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Tag: Golden Panda

  • Default Notice Entered In December 2008 Forfeiture Action Against AdSurfDaily-Connected Assets; Final Forfeiture Is Pending

    UPDATED 8:31 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Federal prosecutors today asked the Clerk of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to enter a default notice for assets seized in the December 2008 forfeiture complaint against AdSurfDaily.

    The clerk entered the notice, and the forfeiture of the property is pending. It will be finalized when U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer enters a forfeiture order. Collyer issued an order last week for the forfeiture of ASD assets seized in the August 2008 case.

    Seized in the December 2008 complaint were the Tallahassee home of George and Judy Harris; a 2008 Honda car registered to the Harrises; a 2009 Lincoln luxury sedan registered to Bowdon/Harris Enterprises; a 2009 Acura registered to Hays Amos, an $800,000 building in Quincy, Fla. paid for in cash; jet skis; a Cabana boat; marine equipment; computers; and $634,266.13 surrendered by Golden Panda Ad Builder.

    No claimant ever came forward in the December 2008 case, prosecutors said.

    With Collyer’s forfeiture order in the August case, prosecutors now have title to about 99.2 percent of the liquid assets in the overall forfeiture case (August 2008 and December combined). A forfeiture order in the December case, which included only a fraction of the liquid assets, would give them title to 100 percent.

    The real-estate, automobiles, computers, boat, jet skis and marine equipment are illiquid assets that must be sold before they can become part of a compensation pool for ASD victims.

    Prosecutors alleged that ASD was operating a Ponzi scheme, while selling unregistered securities under the guise of being an “advertising” service and engaging in wire fraud and money-laundering.

  • Guenther Acknowledges ‘Intimidating’ Autosurf Members For Refunds; Calls ASD-Biz Forum Readers ‘Left Wing Liberal No B***** People’; Says Woman A ‘Mouthy Broad’

    The ASD Business Information Zone (ASD-Biz) forum covers news and opinion on AdSurfDaily, Golden Panda Ad Builder and what the forum describes as “Related Scams.” ASD-Biz has been a central discussion site on the subject of the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA).

    Some ASD-Biz members have urged Bob Guenther, the de facto head of ASDMBA, to provide straightforward, transparent accounting of how ASDMBA spent money it collected from ASD members to provide legal representation in a bid to gain back money they spent in the ASD and Golden Panda autosurfs.

    Among the assertions by ASDMBA’s critics is that members received no value for the money they contributed to ASDMBA. Specific concerns have been raised about Guenther’s leadership and management skills, including his ability to interact with people. Some members said Guenther seems to operate with the presumption that all people who contributed money to ASDMBA were Republican or conservative in their political beliefs, even though ASDMBA never advised contributors when it was collecting money that it had a political agenda.

    Guenther pleaded guilty in the 1990s to a felony count of bank fraud — something members said they did not know when they contributed money to ASDMBA. Earlier this year Guenther was charged with two felony counts in Arizona for allegedly ignoring a court order not to harass a company with which he has a dispute.

    Guenther initially said police had obtained evidence against him unlawfully. He now says the case will be settled.

    Guenther has used the ASD-Biz forum to respond to his critics. Overnight he came out firing — but not before acknowledging ASDMBA engaged in intimidation tactics to retrieve money for members of the ASD and Golden Panda autosurfs.

    “Vigilanteism, is that what you call intimidating a THIEF to give back money he stole from a disabled veteran,” Guenther said. “Is that what YOU call intimidating a thief like Busby to reimburse over $50,000 to a group of active and retired police officers, is that what you call to convince a young pretty scam artist to refund $4000 she stole from a Dallas executive[?]

    “You call it what you want, I call it street justice,” Guenther said.

    He then brought politics into the discussion, using street language. “Ill take my chances and if it bothers you, stay right where all you left wing liberal no balled people like to sit, on the sidelines.”

    Earlier Guenther had cautioned an ASD-Biz poster to “Put up or shut up, you ignorant mouthy broad.”

    His comments in which he acknowledged using intimidation tactics to retrieve money came in response to a link to a March news release from the FBI about allegations of attempted extortion against a California man. The agency said the man had “attemped to extort monies” to recover funds in the alleged EIMT Ponzi scheme.

