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Tag: Bonded Promissory Note

Purported Alabama ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Convicted Of Trying To Pay Off Mortgage With Bogus Note For $10 Million

A 64-year-old Alabama man who tried to pay off his mortgage by mailing a bogus “bonded promissory note” for $10 million to a mortgage-servicing company has been convicted of fraud, the office of U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance of the Northern District of Alabama said.

Donald Joe Barber of Pinson faces up to 25 years in federal prison when sentenced July 31 by U.S. District Judge Inge P. Johnson.

“Self-appointed ‘sovereign citizens’ preach an extremist, anti-government ideology to their followers and teach a myth about American history that is untrue,” Vance said. “They often use this mythical ideology to justify crime. Sovereign citizens may disavow the authority of the U.S. government, but it exists and my office will use it to prosecute those who break the law.”

Barber “presented the fraudulent $10 million note as if it were a valid financial instrument drawn on a secret U.S. government account,” prosecutors said.

His note, they said, constituted a “fictitious financial instrument.”

Some “sovereign citizens” cling to a bizarre theory known as “redemption,” which holds in part that the U.S. government created secret accounts for citizens decades ago and that the accounts can be accessed through the filing of precise paperwork to retire debts.

“All citizens should be wary of individuals or groups that claim they can inform you on secret bank accounts, and should report that activity to the FBI,” said Richard D. Schwein Jr., FBI special agent in charge.

Apr 17, 2013
EDITORIAL: What Zeekers (And Other MLMers) Can Learn From The Upcoming Trial Of AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Kenneth Wayne Leaming

Kenneth Wayne Leaming, aka “Kenneth Wayne,” aka “Keny,” now is calling himself a “live abortion” — apparently in “defense” of home-based businesses.

UPDATED 12:28 P.M. (FEB. 27, U.S.A.) Kenneth Wayne Leaming, a figure in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi-scheme story and a purported “sovereign citizen,” is scheduled to go on trial today in federal court the Western District of Washington with co-defendant David Carroll Stephenson. Leaming is charged with filing false liens against public officials involved in the ASD prosecution. Among his alleged targets were a federal judge, at least two federal prosecutors — and the U.S. Secret Service agent who cracked the ASD Ponzi case in 2008.

Leaming, 57, also is charged with assisting Stephenson in the filing of false liens against two federal-prison officials. Stephenson was in federal prison for a tax scheme at the time the liens allegedly were filed. Records strongly suggest that Stephenson, also 57, would be a free man today were it not for his association with Leaming, given that Stephenson’s prison term in the tax case had been scheduled to end early this year. Instead, he’s facing new charges and potentially more jail time.

But the false-liens charges are just the beginning for Leaming. He also is charged with harboring two federal fugitives wanted in a multimillion-dollar home-business fraud in Arkansas, being a felon in possession of firearms and passing a bogus “Bonded Promissory Note” for $1 million.

If you’re new to the PP Blog and new to the ASD case, a brief review is in order: The Secret Service raided ASD in August 2008, alleging the Florida-based firm operated by Andy Bowdoin was a massive Ponzi scheme operating over the Internet. Bowdoin reacted to the raid and the seizure of tens of millions of dollars by comparing the U.S. government to “Satan” and the Secret Service to the 9/11 terrorists. Now 78 and in federal prison, Bowdoin came out of the gate after the seizure by assuring ASD investors that “God” was on the company’s side.

Some MLMers were quick to accuse the government of targeting a fine Christian man who was helping the United States create jobs with a “program” that purported to pay participants back 100 percent of their investment and a profit of 25 percent in only months. (Ten-thousand dollars in ASD purportedly fetched $12,500 within 90 to 125 days, purportedly more if members “compounded” their “earnings,” kept 80 percent of their money in a continuous state of “roll over” and never fully cashed out.)

Essentially there was only one chance that ASD was not a Ponzi scheme during its approximately 18-month run — and that single chance required nearly a complete suspension of logic to destroy the government’s Ponzi case and get ASD off the hook: Had a crazy billionaire or exceptionally well-heeled financier (who also was crazy) given convicted-felon Bowdoin more money than ASD’s rapidly accruing liabilities — basically an enormous line of credit that didn’t have to be paid back and could be tapped on demand for ASD to pay out $1.25 for every dollar it took in until the line was exhausted — ASD would not have been a Ponzi scheme. Absent a benevolent madman-billionaire and the kind of capital it would take to build a nuclear-power plant and operate it indefinitely with zero concern for profit, however, ASD could be one thing and one thing only: a Ponzi scheme using money from “new” members to fund the redemption requests of “old” members or a Ponzi scheme that sustained itself by simply recycling money among members of a closed group.

