was very confident that they could help because the government had broken so many laws and had violated our rights as citizens of the United States.

    I have rescinded my decision to release our ownership of all the assets. I filed various motions a few weeks ago, and several more last week, to dismiss our case and to return the assets because of the violations committed by our government.
    We are ready to pursue this all the way to the US Supreme Court.

    A great injustice has been done to 100,000 people, and we need to stand up and fight for our rights. Some agencies of the government have become so powerful that they believe they are above the Constitution. We, as members of ASD, need to help stop this misuse of power. I ask each one of you to write to the Justice Department, to your senators and representatives, to the President, and even to Glen Beck of Fox News. Tell them all what the Justice Department has done to your business.

    We will be filing papers in the next couple of weeks that should really get their attention. Watch for the filings. I will be speaking out on a conference call as soon as the filings are completed. We will notify you of the call. I look forward to talking to you then.

    I appreciate your support in helping us get back what rightfully belongs to the members of ASD.

    Thanks,
    Andy Bowdoin

  • Ramping Up The AdSurfDaily Insanity

    UPDATED 11:41 A.M. EDT (March 12, U.S.A.) AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin, acting as his own attorney, acknowledged in court filings yesterday that the company had been operating illegally when the government seized tens of millions of dollars last summer.

    The concession was nuclear. It undermines the work of his previous paid attorneys and puts Bowdoin in the position of having to explain previous representations given the court that are completely at odds with what he is saying now.

    At the same time, it undermines self-filed pleadings Bowdoin entered into the record last week. Meanwhile, it undermines pleadings by others, including four people who told the court that they were permitted to enter into commercial contracts with whomever they pleased and for whatever commercial interest they pleased.

    Bowdoin now has told the court that he was operating an illegal commercial enterprise, thus nuking the argument of Curtis Richmond and three others. Richmond, himself a pro se litigant, is linked to a sham Utah “Indian tribe” known for filing vexatious pleadings that make tortured legal constructions.

    “Professor” Patrick Moriarty, an ASD mainstay, has advanced commercial theories similar to Richmond’s. Moriarty got nuked yesterday, too, only a few days after congratulating Bowdoin in a column for his excellent, pro-se pleadings.

    Andy Bowdoin’s pleadings, though, are jeopardizing the freedom of members of his family, ASD insiders and top promoters, and strategic shills.

    Yesterday, the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum celebrated the filings. The forum Mods appear not to have connected the dots that Bowdoin just nuked them. Some of the Mods and members set up a site to promote AdViewGlobal (AVG), which has close ties to ASD. Bowdoin nuked AVG yesterday, too.

    Today Surf’s Up has banned at least one member for not carrying Bowdoin’s water bucket. The forum even has banned members who post unflattering opinions about Bowdoin or ASD on other forums.

    The Mods can tell you until they’re blue in the face that Bowdoin’s filings were something to celebrate; the announcement, as always, came with exclamation points, both in the thread and in an email Surf’s Up members received.

    But this was nothing to celebrate if you’re a top promoter, an insider or a strategic shill. And it certainly was nothing to celebrate  if you’re a rank-and-file member of ASD: Bowdoin just told you he ripped you off. His excuse was that the government didn’t give him fair notice that he was ripping you off.

    Surf’s Up, which previously postioned Bowdoin as a genius, now is telling you his genius didn’t extend to the recognition of a Ponzi scheme and money-laundering operation. A Mod explained that Andy didn’t know he was ripping people off because the government never told him until after it seized the cash.

    ASD advertised CEP Trust.
    ASD advertised CEP Trust.

    It is a steaming pile. ASD once advertised that it used CEP Trust, the failed payment processor run by the operators of the CEP Ponzi scheme. This Blog published a screen shot of ASD’s CEP pitch months ago, along with a screen shot of an ad that told the audience that ASD deposits were insured by the FDIC.

    Bowdoin’s claims do not pass the giggle test — not that anybody is laughing at this point. There simply is no delight in unmasking these lies.

    Claim that ASD deposits were FDIC-insured.
    Claim that ASD deposits were FDIC-insured.

    This Blog has refrained from calling Surf’s Up the “Loony Bin” as it is known elsewhere, and it has refrained from using the phrase “Kool-Aid drinkers,” except in cases such as quotations. We have used the word “crackpot” to describe “Surf’s Up.” It was the least-objectionable word we could think of to instill a sense of the madness taking place at Surf’s Up.

    Despite everything that happened to ASD last summer, the insiders at AVG implemented a new surf and started collecting money. The operation has ASD’s fingerprints all over it, and the inescapable conclusion is that Bowdoin’s pleadings in the ASD case are setting the stage for the planned defense of AVG.

    The operative word in the previous sentence is “planned.” Bowdoin and insiders got caught again. Now they are desperately trying to wiggle out of a prosecution against AVG by making the no “fair-notice” claim. It is utterly preposterous, and yet the Surf’s Up Mods serve it up daily.