    Agents described the case against Michael David Sanders as a “shake-down scheme.” As the investigation proceeded, Sanders and three others who allegedly assisted him in recovering the money by posing as federal agents were charged with serious crimes.

    No one asserts that Guenther posed as a federal agent in bids to recover money from the Golden Panda and ASD schemes. But ASDMBA’s website urged visitors to make an ASD member’s life “miserable until he refunds Mr. Smith’s $2,000.00 dollars.” The site published the phone number, postal address and email address of Dan Trost, Smith’s purported ASD sponsor.

    “Call, email and write this man until he gives Bill Smith, Jr. his $2,000.00,” ASDMBA’s website urged.

    ASDMBA members say Guenther frequently uses coarse language and engages in threatening, menacing conduct.

    Guenther said the effort to get back money for Smith, a disabled veteran, was successful. ASDMBA’s website lists the effort to gain back the money as a “Testimonial” to the group’s effectiveness.

    ASDMBA, however, has no license to engage in the collection of purported debts, and efforts to collect money on behalf of members occurred while a federal investigation into the business affairs of ASD and Golden Panda was under way.

    Guether said the group retrieved funds for retired and active-duty police officers in Texas and California, and for a “high profile Dallas Cowboy” executive.

    More than $14 million was seized from Golden Panda last year by the U.S. Secret Service in a wire-fraud, money-laundering, securities and Ponzi scheme probe. More than $65.8 million was seized from ASD, all of it in accounts maintained by ASD President Andy Bowdoin.

    In recent days, Guenther has discouraged ASD victims from going through a government program to receive restitution from the alleged fraud, suggesting he has a way that cuts through government red tape.

    Visit the ASD-Biz forum.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Bank Of America Granted Motion To Stay Case In Which Plaintiffs Said It Aided And Abetted Racketeers Running Florida Ponzi Scheme From A Former Flower Shop

    A federal judge has granted a motion by Bank of America to stay a case in which it was alleged to have aided and abetted racketeers operating a Ponzi scheme from a former flower shop in Quincy, Fla.

    The bank was not named a RICO defendant in the lawsuit, which was filed by members of AdSurfDaily Inc. Rather, the bank was alleged to have aided and abetted RICO defendants Andy Bowdoin, Robert Garner and unnamed others in a fraudulent scheme.

    “The Bank has shown good cause for a stay,” U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer said in an order late today.

    “First, distribution of funds in the civil forfeiture case may moot at least a portion of Plaintiffs’ claims for monetary recovery here,” Collyer said. “Second, in the civil forfeiture case the government has seized numerous documents that are necessary for discovery in this matter.”

    Among other things, Bank of America argued that some people made money in ASD and that the government is sifting through records and has a plan to provide restitution to victims of the alleged ASD scheme.

    Collyer’s order stayed the RICO case indefinitely. A separate case against assets tied to AdSurfDaily filed by the government is proceeding on a separate track.

    It was a busy day for Collyer. First, the judge ordered Andy Bowdoin, AdSurfDaily Inc. and Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises Inc. to show cause by Aug. 7 why a series of motions filed by Bowdoin as a pro se litigant should not be denied.

    Collyer noted in the order that Charles A. Murray, a paid attorney Bowdoin had hired after Bowdoin was advised months ago that a corporation could not proceed pro se, has not followed up on initial pleadings.

    Neither Bowdoin nor Murray has followed up since May, Collyer noted. Bowdoin initially submitted to the forfeiture, formally asking the court for permission to do so in January and saying he would not open a new challenge for the money. Collyer granted Bowdoin’s request.

    About five weeks later, however, Bowdoin said he’d changed his mind about submitting to the forfeiture and began to file as a pro se litigant. In a letter published on the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum, Bowdoin blamed his initial group of lawyers for ineffective counsel, saying a “group” of members who had reviewed his case had recommended a different approach.

    Bowdoin proceeded as his own attorney, signing his first pro se pleading Feb. 25. At the same time, the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf — which has close Bowdoin family, membership and promoters’ ties — said it was transitioning into a “private association.”