No madmen-billionaires sufficiently liquid to bankrupt themselves by funding Bowdoin’s stated plan of creating 100,000 ASD millionaires in three years while at once financing the “profits” of tens of thousands of average people seeking to expand the ranks of ASD millionaires well beyond 100,000 appeared to testify on ASD’s behalf at an evidentiary hearing it requested in the fall of 2008.

Here is just one of the reasons MLM has a miserable reputation: Notwithstanding the fact that Bowdoin already was a convicted felon for an Alabama securities swindle in the 1990s and that one of his business partners was a man implicated by the SEC in the 1990s in three prime-bank swindles, some MLMers decided to improve the already bizarre narrative that the government was picking on a grandfatherly Christian.

Petitions were started to paint prosecutors as the bogeymen. (The shorthand for this in MLM’s HYIP Ponzi land is “evilGUBment.”) ASD critics were derided as “maggots.” A “prayer” went out calling for prosecutors to be struck dead from the heavens. A theory was advanced that a Florida TV station should be charged with Deceptive Trade Practices for carrying news unflattering to ASD. A companion theory held that the Attorney General of Florida should be charged with the same offense and that AARP, which lobbies for senior citizens, should lobby for ASD. Meanwhile, some MLMers tried to enlist the U.S. Senate to turn the focus of the investigation away from ASD and Bowdoin and put it on the prosecutors who brought the Ponzi case. One MLMer called for the government’s lead prosecutor to be placed in a medieval torture rack, with ASD members at large drawing straws to determine who got the honor of making the prosecutor’s time in the rack as painful as possible.

Very few people in MLM had anything to say about the circus surrounding ASD. The few who did — perhaps most notably Rod Cook of MLM Watchdog — were excoriated for dismissing the narrative advanced by Bowdoin and other MLMers. All of this was occurring while ASD was provably insolvent. When Bowdoin failed to take the witness stand at the evidentiary hearing he requested, it was explained that he was “too honest” to testify. Both before and after the hearing, some of his most notable Stepfordian apologists advanced a theory that the government secretly had admitted ASD was not a Ponzi scheme and was clinging to the case in a bid to save face.

One ASD member advanced a narrative that the government had taken about $80 million in seized proceeds and invested it in a secret fund to pay for black-ops. It was from this caldron of conspiracy theories and fantastic idiocy that Kenneth Wayne Leaming emerged.

Like other “sovereigns,” Leaming to date hasn’t focused much of his attention on the actual charges against him, even though his conviction could result in considerable jail time. Rather, Leaming mostly has focused on creating a blitz of paperwork on the apparent theory his best “defense” is to keep the Feds and even local officials scurrying to guard all flanks. Since his November 2011 arrest by an FBI Terrorism Task Force, Leaming has sued the President of the United States, the Attorney General of the United States, various officials (including purported “Does”) and a county sheriff in Arkansas.

Members of Zeek Rewards and other MLM schemes should pay attention to the Leaming trial. There can be no doubt that Leaming-like figures existed within the Zeek enterprise. Like ASD before it, Zeek was a magnet to willfully blind MLM hucksters and actual criminals. Both “businesses” best are viewed as racketeering enterprises that posed an untenable risk to the United States and the rest of the world.

For the remainder of this column, the PP Blog will focus on just one crime alleged against Leaming: the filing of a false lien against the U.S. Secret Service agent — not that the other alleged bogus liens are any more palatable or acceptable. The word “disgraceful” hardly covers Leaming’s alleged actions, and yet some MLMers saw Leaming not only as an inspirational figure, but as the wisest man of all.

The Secret Service guards the lives of the President of the United States and the Vice President of the United States and their families. It also guards the lives of former Presidents and international dignitaries and political figures visiting the United States. As the agency is doing this, it also protects the U.S. financial system.

It is unthinkable — so far beyond the pale that it almost defies description — that Leaming, let alone any other American, ever would target a Secret Service agent in a harassment campaign. The Secret Service is a smallish agency by federal standards, yet it is arguably the most important: Markets become unglued when world figures are assassinated or targeted in assassination attempts. Beyond that, history now has shown that an event such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks actually can close markets and restrict freedom, the very things Leaming purports to be upholding.

People of good will are appalled that Leaming apparently thought it somehow his duty to Democracy and Constitutional government to harass a Secret Service agent. Given the critical duties of the Secret Service and its role in both national security and economic security, no American of good will wants to see an agent’s attention divided by the Kenneth Wayne Leamings of the nation and world.

If Leaming is convicted, he should be sentenced to the longest jail term permissible under the law. Never again should MLM or any MLMer stay silent when an obvious fraud scheme surfaces and is “defended” at the exclusion of all logic.

In both form and substance, Zeek was virtually identical to ASD — and yet ASD members and other MLMers joined Zeek. That’s a problem for MLM. whether it admits it or not.