    AVG, by the way, is still online — despite Bowdoin’s concession to a federal judge and the prosecution that ASD was operating illegally.

    They have taken no hints — including the RICO lawsuit filed by other ASD members in which Bowdoin, ASD Attorney Robert Garner and Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby were accused of racketeering. None of the principal defendants has filed a single piece of paperwork in the case — not after two months.

    We believe it likely there are sealed criminal indictments in the ASD case. At the same time, we believe it probable that some ASD/AVG insiders know they are targets of a criminal probe.

    And we believe it equally likely that Bowdoin and the insiders have shielded members from this knowledge, while using Surf’s Up to whip up support. If the Mods have insider’s knowledge they are at risk of indictment. Even a whiff of it is enough.

    No AVG participant also in ASD, for example, will be able to claim they did not know the possible consequences of their actions as they pertained to AVG. And with George Harris, Bowdoin’s stepson; Gary Talbert, a former ASD executive; and Chuck Osmin, a former ASD employee who testified for ASD at the evidentiary hearing in the AVG lineup, there will be no credible way to claim ignorance. Nate Boyd, listed as the “Protector” of the AVG association, formerly was the head of compliance for ASD, members said.

    Do not be surprised if you see the no “fair notice” argument ported over to AVG.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Bowdoin Files Motion To Dismiss In Which He Acknowledges AdSurfDaily Was Illegal

    UPDATED 10:06 A.M. EDT (March 12, U.S.A.) Did Andy Bowdoin just sink AdSurfDaily’s ship — and also the ship of AdViewGlobal?

    In a court filing today, Bowdoin, the president of ASD, made a stunning acknowledgment that the company was operating illegally.

    Bowdoin’s acknowledgment came in the purported form of a motion to dismiss the forfeiture complaint against proceeds tied to the firm, which prosecutors said engaged in wire fraud, money-laundering, selling unregistered securities and operating a $100 million Ponzi scheme.

    “The defendant did not know or realize that his conduct was illegal until this instant case was filed against him,” Bowdoin said, referring to himself as “defendant.”

    Bowdoin contends in the pleading that the case is “quasi-criminal” and that he was denied due process and fair notice that his conduct was illegal.

    Bowdoin, however, is not a defendant in the forfeiture case. His self-filed pleading references the forfeiture case on its title page, but appears to be a response to a case that never was brought.

    For days, the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum has been applauding legal filings Bowdoin made last week and encouraging others to do the same.

    But today’s filing could cause Bowdoin’s remaining support to evaporate because of his concession that ASD was operating illegally. Bowdoin had spent months insisting ASD was legal and collected tens of millions of dollars from members last year, all the while advertising ASD as completely legal and above-board.

    Bowdoin now is acting as his own attorney. AdViewGlobal (AVG), an autosurf with close ties to ASD, recently formed a private association and turned to a firm known as Pro Advocate Group  for advice.

    Karl Dahlstrom is associated with Pro Advocate Group.  In 1997, Dahlstrom was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for his role in a securities scheme.

    Today’s filing by Bowdoin is potentially devastating both for ASD and AVG because of the concession that ASD was operating illegally. Prosecutors could claim the document has the effect of a signed confession.

    Bowdoin’s stepson is an AVG trustee. So is Gary Talbert, AVG’s chief executive officer and a former ASD executive. Chuck Osmin, a former ASD employee who testified for the firm at a hearing last year, also works for AVG. Nate Boyd, whom ASD members said once was a compliance officer for ASD, is listed as the “Protector” for the AVG association. Some of the Mods and members of Surf’s Up started a forum for AVG.

    Bowdoin’s pleadings today appear to attempt to manufacture a criminal defense out of whole cloth, by rewriting the history of the forfeiture case — a civil proceeding — and turning the case into something it never was: a criminal prosecution against Andy Bowdoin. The only defendants in the case to date are money and property prosecutors claim are the proceeds of a criminal enterprise.

    At the same time, today’s pleadings may be designed so potential ASD co-defendants in any criminal case that evolves will have a legal template for a self-filed defense. There have been reports that bank accounts owned by ASD members beyond Bowdoin have been seized in the past two weeks.

    Meanwhile, the cheerleading for Bowdoin at the Surf’s Up forum appears to be particularly unseemly now because today’s pleadings had everything to do with Andy Bowdoin, and nothing to do with the rank-and-file members who’d been asked to support him. The document does not cite the membership in a single place.

    Read today’s Bowdoin pleadings.

  • Shush! AdViewGlobal Promoters Get Tongue-Tied

    Here’s how one AdViewGlobal (AVG) promoter put it in a message to his list:

    “Ad View Global is now known as AV Global Association. AV Global Association is a private membership association. To help protect the members of this private association, I will no longer discuss AVG in my Newsletter.”