    Also today, Collyer issued an order that formalized the forfeiture of more than $14 million from Golden Panda Ad Builder, a firm associated with Clarence Busby. At one time, Busby was a RICO defendant in the lawsuit filed by the ASD members, but the plaintiffs dismissed the case against him.

    In court filings, Busby said Bowdoin unexpectedly asked him to form Golden Panda Ad Builder during a fishing outing on a Georgia lake in April 2008. In only weeks of operation — including prelaunch — Golden Panda rocketed to nearly 20,000 members.

    Just prior to the formal July launch of Golden Panda, members became aware that Busby had been implicated by the SEC in three prime-bank schemes that promised enormous returns during the 1990s. During the same time period, Bowdoin announced that he was too busy with ASD to serve as president of Golden Panda, saying Busby was uniquely in charge of Golden Panda’s operations.

  • AdSurfDaily: Revisiting Our Early Coverage

    andybowdoinbw.gifIt is the story that won’t go away, driven as much by the personalities and people who support AdSurfDaily as it is by the legal issues that put the company in the national spotlight.

    On Aug. 1, 2008, an ambiguous note appeared on ASD’s website. The note suggested a government investigation was under way. In the weeks and months that followed, the story grew increasingly bizarre. ASD President Andy Bowdoin likened the seizure of funds tied to his company to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, saying the government’s actions were the work of “Satan.”

    Curtis Richmond, an ASD member, pro se litigant  and member of a sham Utah “Indian” tribe that once held an organizational meeting in an Arby’s restaurant and listed a meeting room attached to a doughnut shop as the address of its purported “Supreme Court,” eventually entered the fray.

    There were signs at the very beginning that the ASD case would not be ordinary. Here are some snippets from our earliest reports:

    ASD Cash Generator Under Scrutiny By U.S. Attorney

    Aug. 2, 2008

    So far the ASDCashGenerator website hasn’t gone dark, but the lights definitely are flickering . . .

    At the moment the page loads with this message:

    “Friday, August 1st 2008 afternoon update:

    “Upon direction from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia, ASD will not be able to move funds into company accounts, or out of them. We will work to resolve this problem, and return to normal operation, as soon as we are permitted to do so.

    “ASD Management.”

    . . . As always is the case, sustainability is the issue. Can a company that promises a return for viewing advertisements generate enough revenue to sustain payouts? Will it have to dip into revenues from new members to pay older members, thus setting up the classic Ponzi situation?

    Assertions appear online that Andy Bowdoin was accorded a presidential honor known as “The Medal Of Distinction” and has been feted by President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

    Read an interesting Blog post by Matt Hurley on the “Medal of Distinction” at thenextright.com. Matt Hurley’s post isn’t about Andrew Bowdoin, but it’s still worth reading.

    Bowdoin And ASD Cash Generator Investigation Still Not Clarified; Information Sketchy Across Web As ASD Members Show Signs Of Viral Nervousness

    Aug 3, 2008

    ASD Cash Generator (ASD) still had an ambiguous note on its website as of late morning (EDT) in the United States, Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008. Andy Bowdoin’s ASD support page and page outlining ASD as a legal business still were redirecting to a message suggesting that the U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., now was involved in ASD’s business affairs.

    Today marks the third day a message that suggests an ASD investigation is under way has appeared at the Andy Bowdoin site.

    Elsewhere across the web discussion about ASD Cash Generator was taking place in forum after forum, and on Blog after Blog. ASD members continue to cling to hope that the U.S. Attorney is going to give ASD Cash Generator a clean bill of health, something members appear to view as a potential new endorsement.

    In essence, some ASD members are arguing that a government investigation of ASD is a good thing. Should ASD pass muster with agents from the U.S. Attorney’s office in the District of Columbia, so the thinking goes, it can only mean good things for the company.

    It’s unsettling to read these sorts of posts. One person even posted a link to an audio, claiming it was proof that all is well at ASD and that the alleged U.S. Attorney investigation is just a bump in the road. The poster talked about how negativity about any company could be found online — true enough.

    The ASD audio is not proof of anything. It’s a third-party report that consists of vagaries. A speaker in the audio even made the claim that “one of the negatives of the Internet is just freedom of speech, and people can go on there and say what they want.”