Those ASD members who joined Zeek? They did so even as Kenneth Wayne Leaming allegedly was targeting public officials, including a U.S. Secret Service agent, in campaigns designed to destroy the thin blue line that protects citizens from anarchy. The most dangerous Zeek members are the ones who hoped he’d succeed.

Feb 25, 2013
JUDGE: ‘All The Fancy Legal-Sounding Things’ ASD Figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming ‘Has Read On The Internet Are Make-Believe’

“The Court therefore feels some measure of responsibility to inform [Kenneth Wayne Leaming] that all the fancy legal-sounding things he has read on the internet are make-believe. Defendant can call himself a ‘public minister’ and ‘private attorney general,’ he may file ‘mandatory judicial notices’ citing all his favorite websites, he can even address mail to the ‘Washington Republic.’ But at the end of the day, while sovereign citizens and Defendant cite things like ‘Universal Law Ordinances,’ they are subject to both state and federal laws, just like everyone else.” — U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton, Feb. 12, 2013

Kenneth Wayne Leaming

A federal judge in the Western District of Washington has issued an order exempting prosecutors from responding to wild assertions made by AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming.

Like other purported “sovereigns,” Leaming is “fascinated by capitalization,” Judge Ronald B. Leighton said in the Feb. 12 order.

In a recent filing, the judge said, Leaming used the word “REGISTRY” in all uppercase in a pleading that was “undecipherable.” On at least five occasions during the course of the case, Leaming has filed documents that used the phrase “Mandatory Judicial Notice,” including one in which Leaming asserts he “relies in good faith on the public/commercial REGISTRY entries as published at
www.peoplestrust1776.org, inclusive of Universal Law Ordinance, UCC #2012096074 . . . .” the judge said.

“For lack of a better term, this is gobbledygook,” the judge said.

Leaming also recently argued that “the REGISTERED FACTS appearing in the above Paragraph evidence the uncontroverted and uncontrovertible FACTS that the SLAVERY SYSTEMS operated in the names UNITED STATES, United States, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, and United States of America . . . are terminated nunc pro tunc by public policy, U.C.C. 1-103 . . . .,” according to the judge.

“He appears to believe that by capitalizing ‘United States,’ he is referring to a different entity than the federal government,” the judge said. “For better or for worse, it’s the same country.”

And Leighton quoted again from Leaming’s filings:

“COMES NOW, Kenneth Wayne, born free to the family Leaming, 20 December 1955, constituent to The People of the State of Washington constituted 1878 and admitted to the union 22 February 1889 by Act of Congress, a Man, ‘State of Body’ competent to be a witness and having First Hand Knowledge of The FACTS . . . .”

Purported sovereign citizens, “like Mr. Leaming, love grandiose legalese,” the judge said, ordering that “no response is required by the Government.”

Leaming, 57, is detained near Seattle on charges of filing false liens against government officials involved in the ASD Ponzi case. He also is accused of other crimes, including harboring fugitives, assisting others in the filing of false liens, being a felon in possession of firearms and attempting to pass a bogus “Bonded Promissory Note” for $1 million. He was arrested in November 2011 by an FBI Terrorism Task Force.

“Sovereigns” have been known to engage in what has been described as “paper terrorism” to try to hamstring law enforcement. Some “sovereigns” have been linked to various forms of securities fraud and tax fraud.

On Sept. 5, 2012, the PP Blog reported that an “opportunity” known as “Wealth Creation Alliance” was using a strange mix of capital letters in its communications with prospects. Whether WCA has any “sovereign” ties is unknown.

In September, a judge in Canada deconstructed some bizarre arguments from “sovereigns” and others.

Feb 13, 2013
ASD Figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming’s Birther Lawsuit Against Obama, Holder Gets Tossed

Screen shot: Part of the Leaming/Stephenson complaint demanding gold and silver.

After he was charged with filing false liens and other crimes and jailed near Seattle, AdSurfDaily story figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming apparently thought it prudent to sue President Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Leaming, 56, advanced a theory that Obama was not born in the United States, was not eligible to be President and had appointed Holder unlawfully.

It therefore followed, according to Leaming and co-plaintiff and former business colleague David Carroll Stephenson, that Holder was “Personating [sic] the Attorney General of the United States” and could not lawfully appoint or delegate authority to “Any United States Attorney.”

And because Holder had oversight responsibility over the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Washington that had brought the criminal charges against Leaming and Stephenson after an FBI probe, the duo apparently surmised, it followed that the prosecution was unlawful and should be declared “VOID For FRAUD” because the U.S. Attorney also is “personating” [sic] a federal officer.

In their June lawsuit, Leaming and Stephenson demanded compensation in “gold” and “silver” for each day they allegedly were held unlawfully. Over time, the docket of the case swelled to more than 30 entries.