    He did not mention that AVG is taking advice from Karl Dahlstrom of Pro Advocate Group.  Dahlstrom, in 1997, was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for his role in a securities scheme. Nor did the promoter mention that Dahlstrom’s daughter also was sentenced to prison.

    No one at the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum has mentioned it either. A sister site for AVG set up by some of the Surf’s Up Mods and members, however, also has gone underground. A couple of weeks ago the AdViewGlobal forum anointed Curtis Richmond a “hero” for intervening in the ASD case, but never told members about Richmond’s conviction for threatening federal judges.

    Nor did the AdViewGlobal forum tells members about an order by a federal judge for Richmond and others to pay nearly $110,000 in damages and costs to public officials harmed by an organized nuisance campaign. Richmond is a member of a Utah “Indian” tribe the judge ruled a sham, saying the “tribe’s” efforts to undermine the legal system by filing vexatious lawsuits and trying to collect enormous judgments against public officials amounted to racketeering.

    BizAdSplash

    Here’s what the first promoter cited above had to say about BizAdSplash, yet another surf with ties to ASD that came to life in the aftermath of the government seizure of assets linked to ASD in August and December.

    “I think it is best to leave the percentages off my Newsletter going forward. For those who are already members of Biz Ad Splash, you can see the daily calculations by going to your Ad Package History and then clicking on any one of your active ad packs.

    “Biz Ad Splash announced over the weekend that they are discontinuing the Strict Pay payment processor. Strict Pay is having some problems right now which has caused Biz Ad Splash to stop using them for the time being at least.”

    Early promoters of BizAdSplash linked it to Clarence Busby, the operator of GoldenPandaAdBuilder. Assets linked to Golden Panda were seized in the ASD probe. Busby was called a “special consultant” to BizAdSplash. Other promoters said he was the owner.

    Like ASD President Andy Bowdoin and ASD attorney Robert Garner, Busby has been named a defendant in a racketeering lawsuit.

    The BizAdSplash promoter did not mention banking problems in Panama and elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean created by the collapse of the R. Allen Stanford Ponzi in Antigua. Three of three surfs that sprouted up after the government seizure of assets linked to ASD claimed ties to Panama or South America. These included BizAdSplash, AVG and AdGateWorld.

    All three surfs are trolling for cash in particularly odious ways right now — and this on the heels of other surfs that collapsed in the wake of the Stanford Ponzi. The extent of Stanford’s troubles on the autosurf trade is unclear, but two surfs — PAC and Aggero Investment — flamed out in spectacular fashion in the past week, and promoters for both surfs claimed the programs were safe because they were offshore.

    Both PAC and Aggero Investment collected money until the bitter end, saying things were just fine.

    Boom! They were gone.

    And, speaking of “gone,” MegaLido also is gone. The first promoter cited above promoted it, too, and he’s also promoting AdGateWorld.

  • BREAKING NEWS: AdViewGlobal Aligned With Second Felon?

    UPDATE  9:16 P.M. EST (U.S.A.) The indictment against Karl Dahlstrom is available in PDF format at the bottom of this post.

    Here, below, our earlier post . . .

    In a desperate bid to hide itself underground after its management structure was exposed, the controversial autosurf AdViewGlobal has formed a private association and is taking advice from an entity known as “Pro Advocate Group.”

    Pro Advocate Group is associated with Karl Dahlstrom. In 1997, Dahlstrom was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for his participation in a securities scheme.

    Dahlstrom and others “were indicted for their involvement in a nationwide solicitation campaign for the purpose of selling unregistered shares” of Inferno Snuffers Inc. (ISI), and Inferno Engineering and Consulting Inc. (IEC), the SEC said.

    AdSurfDaily, under fire for selling unregistered securities amid allegations of wire fraud, money-laundering and running a $100 million Ponzi scheme, is led by Andy Bowdoin, himself a convicted felon from a 1990s securities scheme. Prosecutors seized part of ASD’s assets in an August forfeiture complaint.

    George Harris, Bowdoin’s stepson, is listed as a trustee for AVG. In December, about a week after AVG started being talked about in online forums, federal prosecutors seized additional assets linked to ASD, filing a second forfeiture complaint. Among the assets seized was a Tallahassee home owned by George Harris and his wife, Judy Harris.

    Under Dahlstrom’s direction, the SEC said, ISI and IEC “were marketing ‘Uni-Snuff,’ a product claimed to be useful in extinguishing and suppressing fires, and the ‘Snuffer System,’ a method of dispensing Uni-Snuff.”

    The website for Pro Advocate Group lists “Clara Dahlstrom” as the administrator. Clara Dahlstrom is Karl Dahlstrom’s wife. In court documents in a tax case, Karl Dahlstrom is described as having  “been in the abusive trust business for many years.”