    Freedom of speech a negative? Hardly. The speaker at once was condemning freedom of speech and then taking advantage of his right to speak freely. It’s just another in a long line of tortured defenses of ASD Cash Generator. Some ASD members appear to want to sue anybody who dares offer an opinion contrary to their own, yet another reason why it’s a good thing that ASD is under scrutiny.

    Responsible commentary on ASD is exactly what the public needs to make informed decisions. There are reports online that ASD is taking in millions of dollars and that people are writing cashier’s checks for thousands and thousands of dollars and directing money toward the program. The public has a vested interest in the outcome.

    Investigation Mystery At ASD Cash Generator Remains

    Aug 4, 2008

    Today marks the fourth day a message that suggests federal investigators are looking into the business practices of ASD Cash Generator is posted on the ASD website.

    Meanwhile, ASD members continue to wait for information to flow into the ASD information vacuum. The message on the ASD site is ambiguous, meaning it can be interpreted in multiple ways . . .

    Web commentary on ASD Cash Generator continues to be active. Some of the commentary is rational and cautionary in nature. Some of it, however, is irrational. Politics and religion have entered the discussion in some places. This creates the impression that some ASD members are blind followers. It’s a nasty business problem to have because it undermines credibility.

    One ASD member thought it prudent to post an ASD Affiliate link in a third-party news story about ASD. The member also posted a link to another autosurfing opportunity in the same news story. It’s being sold as ambassadorship of the opportunities, as though all news accounts and opinion pieces on ASD that are contrary to ASD sales materials are inherently fatally flawed.

    Yesterday I noted that some ASD members were condemning free speech and freedom of the press, while reserving for themselves the same rights they’d deny others. If a writer suggests that people should be very cautious when considering ASD Cash Generator, some ASD members are quick to jump in with threats of ASD lawsuits and threats of litigation.

    One ASD member told me yesterday that I should be writing about Social Security. The thinking was that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and that anybody who writes about ASD is giving the government a pass at the expense of continued negative publicity for ASD . . .

    David Arnett has taken some more heat for his Tulsa Today reporting on ASD.

    It’s impossible to imagine that some people actually believe the best way to make their “value case” for ASD is to pick fights with people who buy ink by the barrel. There are threats of multimillion dollar lawsuits and rumors of multimillion dollar lawsuits. Meanwhile, the ASD Cash Generator website continues to beam the ambiguous message suggesting a federal investigation is under way.

    Hey, companies are entitled to have cheerleaders. When the cheerleading takes on a cult-like appearance, however, the public should ask some very tough questions.

    Right now some ASD devotees are making the Andy Bowdoin company look very bad indeed.

    Autosurfing Programs: Why The Feds And Investigators Have An Interest, And Why The Public Does, Too

    Aug. 4, 2008

    People seem very willing to throw money at autosurfs. The appeal is a high return on investment with minimal responsibility and virtually no work. Buy advertising credits, view ads by others, and get paid.

    Life is not that simple. Business is not that simple. It’s easy for well-intentioned people to believe that it is — at least at first. The lure of easy money is as old as commerce itself.

    Spend a few minutes peeling back layers of the autosurf onion if you’re contemplating joining one. Federal investigators, regulatory agencies and state attorneys general have an interest in monitoring the autosurf business. So does the public at large.

    People have “invested” millions of dollars in autosurf companies. Some of them have taken on a cult-like following. People are fascinated by the idea of “earning” money by viewing ads. Some people “invest” their life savings in autosurfs . . .

    At what price to individuals, families and society as a whole?

    The mere fact the technology to create an autosurf advertising program is readily available should be of great concern to law-enforcement agencies and regulatory authorities such as the SEC and FTC.

    Some people view autosurfs as a license to print money. News about a new autosurf program can help the program go viral. It’s easy to imagine teams of MLMers, for example, spreading the word about new autosurf programs to downline members. And it’s easy to imagine those downline members spreading the autosurf news to even more people.