On Oct. 11, however, U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik dismissed the Leaming/Stephenson lawsuit “for failure to identify any viable claim for relief.”

The judge also ordered “all pending motions” stricken as moot.

Leaming and Stephenson remain jailed near Seattle.

In court filings earlier this month, federal prosecutors said Leaming was instrumental in founding the “County Rangers,” a “sovereign group’s armed enforcement wing.”

He is charged with filing false liens against at least five federal officials involved in the prosecution of the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, which the U.S. Secret Service described as a fraud operated by Andy Bowdoin that had gathered at least $119 million.

Bowdoin, 77, was sentenced in August to 78 months in federal prison.

Leaming initially was arrested by the FBI in November 2011. He was indicted in January 2012 on charges of filing false liens, harboring fugitives, possessing firearms as a convicted felon and uttering a bogus “Bonded Promissory Note” with a face value of $1 million and depositing it in U.S. Bank.

Stephenson, a tax fraudster already jailed when Leaming was arrested and jailed, worked with Leaming to file false liens against U.S. prison officials, prosecutors said.

See Nov. 27, 2011, PP Blog story that outlines FBI allegations that Leaming was discussing a way to serve Stepenson-related papers on U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts through the school attended by his children, who are minors.

Roberts is the top judicial officer in the United States.

Oct 14, 2012
BULLETIN: Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Tim Turner Of Purported ‘Republic for the united States of America’ Charged In Alleged ‘Seminar’ Scam In Which He Taught Attendees How To File Bogus Liens Against Public Officials; Tax Crimes Also Charged, Justice Department Says

“Turner is alleged to have attempted to pay his own taxes with a fictitious $300 million bond and to have assisted others in attempting to pay their taxes with fictitious bonds purporting to be worth amounts ranging from $10 million to $100 billion.” — U.S. Department of Justice, Sept. 18, 2012

BULLETIN: James Timothy Turner, a purported “sovereign citizen” who claims to be “President” of the “Republic for the united States of America,” has been indicted by an Alabama grand jury on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, attempting to pay taxes with fictitious financial instruments, attempting to obstruct and impede the Internal Revenue Service, failing to file a 2009 federal income tax return and falsely testifying under oath in a bankruptcy proceeding, the Justice Department announced.

Among the allegations against Turner is that he “conducted seminars at which he taught attendees how to file retaliatory liens against government officials and to defraud the IRS by preparing and submitting fictitious bonds to the United States government in payment of federal taxes,” the Justice Department said.

“Turner is alleged to have attempted to pay his own taxes with a fictitious $300 million bond and to have assisted others in attempting to pay their taxes with fictitious bonds purporting to be worth amounts ranging from $10 million to $100 billion,” the Justice Department said.

The IRS and the FBI led the probe, the Justice Department said.

So-called “sovereign citizens” may have an irrational belief that laws do not apply to them.

Purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming — a mainstay in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme story — was arrested by the FBI last year on charges he filed bogus liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD case, including a federal judge, three federal prosecutors and a special agent of the U.S. Secret Service.

He also is accused of uttering a bogus “bonded promissory note,” concealing fugitives wanted in a home-business caper and being a felon in possession of firearms.

Leaming also has sought to sue President Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on a theory they are imposters in office. In June, Leaming, 56, sought to sue a county sheriff in Arkansas, demanding purported damages be paid in gold and silver.

In August, purported “sovereign citizen” Michael Chung, 52, was arrested in New York on charges that he threatened to kill two bank employees.

Sep 18, 2012
UPDATE: Government Has Produced At Least 2,742 Pages Of Discovery In Kenneth Wayne Leaming Case; Trial For AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Scheduled To Begin Sept. 17, One Week Before ASD President Andy Bowdoin Goes On Trial

“The Government has provided over 2742 pages of discovery consisting of: liens, police reports, [Bureau of Prisons] records, pictures, surveillance photos, internet search records, audio subpoenas and over 1000 pages of documents seized.” — From March 5 court order in false-liens case involving accused AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming and former Leaming business associate David Carroll Stephenson

Kenneth Wayne Leaming

If the scheduling holds, accused AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming will go on trial in the Western District of Washington on Sept. 17 with his former business colleague David Carroll Stephenson, one week before ASD President Andy Bowdoin is set to go on trial in the District of Columbia in a Ponzi scheme case involving at least $110 million.

Leaming, 56, of Spanaway, Wash., is accused of filing false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD case, including a federal judge, three federal prosecutors and a special agent of the U.S. Secret Service. In addition, he is charged with being a participant with 56-year-old Stephenson, a federal inmate in a fraud case, in a scheme to file false liens against at least two federal prison officials.

At the same time, Leaming is charged with concealing two federal fugitives involved in an Arkansas-based, home-business fraud scheme involving millions of dollars, being a felon in possession of firearms and uttering a false “Bonded Promissory Note” with a purported face value of $1 million.

