UPDATED 10:47 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The state of Florida has revoked the corporate registration of AdSurfDaily Inc.
Meanwhile, the state has dissolved Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises Inc. Both actions were taken Sept. 25 by the Florida Department of State’s Division of Corporations because neither company filed required paperwork.
ASD’s registration is marked “REVOKED FOR ANNUAL REPORT.” The registration for Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises is marked “ADMIN DISSOLUTION FOR ANNUAL REPORT.” In each case, the required filings were nearly five months’ past due.
Florida law requires all corporations, limited liability companies, limited partnerships and limited liability limited partnerships to file an annual report with the Division of Corporations between Jan. 1 and May 1 of each year.
ASD is registered in Florida as a foreign corporation because the surf initially registered as a corporation native to Nevada. ASD’s Nevada registration is marked “default.”
Ironically, Florida made the moves against the Bowdoin entities on the same date — Sept. 25 — a dramatic filing by federal prosecutors became public on the PACER U.S. Party Case Index. The federal filing accused ASD President Andy Bowdoin of trying to lie his way back into a civil-forfeiture case sparked by August 2008 allegations that ASD had engaged in wire fraud and money-laundering while operating a Ponzi scheme.
In December 2008 — in a second forfeiture case filed against ASD’s assets — prosecutors said Bowdoin’s wife, Edna Faye Bowdoin, and her son, George Harris, opened a bank account at Capital City Bank on June 10, 2008, in the name of Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises Inc.
The account was funded with an opening deposit of $177,900.12 from two ASD accounts at Bank of America. More than $157,000 of the sum was used to retire the mortgage on the home of George Harris and his wife, Judy Harris, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors named the Harris home in the December forfeiture complaint, saying it had been acquired with illegal proceeds from ASD. The Capital City Bank account was opened less than two weeks after ASD concluded a rally in Las Vegas at which Andy Bowdoin exhorted the crowd to internalize the thought of acquiring large sums of money.
Florida’s actions against ASD and Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises are potentially problematic for the companies and Bowdoin.
Prosecutors could argue, for example, that no company claiming to be legitimate in court and encouraging members to continue to support it would fail to complete the minimal amount of paperwork required to keep its corporate registration intact.
On Sept. 28 — three days after Florida revoked ASD’s corporate registration and dissolved the registration of Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises — federal prosecutors filed a U.S. Secret Service transcript of a conference call ASD had recorded Sept. 21.
In the call, Bowdoin told members that the government had seized their money. In his court filings, however, Bowdoin claimed the money was his.
Prosecutors said the recording was evidence that Bowdoin could not keep his stories straight, arguing that he had told members one story and a federal judge another.
In December 2008, prosecutors said Andy Bowdoin and Edna Faye Bowdoin had set up Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises to conceal expenditures and assets from the government. In July 2008, according to court filings, a cashier’s check for $48,244.03 from Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises was used to purchase a 2008 Lincoln MKS luxury sedan.
Prosecutors named the Lincoln in the forfeiture complaint, along with two other automobiles, a Cabana boat, jet skis and marine equipment. All of the purchases were made with ASD funds or ASD funds that had been funneled through Bowdoin/Harris, prosecutors said.
Bowdoin has left behind a string of failed businesses, prosecutors said. Florida has dissolved at least seven of them — now including ASD — a company Bowdoin asked members to support in post-seizure testimonials and letter-writing campaigns.