    It is possible for millions of dollars to pour into an autosurf site. The SEC cautions against autosurfs. Accounts aren’t insured or protected. Beyond that, however, there are very good reasons for the government to investigate and monitor autosurfing. What if the autosurf “opportunity” is offshore and exists as a means of escaping taxation? Want to be part of that?

    And there is a “worst-case scenario,” too. Criminals and terrorists do exist in this world. They pay close attention to the U.S. culture and have access to technology that can be used in ruinous ways.

    Think it hasn’t occurred to people who are criminally or terroristically inclined that they could use autosurfs to fund enterprises that would bring harm to a great number of people? . . .

    But this theory doesn’t address the core problem with autosurfing: the classic Ponzi set-up. New money is being used to pay old members, a shell game. People are very susceptible to the argument that autosurfing is nothing more than a new advertising model and is in no way connected to the sale of securities.

    Prodigious, unfettered income streams are needed to make an autosurf “work” mathematically, if a percentage of revenue is returned to members in the form of a “rebate.” Some autosurfs advertise returns that are unsustainable on the face of the promise. Secondary revenue streams can’t be mythological or exist only in theory.

    Phrases such as “We’re working to create revenue streams,” for example, is one of the possible signposts for failure.

    Plenty of laws of math — as well of laws of the land — apply to insurance companies and investment companies. They have to demonstrate through public filings that they are able to absorb losses and continue as ongoing concerns.

    Many autosurf opportunities are do different than an insurance company that would advertise hurricane protection and not have the means actually to protect customers in the event a hurricane actually flattened their homes.

    There are good reasons for the government to scrutinize autosurfs and monitor them with the same sort of zealousness directed at insurance and securities firms. The public interest is huge.

    ASD Cash, Golden Panda Investigations Enter 5th Day

    Aug. 5, 2008

    . . . All is not well in the autosurf business. Some members of ASD even are trying to quash forum and Blog discussions by threatening lawsuits. They’re making themselves look silly, like members of a cult. It’s understandable that some people are trying to find a silver lining in all of this, but many of the ruminations are just clutching at straws.

    No U.S. Attorney or member of an investigative agency is going to appear at a lectern and give any autosurf program that pays a rebate or dividend a clean bill of health. To do so would be to endorse a business model that has the capacity to do great harm.

    Even if a program owner’s motives are entirely pure, it is inconceivable that the government is going to endorse the paid-to-surf model — tacitly or explicitly. Advertising is a cost center, not a profit center. The argument that autosurfs are the equivalent of Google Adwords or newspaper classified ads is a loser. One of the problems with autosurfs is that the “opportunity” is more valuable than the advertising itself.

    Here you have a captive audience, one that wasn’t lured by the chance to see exciting new products scroll across the page, but by the opportunity to become part of the members’ pool and earn payouts over and above the actual cost of advertising.

    Golden Panda Ad Builder yesterday was urging members to send in reports that they actually bought some products as a result of viewing the ads. This, presumably, will become fodder to show to investigators to demonstrate once and for all that the products themselves are the attraction and not the rebate opportunity.

    It is an argument that seems destined to fall on deaf ears — in other words, clutching at straws.

    Florida TV Station Reports Agents Executing Search Warrant At ASD Cash Generator In Quincy; Details Unclear

    Aug. 5, 2008

    WCTV is reporting that agents are executing a search warrant at ASD Cash Generator headquarters in Quincy, Florida.

    Details are sketchy. WCTV serves Tallahassee, Thomasville and Valdosta., and is a CBS affiliate.

    http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/26280459.html

  • BREAKING NEWS: Busby Served With RICO Complaint; Attorney Files Motion To Dismiss Racketeering Claims

    UPDATED 1:11 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby has been served with a racketeering lawsuit pending since Jan. 15. His attorney has filed a motion to dismiss him as a defendant, referring to him at least 120 times in the 46-page document as “Rev. Busby” and saying he has been a practicing Protestant minister in Georgia for 30 years.

    Busby, through his attorney, did not say why it had taken so long to respond to the lawsuit.

    Busby’s attorney — Jonathan W. Emord of Clifton, Va. — said claims against “Rev. Busby are precluded by the United States’ civil forfeiture action under the doctrine of res judicata.