The docket of U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton of the Western District of Washington now shows a trial date of Sept. 17 for both Leaming and Stephenson.

Leaming, who has a 2005 felony conviction for piloting an aircraft without a valid pilot’s certificate, originally was scheduled to go on trial March 20. That trial date was rescheduled for April 2 after a superseding indictment was returned against Leaming after his initial arrest on a criminal complaint in November 2011 — and now has been moved to September to give Leaming and Stephenson more time to prepare, according to court filings.

Bowdoin, 77, was indicted in 2010 on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities. In August 2008, the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars from 10 of his personal bank accounts, amid allegations that Bowdoin was presiding over an international Ponzi scheme operating over the Internet.

Both of the Arkansas fugitives allegedly found with Leaming in Washingston state also are purported “sovereign citizens.” They were identified as Timothy Shawn Donavan, 64, and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen, 67. Donavan currently is detained in Oklahoma, and Henningsen is detained in Texas, according to records.

Leaming and Stephenson both are detained near Seattle.

As was the case with the original court filings in the 2008 civil action that led to the criminal prosecution of Bowdoin, investigators have produced surveillance photos pertaining to the Leaming and Stephenson prosecutions.

Records suggest that Leaming came under surveillance in Washington state by an FBI Terrorism Task Force by at least August 2011.

In addition to the surveillance photos, the government also has produced, liens, police records, unspecified “pictures,” prison records, Internet search records, “audio subpoenas” and “over 1000 pages of documents seized,” according to court filings.

All in all, according to the filings, the government has produced at least 2,742 pages of discovery in the Leaming and Stephenson cases.

It is unclear from court filings whether the government seized any evidence of correspondence Leaming may have conducted with ASD members. Some ASD members are known to have have quoted Leaming in individual emails dating back at least to November 2010.

Leaming has asserted he is proceeding to trial under “duress.”

In March 2009 — while the ASD Ponzi case was still a civil matter — Bowdoin claimed a January 2009 decision he made to submit to the forfeiture and stop pressing claims for the money seized from his bank accounts was made under “severe duress.”

He made the claim while acting as his own attorney, and further claimed that his decision to relitigate the case after earlier abandoning his claims was “legally accomplished as a matter of law” simply because he had filed papers saying so.

A month later — in April 2009 — federal prosecutors made a bombshell announcement in court that, prior to submitting to the forfeiture and dropping his claims to the seized cash, Bowdoin had signed a proffer letter and acknowledged the government’s material allegations were all true.

In September 2009, prosecutors said Bowdoin was telling ASD members one story — while telling a federal judge another.

Final orders of forfeiture were entered in the ASD civil case in January 2010. Bowdoin appealed, but lost in March 2011.

In the earliest days and weeks after the August 2008 seizure, some ASD members — ignoring the lessons of history — began to promote other schemes that advertised preposterous payouts, claiming they were safe because they were “offshore.”

One current HYIP scheme is JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, whose advertised daily payout rate is 2 percent — twice that of ASD. Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, identified himself as an ASD pitchman in 2008 web promos three months before the Secret Service raid on ASD headquarters in Quincy, Fla.

In a Feb. 23, 2012, conference call, Mann declined to say precisely where JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid was operating from. On Feb. 27, the PP Blog reported that a site linked to Mann featured videos of Francis Schaeffer Cox, a purported “sovereign citizen” implicated in an alleged murder plot against public officials in Alaska.

On Feb. 29, the PP Blog received threatening communications from an individual describing himself as “MoneyMakingBrain.” Among other things, “MoneyMakingBrain” claimed he’d defend Mann “so help me God.”

On March 12, the PP Blog reported that “MoneyMakingBrain” had asserted the Blog would “go down in flames.”

On Feb. 18 — at RealScam.com, a forum that educates the public about mass-marketing fraud — “MoneyMakingBrain” published a link to the Mann-associated site that beams the Cox videos. It is unclear if “MoneyMakingBrain” understood that Cox was under arrest on serious criminal charges and is identified with the “sovereign citizen movement.”

NOTE: The PP Blog believes it is ill-advised to click on any link left by “MoneyMakingBrain” at RealScam.com.

One of the surveillance photos in the ASD Ponzi case: Source: Court files.

Mar 14, 2012
‘MoneyMakingBrain,’ Advocate For JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, Emails Threats To PP Blog; ‘That’s Not A Threat, It’s A Promise,’ First Email Claims; Second Suggests He’ll Create Banking Trouble For Blog Poster And Defend JSS Tripler Operator ‘So Help Me God’
“Either we talk about here, or I talk about somewhere else (that’s not a threat, it’s a promise :)” — ‘MoneyMakingBrain (MMB), in email threat to PP Blog, Feb. 29, 2012, 7:52 a.m. ET

UPDATED 4:22 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) It has happened again: The PP Blog has received yet another threat via email for its reporting on the HYIP sphere, which FINRA described in a 2010 Alert as a “bizarre substratum of the Internet.”