    AVG announced its association with Pro Advocate Group in a members’ conference call earlier this week. A Mod at the Pro-AdSurfDaily “Surf’s Up” forum introduced listeners to Gary Talbert, a former ASD executive now listed as the chief executive officer of AVG.

    Talbert, in turn, introduced listeners to Pro Advocate Group and a man identified as “Carl,” who delivered remarks.

    “He discussed why AVG decided to establish a 1st and 14th Amendment Private Membership Association,” a source said.

    Like ASD, Pro Advocates Group uses religion in its sales pitch.

    “We are proud of our Christian moral values and feel that we stand alone in a sea full of Master Deceivers in the world of Asset Protection,” the group says on its website. “Let us help you find the proper legal solution for your problem and peace of mind. We are founded upon legal principles that are backed by book, chapter and verse of legal rulings, regulations and Supreme Court interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. We teach and support the inherent rights of DUE PROCESS and EQUAL PROTECTION under the law.”

    Read the indictment against Karl Dahlstrom, Karla Dahlstrom (his daughter), Hubert Leopard and Richard Lopez. Some of the allegations read like the allegations against ASD.

    Karl Dahlstrom was accused of using investors' funds to purchase new vehicles and pitching the opportunity to church groups.
    Karl Dahlstrom was accused of using investors' funds to purchase new vehicles and pitching the opportunity to church groups.

  • Aggero Investment Surf In Slow-Mo Tank On Heels Of Earlier Failure Of Premium Ads Club: Bad Week For ‘Industry’

    Earlier this week we reported on the failure of Premium Ads Club (PAC). Now a surf with close ties to PAC is in its death spiral. Aggero Investment says tomorrow will be its last day, absent a miracle that will prevent a run on the bank as investors race to collect returns advertised at 60 percent a month, on top of bonus returns.

    Like PAC, Aggero Investment collected money right up to the bitter end, assuring investors that things were just fine and that external investments paying astronomical returns made Aggero Investment’s merely collossal returns possible.

    Aggero Investment relied on some of the same promoters as AdSurfDaily (ASD), the Quincy, Fla,-based autosurf that had nearly $100 million in assets seized by the U.S. Secret Service in August amid allegations of money-laundering, wire fraud and running a Ponzi scheme.

    ASD had more than $250 million in unfunded liabilities at the time of seizure, prosecutors said. ASD, however, tried to tell a federal judge that it had no liabilities because rebates weren’t guaranteed.

    The judge didn’t buy it.

    The usual script is in play on the Ponzi boards in the wake of the Aggero Investment collapse. Some posters are angry and bitter. Others are urging calm, advising participants not to file claims through SolidTrustPay, a Canadian payment processor fond of surf fees, because claims could make it harder on everybody. Still others are hoping Aggero Investment will slash payouts to something more “reasonable,” suggesting that 30 percent — what ASD paid monthly — might be the ticket.

    Yet others are referring to the electronic Ponzi-scheme business as an “industry,” positioning themselves as experts and the voices of reason. Serial promoters in the “industry” all have exposure — both to civil and criminal litigation — and routinely spin surf failures as nothing to get all worked up about.

    It has been a bad week for surfs. AdViewGlobal (AVG), which has management in common with ASD, desperately is trying to get undergound. Its new gambit is to form a private asssociation and dispatch shills to rail against the government in a bid to make its exposure go away and deflect from the central issues of the autosurf prosecutions: the sale of unregistered securities by wire in a Ponzi environment.

    The Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum, which also is shilling for AVG, can’t delete posts that shed light on this soulless business fast enough these days. Some Surf’s Up members were electrified this week when ASD members used a litigation template by Curtis Richmond to file motions to intervene in the ASD case.

    Richmond and his co-litigants are accusing the judge and prosecutors in the ASD case of crimes, and its music to the ears of the Surf’s Up crackpots. Never mind that Richmond is associated with a sham Utah Indian tribe that was sued successfully under federal racketeering statutes for nuisancing federal judges with vexatious litigation.

    And never mind that Richmond has a conviction for criminal contempt of court for threatening federal judges, has been banned from the practice of law in Colorado despite the fact he’s not an attorney, and describes himself in court documents as a “Sovereign” who answers only to Jesus Christ and enjoys diplomatic immunity from prosecution.

    His theory of diplomatic immunity didn’t play well with a federal judge who ordered Richmond and other members of the sham tribe to pay nearly $110,000 in damages and costs to victims of their litigation schemes. And it didn’t play well with another federal judge who found Richmond gulity of criminal contempt of court and sentenced him to six months of home confinement with electronic monitoring and five years’ probation.

    This week has featured the collapse of Aggero Investment and Premium Ads Club, and a renewed commitment by AVG and Surf’s Up to take the absurdity to new levels — on the heels of a bonus program to get new money into the AVG system, of course.