    “Plaintiffs are barred from relitigating issues resolved against Busby on behalf of the United States and all residents, citizens, and taxpayers concerning matters adjudicated which are of public interest,” Emord argued.

    In essence, the argument holds that, since Busby already has submitted to the forfeiture of funds and the government is establishing a mechanism for refunds, the RICO litigants already have a remedy.

    “Plaintiffs admit that their case ‘grows out of the same events and transactions’ as the US Forfeiture action, Emord said.

    “The doctrine of res judicata bars Plaintiffs’ claims because Plaintiffs were in privity with the Government during the initial forfeiture proceeding,” he argued. “The Supreme Court has recognized the long settled axiom that a judgment for or against a governmental body in an action brought by the governmental body on behalf of the public is binding and conclusive on all residents, citizens, and taxpayers with respect to matters adjudicated which are of general and public interest.”

    The RICO lawsuit was brought by three members of AdSurfDaily. Busby, through his lawyer, argued that the plaintiffs were not members of Golden Panda. In addition, Busby argued that Golden Panda and ASD were separate companies.

    At the same time, Emord argued that the RICO claims should be barred because a motion Busby filed to relinquish his claim to the seized funds in the federal case was granted by Judge Rosemary Collyer and has the effect of  a “Final, Valid Judgment on the Merits.”

    The forfeiture will be perfected with the signing of another order, which Emord described as a “ministerial” action.

    “Without additional claimants to Golden Panda assets, nothing stands in the way of a forfeiture order following the Government’s prospective filing of a consent default motion,” Emord said. “On April 24, 2009, Government counsel represented that he will soon file such a motion.”

    Busby, through his attorney, also asked the judge to “demand” proof of an assertion that some of the money in Golden Panda accounts came from ASD.

    “The fact that ASD and [ASD President] Bowdoin did not provide money to Golden Panda accounts has been demonstrated by uncontroverted evidence during the forfeiture proceedings,” Emord said.

    He also asserted that all Golden Panda money had been turned over to the government.

    “Rev. Busby volitionally transferred to the U.S. Secret Service all outstanding checks, customer materials, and related Golden Panda assets he possessed before dissolving the corporation,” Emord said.

    The transfer came as a result of a negotiated settlement of the August forfeiture complaint filed by the government, which had “sought Rev. Busby’s assets that were derived from the operation of Golden Panda,” according to today’s motion on Busby’s behalf.

    “Negotiations culminated in a resolution on the disposition of Golden Panda assets,” Emord said. “Golden Panda agreed to forfeit permanently to the Government all monies received by Golden Panda from its customers.”

    Golden Panda was formally dissolved as a corporation on Sept. 24, according to records.

    Bob Guenther, de facto head of the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA) Trust, however, has said that not all Golden Panda money was turned over to the government.

    “Mr Busby, under pressure from me and the ASDMBA, returned over $1.5M in uncashed cashiers checks to the rightful owners,” Guenther said, in a March 26 Comment here.

    Some of the money came from active-duty and retired police officers in Texas and California, Guenther said.

    Emord also argued that RICO claims against Busby should be dismissed because the allegations were vague, failed to state claims and the plaintiffs lack standing.

    Andy Bowdoin is now the sole defendant in the RICO case not to have responded to the lawsuit.

    Read Clarence Busby’s motion to dismiss.

  • AdSurfDaily: Bowdoin The Envy Of Con Artists Worldwide

    andybowdoinbwASD President Andy Bowdoin demonstrated that any person with access to an autosurf script can put tens of millions of dollars on the table if he or she can meet two minimal conditions: the ability to recruit a few key MLM promoters, and the ability to be influenced by MLM promoters who know how to take the business to the next level by playing fast and loose with the truth.

    One of the reasons autosurfs continue to proliferate is because other con men can’t stand the thought that Bowdoin — himself a con man — relieved people of nearly $100 million in a matter of only weeks.

    “Con man envy” perhaps is Bowdoin’s greatest contribution to the autosurf trade. He is proof of the nefarious dream. Surfs have been popping up left and right since people learned Bowdoin had huge amounts of money stockpiled in banks (and in the form of uncashed checks) and had gone on a real-estate and vehicle-buying frenzy.