Today’s threat came from “MoneyMakingBrain” (MMB) in apparent “defense” of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, an HYIP “program” purportedly operated by self-described former AdSurfDaily and Ad-Ventures4U pitchman Frederick Mann. JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid claims it pays a return of 2 percent per day.

ASD operator Andy Bowdoin, 77, is an accused Ponzi schemer under indictment for wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities. The ASD scheme, which was based in Florida, gathered at least $110 million and created thousands of victims, federal prosecutors have said. Bowdoin’s Ponzi trial has been scheduled for September 2012. JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid purports to pay a daily return twice that of ASD.

Among other things, Bowdoin has compared the August 2008 U.S. Secret Service raid on ASD’s headquarters to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and described it as the work of “Satan.”

MMB’s initial email threat was received at 7:52 a.m. ET. It was followed by another email threat at 11:14 a.m. in which MMB suggested he’d seek to cause banking troubles for a specific PP Blog poster and defend Mann “so help me God.”

“You could be the nicest guy in the world, doing a real public service, but on the matter of Frederick Mann, you’ve made a gross error, and you crossed the line, Mr.,” the second threat read in part. “I am not a passive by-stander Patrick, I am one of those who will come and help an old man from being beaten up by a bully, so help me God.”

The second email also claimed that, “If anything, you’ve brought all this upon yourself.”

On Feb. 27, the PP Blog reported that a site registered to Mann in South Africa at the same street address of JustBeenPaid had at least 11 links to videos featuring Francis Schaeffer Cox. Cox, 27, is a purported “sovereign citizen.” He is accused in Alaska of a “militia” murder plot against public officials.

Federal prosecutors known to be investigating the ASD scheme in the District of Columbia declined to comment on the Blog’s story, which was published Monday. Meanwhile, federal prosecutors known to be investigating the “sovereign citizen” movement in the Pacific Northwest did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

Today’s disturbing developments began with the Blog’s receipt of the initial threatening email at 7:52 a.m. The initial threat implied that, if the PP Blog did publish a comment submitted by MMB during the overnight hours and respond to the email, MMB would seek to cause harm to the Blog. The PP Blog did not reply to the initial email. Nor did it reply to the follow-up threat.

MMB’s comment already had been published by the PP Blog by the time the initial email threat was received. The comment was submitted at 1:12 a.m. today and approved by the PP Blog at approximately 7:30 a.m., after being temporarily sequestered in a holding queue because of the menacing nature of previous comments submitted by MMB.

An anonymous proxy in Europe was used to send the comment, and a Gmail address was entered on the PP Blog’s Comments form. For the past two days, MMB has been submitting comments that imply he has the power to harm the Blog if the Blog does not submit to his threats. His comments were sent from IPs in the United States and Europe. Today’s email communications from MMB were the first received from MMB.

Because the Blog believes it is important to publish comments that showcase the bizarre and sometimes menacing nature of the HYIP sphere, it has published several comments from MMB since Monday. But because today’s email threats introduced a new form of electronic menacing and implied a PP Blog reader would be subjected to a hectoring campaign, the Blog no longer will publish any additional comments from MMB.

The PP Blog engages in the marketplace of ideas, not the marketplace of threats.

These are among MMB’s menacing assertions yesterday:
- “I know you’re reading everything I write and you are scared.”
- ” But, continue to annoy the MoneyMakingBrain and deviate him from his monitoring duties, and you’ll be the ones to be in the hot water. “
- “no one is invisible to the MoneyMakingBrain and you need to stop doing what you’re doing against this man immediately. Because if you don’t, I am going to make a formal complain (sic) to the very authorities you purport are coming after scam sites and send all the evidence I’ve gathered so far from posting on your site and the realscam site. I don’t like witch hunts and I am sure Fred Mann can whip your ass in court for your highly suggestive, provocative, highly contentious and flat-out defamatory commentaries against his character on your sites.”
- “You can delete my comments as much as you like, but take what I said to the bank. In the end, you are going to look like a fool.”
- “Maybe it’s a good idea that you stop your charade once and for all and finally cease and desist attacking Mr. Fred Mann, who is innocent until proven guilty. Not going to be repeating myself again.”
- “Needless to say that you’ll be needing to look for another ISP because you won’t have internet access at home or your office, wherever. Needless to say that your server host will also shut down your sites down for violation of terms and conditions.”
MMB also advanced a number of conspiracy theories, including one in which he asserts that two different people who post on RealScam.com and the PP Blog are one and the same. RealScam is a forum that concerns itself with mass-marketing fraud.

