UPDATED 2:59 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Claims by the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf that KINGZ Capital Management Corp. is aiding AVG in offshore wire transfers are false, and KINGZ has launched an investigation, the company’s top executive said in an interview this morning.
“Nothing has ever been accepted from [AVG], nothing has been — and nothing will be,” said Michael P. Krywenky, president and chief executive officer of KINGZ. “We are very shocked, and we’re appalled [by the AVG claims].”
Krywenky said the company was “astounded” when it received a call from Europe about the AVG claims.
“KINGZ Capital Management Corporation nor any of its affiliates have any relationship with AdViewGlobal,” Krywenky said. “Also, I have already confirmed with our bank in Barbados that we are NOT accepting any funds from anyone at, or any clients of, AdViewGlobal.”
Krywenky said KINGZ believed that a scam of some sort was under way. He noted that KINGZ had discussed services with a firm known as Living Legacy One LLC, but said he did not have details about the company at his immediate disposal.
A corporation by that name was registered in Florida April 18, 2008, and filed an annual report on April 29, 2009. Living Legacy One LLC lists Gerald Castor as its managing member.
Gerald Castor has been identified in AVG announcements as an employee of AVG’s “Compliance” department.
No money would make its way to the autosurf firm from KINGZ, Krywenky said.
“It’s extremely bizarre,” he said. “I am absolutely astounded.”
On Monday, AVG announced in a forum set up by Mods and members of the embattled AdSurfDaily (ASD) autosurf that AVG had secured a deal for members to wire money offshore to pay for “advertising.”
KINGZ was mentioned in the AVG announcement as one of the companies that would be involved in the transfers. AVG provided a KINGZ account number in its announcement, along with instructions for members to facilitate wire transfers.
“We’re in discussion with our lawyers,” Krywenky said.
AVG’s announcement came on the same day that the Obama administration announced it was cracking down on offshore tax cheats.
AVG has close ties to ASD. The U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars from ASD President Andy Bowdoin in August, amid allegations of wire fraud, money-laundering, engaging in the sale of unregistered securities and operating a Ponzi scheme from Florida.
AVG purports to be headquartered in Uruguay. Gary Talbert, AVG’s chief executive officer and a former ASD executive, resigned suddenly on March 20.
In a March 23 announcement signed by “The AVG Management Team,†AVG said its bank account had been “suspended.” It blamed customers, saying they had sent too many wire transactions in excess of $9,500.
On March 25, an AVG announcement signed by Gerald Castor said AVG’s banking problems were being rectified.
Problems with an Arizona-based, money-service business known as eWalletPlus followed. Servers for eWalletPlus now resolve to Panama. Like AVG, the company claims now to be headquartered in Uruguay.
Promoters made AVG’s purported offshore location a big selling point since its inception a few months after the seizure of ASD’s assets.
AVG, which had been promoting a 200-percent, matching bonus offer — an offer that caused one promoter to exclaim that $5,000 turned into $15,000 “instantly!†— said it was working to rectify its banking problem.
The solution AVG said it had found — wiring money to an offshore bank — was not going to work, said Krywenky of KINGZ.
“I think that we may be victims of a scam here,” he said.
AVG also is known as the AV Global Association.