    Did you think they were popping up because the model was the product of genius and a utopian desire to let all people share in wealth created by a perfect machine?

    Bowdoin surrendered tens of millions of dollars to the government yesterday, demonstrating the machine is not perfect and no healthy ingenuity is involved. Bowdoin, for instance, spent $500,000 to place a deposit so ASD could process credit-card transactions from Antigua. He didn’t seek members’ approval; he simply did it, thus placing his enterprise in even greater danger of collapse. Members also paid for the properties, vehicles and toys he or insiders bought — each one of them weighting down the Ponzi even more.

    Andy, who deposited corporate funds into personal accounts over which he had sole signatory authority, had new houses and new cars, places to go and people to meet. He’d finally arrived at age 74, and some people even were happy to trade wages for the earning power of all those “ad packs,” which became a new form of currency in Quincy and elsewhere.

    And Bowdoin’s donation of 100,000 “ad packs” to a charity? That also weighted down the Ponzi, putting even more stress on members. The donation alone created a $365,000 liability for ASD at the advertised pay-out rates, even more over time with compounding.

    Any volunteer or employee who’d accept “ad packs” instead of cash was a friend to Bowdoin, who simply could transfer the responsibility to pay for the “ad packs” and their earning power to members.

    Still think ASD had a prayer of surviving?

    Bowdoin also was spending money like a sailor who’d been at sea for six months and suddenly, excitedly, unexpectedly found himself in possession of a big paycheck on shore in the Bright City.  Lots of sailors spend money not because they need to, but because they can. Andy had become a big man in Quincy: Realtors and auto dealers couldn’t wait to see him or members of his family.

    Some of the new surfs have ties to ASD, either directly or through sentiment. We know this because some of the people promoting the new enterprises traded on ASD’s pain to create buzz for the upstarts.

    Cynical does not even begin to describe it.

    A “Poor Andy” theme has been an early selling point in promotions. Part of it is because folks with big downlines don’t want to get sued by people they brought into the program, and they don’t want to have their “profits” disgorged by the government or a receiver it appoints. By casting Bowdoin as a victim of a foundationally corrupt government, promoters hope to keep the heat off themselves while launching new enterprises that essentially are ASD packaged with different words.

    ASD was a Ponzi; the new autosurfs soon will become Ponzis, if they’re not already Ponzis. “Rebates aren’t guaranteed” is a Ponzi signature, a disclaimer the companies use on the theory it will insulate them from claims. It didn’t work for ASD; it won’t work for the new companies.

    Why? Because it’s the equivalent of saying that bank-robbery laws don’t apply to you simply because you make a formal statement that bank-robbery laws don’t apply to you. To the Ponzi purveyor, however, the words themselves are self-validating. We aren’t a Ponzi because rebates aren’t guaranteed. They also serve the secondary purpose of sounding reasonable, putting the onus on you to recognize you’re granting the operator license to keep your money and become rich when the Ponzi math becomes too inconvenient.

    Virtually all Ponzis pay in the early stages; it’s what keeps money flowing into the system. But “rebates aren’t guaranteed” is the “out” — one that can be exercised at any point in time and for any reason, including “We just want to keep the money now.”

    Shame on prosecutors for not understanding “rebates aren’t guaranteed” are the magical words that make the enterprise wholesome, a business of which society can be proud  — even as family members are shunned and lose the esteem and respect of other family members for introducing them to such a wholesome pursuit.

    There’s a good chance your friendly autosurf promoter is in deep trouble with his or her own family for ASD and Golden Panda losses and the grief associated with a court battle –and that the promoter is selling the new autosurf in a bid to recover losses and get back in the good graces of people they love.

    And there also is a chance the promoter is trying to recover personal losses by selling yet another autosurf.

    The Bowdoin Roadmap

    By getting caught, Bowdoin accidentally provided a roadmap on how not to get caught — at least not right away. Few autosurf promoters these days would dare claim that Google endorsed the enterprise after entering into a “partnership.” Fewer yet would dare claim that the President of the United States had given the autosurf operator  his stamp of approval at a White House dinner.