In November 2011, RealScam was subjected to a bid to chill from Bogdan Fiedur, the operator of AdLandPro, a website whose members routinely promote HYIP schemes and other highly dubious pursuits. JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid is one of the “programs” promoted on AdLandPro, which also has a presence on Ponzi forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

Conspiracy theories are part and parcel to the HYIP landscape, as are threats — direct and veiled. Today”s second MMB email threat also raised the specter of fear.

” . . . it’s clear that you are too scared of me by now,” the second email read in part.

In November 2011, an FBI Terrorism Task Force arrested ASD figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming on charges he filed false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD Ponzi case. Two months later, a superseding indictment was returned against Leaming that accused him of participating in a scheme to file false liens against two U.S. prison officials, uttering a false “Bonded Promissory Note” for $1 million and being a convicted felon in possession of firearms.

So-called “sovereign citizens” have been linked to various forms of securities fraud and tax fraud. Because they believe prosecutors and judges have no authority over them, “sovereigns” have been known to target state, local and national officials in plots to file bogus liens and destroy the credit of members of the law-enforcement community and litigation opponents.

Their harassment methods, which feature the use of both postal mail and email and often include direct or veiled threats, have become known as “paper terrorism.”

When arrested, Leaming, the ASD figure and purported “sovereign,” was found with two federal fugitives from Arkansas who’d been indicted on charges of duping participants in a home-business scheme of more than $2 million. Those fugitives also have been linked to the “sovereign citizen” movement and filed a series of bizarre pleadings in Arkansas after their arrests with Leaming, who is jailed near Seattle. Both fugitives now are detained at federal facilities in Texas, according to prison records.

After MMB sent today’s initial email threat, he sent another comment to the Blog that included a threat:

“Stop abusing your forum as Lynn does, or I am going to conclude that there is a business relationship between the two of you, and that would be bad a thing (I am afraid to say anything else as you may call it another ‘threat’).

“And yes, this is not a threat: you’re better off having me talking here than somewhere else. I know too much already about both you and Lynn, and I still want to believe that the two of you are men of good (although the tactics of one indicate the otherwise).”

“Lynn” is a reference to Lynn Edgington, the chairman of Eagle Research Associates Inc., a 501(c)3 Public Benefit Charitable Corporation based in Mission Viejo, Calif.

The second email implied that MMB would seek to interfere with an Eagle Research banking relationship.

See related story and Comments thread.
Feb 29, 2012
BULLETIN: Andrew Isaac Chance Sentenced To 65 Months In Federal Prison For False-Lien And Tax Scams; ‘Tax Defier’ Filed Bogus UCC Statement For $1.313 Billion Against Federal Prosecutor, Justice Department Says

BULLETIN: Andrew Isaac Chance, the Maryland man described by the Justice Department as a “tax defier” and recidivist fraudster who filed a bogus lien for $1.313 billion against a federal prosecutor, has been sentenced to 65 months in federal prison.

Chance, a retired station manager of the Washington (D.C.) Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, explained that he filed liens against the federal prosecutor and a Maryland state prosecutor because they had “done him wrong,” prosecutors said.

The bogus lien against the federal prosecutor was in the form of a UCC Financing Statement filed in Maryland. The Uniform Commercial Code has been in the news in recent days in the context of purported “sovereign citizens.”

Michael Lee Crane, an Arizona man now charged in three murders in late January, told a judge at his arraignment on the first two murder charges that “I would like to reserve my right to Uniform Commercial Code 1-207, and the Uniform Commercial Code 1-103.”

Chance filed the false lien against the federal prosecutor who’d handled an earlier tax-fraud case against him “shortly after” Chance was released from prison. Chance, prosecutors said, was on federal probation when he filed the lien.

After filing the bogus lien, Chance returned to the same behavior that landed him in prison initially, filing three false claims for tax refunds, prosecutors said.

“This sentence shows that filing false tax returns and retaliating against federal prosecutors and other government officials, who are simply doing their jobs, will not be tolerated,” said John A. DiCicco, principal deputy assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

In the false-liens case, Chance was charged under the same law federal prosecutors in Washington state used to charge AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming: Retaliating against a Federal judge or Federal law enforcement officer by false claim or slander of title.

Leaming allegedly was involved in the filing of several retaliatory liens against federal officials. He also faces charges of harboring fugitives, being a felon in possession of firearms and uttering a bogus “Bonded Promissory Note.”

Feb 16, 2012
BULLETIN: David Carroll Stephenson, Alleged Accomplice Of AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Kenneth Wayne Leaming, Now Jailed Near Seattle; Feds Say False Liens Totaling $30 Million Were Filed Against Prison Officials

Kenneth Wayne Leaming

BULLETIN: David Carroll Stephenson, an alleged business associate of AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming, has been moved from a federal prison in Arizona to the SeaTac federal detention center near Seattle to answer charges that he conspired with Leaming to file false liens against two Federal Bureau of Prisons officials.

Leaming, 56, remains in federal custody at SeaTac. In addition to charges that he worked with Stephenson to file bogus liens totaling $30 million against Harley Lappin and Dennis R. Smith, Leaming is accused of filing false liens against at least five public officials involved in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case. He’s also charged with harboring two federal fugitives from Arkansas at his residence in Spanaway, Wash., being a felon in possession of firearms and uttering a bogus “Bonded Promissory Note” with a purported face value of $1 million.

Lappin is the former director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons; Smith is the warden of the Federal Correctional Institution in Phoenix. Stephenson and Leaming divined a construction by which Lappin owed Stephenson $10 million and Smith owed him $20 million, the FBI said in court documents filed in November 2011.

The scheme involved a Leaming-associated company known as American-International Business Law Inc. The firm, which is listed in Washington state as the registered agent of at least 73 companies, also has been part of the ASD story narrative and was referenced in the Congressional Record last year in the context of a purported “claim against the United States of America.”

Some of the firms with which American-International had a business relationship formed their names with words typically associated with government or banking. One was called “Homeland Security Service,” for instance. Another was called “Presidential Detail.” Yet another was called “Federal Asset Management Service.” Still another was called “Federal Fleet Management,” according to records.

At least two of the entities used forms of the name JP Morgan, according to records. The firm also was listed as the registered agent of two firms allegedly operated by the federal fugitives Leaming allegedly concealed.

Stephenson, 56, was serving a 96-month prison sentence (ending in January 2013) for defrauding the United States in a tax scam during the time in which he plotted with Leaming last year to carry out the fraud against Lappin and Smith, the FBI said.

An FBI affidavit filed in November alleges that Leaming was conducting research on the real estate holdings and personal finances of U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts and his wife and discussed a scheme to serve Stephenson-related documents on Roberts through the school his children attended.

Robert’s is chief judge of the U.S. Supreme Court and America’s highest-ranking judicial officer. He is one of nine members of the Supreme Court.

Other Leaming email correspondence cited by the FBI suggests he sent a “certified,” Stephenson-related letter to the personal residence of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and was trying to find a home address for Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer — instead of sending Stephenson-related correspondence to the Supreme Court address.

Like Roberts, Ginsburg and Breyer are members of the Supreme Court.

Breyer’s name was in the news yesterday, amid reports that he was robbed while vacationing with his wife and several friends in Nevis last week by a masked intruder wielding a machete. The Supreme Court is on break. There were no reports that anyone was injured in the Nevis incident, but the robber allegedly got away with $1,000.

On Oct. 2, 2011, the PP Blog reported that ASD members were encouraged in an email to identify a federal judge, federal prosecutors and a special agent of the U.S. Secret Service as “DOJ thieves” in “county”-level filings and to send a “certified copy” of their claims to the home address of Chief Justice Roberts.

The email was attributed to “Keny,” a nickname used by Leaming.

Court records suggest Leaming was under FBI surveillance when the email was sent. He was arrested by an FBI terrorism task force about seven weeks later.

In court filings in the original liens case against Leaming in November, the FBI said “one of the specific documents” found in Washington state sought the staggering sum of $225.4 billion and listed “Kenneth Wayne, sovereign man” as “grantee,” and public officials as “grantors.”

Bogus liens against Mary Peters, the former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, and Cutler Dawson, president and CEO of Navy Federal Credit Union, also were discovered, according to court filings.

Leaming was arrested on the liens charges via a criminal complaint filed in November. The firearms, fugitive-harboring and false-utterance charges were added in a superseding grand-jury indictment returned on Jan. 26.

The two fugitives Leaming allegedly harbored were implicated in an Arkansas-based, home-business scam that fetched more than $2 million, according to court records. Meanwhile, the ASD Ponzi scheme fetched at least $110 million, federal prosecutors said.

Timothy Shawn Donavan, 63, and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen, 67 — the fugitives allegedly found with Leaming — both are listed as federal detainees at facilities in Texas. They initially were jailed at SeaTac in Washington state, but made bond after their November arrests and returned to Arkansas, according to federal records.

Bizarre pleadings laced with language associated with “sovereign citizens” soon began to appear in their Arkansas proceedings. Donavan’s bond was revoked after he refused to be sworn as a witness at a pretrial proceeding in Arkansas, according to records. He is jailed at a federal facility in Texas.

Henningsen currently is in federal custody at a Texas facility that provides specialized medical care and mental-health services, according to records.

Andy Bowdoin, the 77-year-old alleged operator of the ASD Ponzi scheme, is awaiting his September 2012 federal criminal trial on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities.

Feb 14, 2012