    There is shorthand for this: President = Secret Service, and Secret Service = No Stone Unturned.  Thus — at least temporarily — ends the ridiculous notion that the President is on board the autosurf ship. It was nothing more than a lie that achieved virality. The Google lie also went viral.

    And the rallies, the ones at which faithful volunteers collected members’ money and paperwork on camera and laid it neatly in plastic baskets? Thanks to Bowdoin, new owners will put the lid on rallies and the collection of money by volunteers — customers, after all, might have trouble reconciling why a professional advertising company is using volunteers to round up the loot. (The irony of placing money in plastic baskets in a case what went on to become a money-laundering prosecution is almost too much to contemplate.)

    But don’t rest easy, even as you’re reverse-engineering Bowdoin’s mistakes to make sure your operation doesn’t repeat them and get on the Feds’ radar screens.

    Here’s how the new autosurf operators will get caught, despite what they’ve learned from Bowdoin’s experience and despite reportedly moving to “offshore” locations such as Panama and Uruguay:

    • The word “offshore” itself will signal investigators that the new enterprise studied the ASD case and determined one of ASD’s core “weaknesses” was its domestic location. Some people already are bragging about this. Early promoters of “offshore” surf sites have claimed the sites provide protection from the SEC, the IRS and state attorneys general. Some of these people are the same people who promoted Google “partnerships” and White House ties.
    • A hiccup by a payment processor or an international probe of payment processors could neuter autosurfs and leave tens of thousands of participants holding the bag. There is a distinct possibility that governments worldwide will crack down on processors that do business with autosurfs. In the post-Bernard Madoff Ponzi era — and with the global economy shedding jobs as wealth continues to evaporate — nations will take a closer look at the international wire business.
    • Credit-card issuers and banks will more closely monitor transactions. They’re tired of posting hundreds of billions of dollars of losses. Shareholders will demand additional controls and regulation.
    • Some autosurf promoters are trading so heavily on government resentment that it has become a signature of Ponzi fraud. Even at this moment, promoters are trying to build your resentment so you’ll give them more money. They’ll tell you that the government is antibusiness, anti-little guy, antiwealth, and they’ll point to the $700 billion U.S. corporate bailout and employ other populist rhetoric to make you believe that real patriots play the autosurf game. The loudness, coupled with the brazen conduct of promoters, will put them squarely in the sights of regulators and prosecutors.
    • The U.S. government is well aware that autosurfs exist, but agencies lack the money to police them individually. One possible approach is to work with domestic and international agencies to engineer a sting operation. Such an approach has political support because voters are tired of reading about Ponzi schemes and how wealth is being depleted by people with smiles on their faces and access to a computer. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that the government will work proactively with a TV network to record the actual planning and final execution of the sting. The networks live for this kind of thing, and the public loves to see it. (One new autosurf already is using a reference to the NBC television network to sanitize the opportunity, an act as reckless as claiming the President is your buddy when he is not. The shorthand for the pitch is Autosurf = NBC, an utterly preposterous claim. NBC doesn’t pay viewers, and NBC doesn’t tell its advertisers that they’ll get back 125 percent of their ad spend for viewing ads on NBC for a few minutes a day.)
    • Bernard Madoff fallout is having a profound effect on individuals and the government. Madoff fallout alone is bad news for Ponzi operators. The word is positively nuclear. People now understand what a Ponzi scheme is and the dangers of such schemes because they can put a face to it.
    • Autosurf operators will not be able to control the behavior of the most unscrupulous promoters, an age-old song. Despite ASD headlines — despite Madoff headlines — the seamy underbelly of this underground business once again will emerge.

    The traditional autosurf pattern already is in play at the up-and-coming sites. Have you noticed roll-outs being called “Phase One” and the promises that more and more good things will follow?

    And, hey, no sense insulting you by referring to you as a plain member. Puff out your chest and proudly wear the new title of “account executive” or “VIP.” Feel good about yourself knowing your friendly promoter thinks so highly of you.

    Just be ready to feel the scorn of your family and friends — and perhaps even see yourself on TV — when the post-Bowdoin breed of autosurfs meets its inevitable fate.

    In any event, you’ll still have the “rebates aren’t guaranteed” defense” to make you feel better.