Tag: Judge Christine Odell Cook Miller

  • AdSurfDaily Figure Christian Oesch Named Defendant In Lawsuit Filed By Fannie Mae; Utah Man Calls Himself ‘Fiction & Transmitting Utility’ In Response To Complaint

    From pleadings by Christian Oesch in a lawsuit filed against him in Utah by Fannie Mae. (Redaction/emphasis by PP Blog.)

    EDITOR’S NOTE: In July 2010, Christian Oesch of Utah, and Kenneth Wayne Leaming of Spanaway, Wash., sought to sue the United States — apparently for the staggering sum of more than $29 trillion — for its actions in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi forfeiture case brought by the U.S. Secret Service in August 2008. The Secret Service described ASD as a “criminal enterprise” operated by Andy Bowdoin, a 77-year-old recidivist con man.

    ASD had gathered at least $110 million from tiny Quincy, Fla., by offering outsize investment returns of 1 percent a day, the Secret Service alleged. It has been known since the earliest months of the ASD case that the business had ties to so-called “sovereign citizens.”

    One of the calling cards of the “sovereign citizen movement” is what has been described as “paper terrorism”: an effort to clog the courts with baseless or vexatious litigation and legal pleadings designed to tie the hands of public servants and/or courtroom opponents

    Leaming, a 56-year-old purported “sovereign citizen,” was arrested by an FBI terrorism task force in November 2011 on charges of filing false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD case. A superseding indictment was returned against Leaming earlier this year. He remains jailed at a federal detention facility near Seattle. A September trial date for Leaming has been set in federal court in Washington state, the venue from which he allegedly filed the false liens and committed other crimes such as harboring fugitives and possessing firearms as a convicted felon.

    Judge Christine Odell Cook Miller of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ultimately dismissed the lawsuit brought by Oesch and Leaming, saying in December 2010 that the “complaint deteriorates into rambling.” Earlier — in July 2009 — Oesch had sought to intervene in the ASD case and set aside the forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars in the personal bank accounts of Andy Bowdoin. Like Leaming, Bowdoin is scheduled to go on trial in September. Bowdoin’s trial will be conducted in the District of Columbia.

    Oesch, known to have business ties to Leaming, has not been accused of wrongdoing in the ASD case.

    U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer of the District of Columbia — later allegedly targeted by Leaming with false liens — denied standing to Oesch and numerous other pro se litigants in the ASD case.

    The ASD case has been marked by strangeness, including pro se court filings that accused Collyer of treason and operating a “Kangaroo Court.” Oesch accused Collyer of interfering with commerce, arguing that the judge and federal prosecutors also were guilty of “Anti-Trust Violations” and “Criminal RICO” violations.

    That same type of language now is being used by Oesch in his responses to a January 2012 lawsuit in Utah in which he was named a defendant by mortgage giant Fannie Mae . . .

    Using the same street address in Midvale, Utah, that appears in court filings in the civil-forfeiture portion of the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case, ASD figure Christian Oesch curiously declared himself a “Fiction & Transmitting Utility” in his response to a lawsuit in which he was named a defendant by the Federal National Mortgage Association, the PP Blog has learned.

    The U.S. mortgage giant commonly known as Fannie Mae initially sued Oesch, Becky Oesch, Michael A. King and two alleged “Doe” occupants of a home on South Wayside Drive in Sandy, Utah, in January 2012. The complaint was removed to federal court in Salt Lake City in February, but now has been kicked back to Utah state court, according to court dockets.

    Oesch, who once claimed that U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer and other public officials involved in the ASD case were guilty of racketeering and antitrust violations, now has essentially accused Fannie Mae of the same thing.

    “Securitization is illegal under US legislation — primarily because it is fraudulent and causes specific violations of R.I.C.O., usury, Antitrust and bankruptcy laws,” Oesch argued.

    At issue in the case is a dispute over the ownership of the Sandy home. King was listed as the owner of the home in a September 2011 notice of trustee’s sale for the property. Fannie Mae said in court filings that it purchased the home at the September trustee’s sale and that “Defendants have failed to vacate and yield possession of the Subject Property” and hold it in “unlawful detainer.”

    Oesch went on to argue that “US authorities from the highest level downwards, financial institutions, intermediaries, Intelligence Power operatives and others are gearing up for what they doubtless hope will be intensified racketeering and trading activity with (corrupt) foreign counterparties.

    “This behavior is being fine-tuned ‘as we speak’ . . .” Oesch ventured.

    He went on to advance a conspiracy theory that involved the “US Treasury, the White House, the US State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency and its subsidiaries such as the lethal Office of Naval Intelligence . . .”

    ASD is not referenced in the Utah complaint against Oesch and the others. Filings suggest, however, that Oesch lived at one time in the Sandy house that is the center of the case. Fannie Mae is seeking treble damages for an alleged failure of the defendants to vacate the property when requested.

     

  • UPDATE: ‘No Comment’ On Kenneth Wayne Leaming Arrest From AdSurfDaily Prosecutors; Name Of Leaming’s Washington State Firm Appears In FBI Affidavit, Congressional Record — And ASD-Related Email

    Purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming remains jailed near Seattle a week after his arrest on charges of filing bogus liens against five public officials involved in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case in the District of Columbia, according to prison records.

    Leaming, 55, was arrested in Spanaway, Wash., on Nov. 22. He was charged with retaliating against a Federal judge or Federal law enforcement officer by false claim or slander of title, amid allegations he filed false liens against a federal judge, a former U.S. Attorney, a former assistant U.S. Attorney, a current assistant U.S. Attorney and an active-duty special agent of the U.S. Secret Service.

    The office of U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. in the District of Columbia — the venue from which the ASD case was brought  in August 2008 — declined to comment yesterday on Leaming’s arrest on the other side of the country.

    “Because our office is not handling this particular case, we have no comment on this particular matter,” Machen’s office said.

    The office of U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan of the Western District of Washington is supervising the Leaming prosecution. An FBI affidavit filed in the case last week references the name of American-International Business Law Inc., a Spanaway company associated with Leaming.

    The company’s name also is referenced in the April 8, 2011, Congressional Record as the presenter of a “petition . . .  relative to a claim against the United States of America.” (Story here.)

    Whether the firm filed a claim against the United States through the U.S. Congress for a dollar sum is not known.

    Leaming and ASD member Christian Oesch unsuccessfully sought to sue the United States last year in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, apparently seeking the staggering sum of more than $29 TRILLION — more than twice the U.S. Gross Domestic Product in 2009.

    Meanwhile, American-International’s name appeared in a November 2010 email received by some members of ASD. (Story here.)

    Pasted into the November 2010 email was a purported “legal opinion” by a person described as “Keny” of “AMERICAN-International Business Law inc. (sic).”

    “Keny” is a Leaming nickname. Advertisements describing Leaming as an attorney appeared online last year, but Leaming appears to have no law degree. Some ASD members, however, appear to have turned to him for legal advice.

    When Leaming was arrested last week, he was found in the company of two federal fugitives from Arkansas, Durkan’s office said last week. The fugitives, who were indicted in February 2011 amid allegations they hatched a home-business scheme involving stuffing envelopes, were identified as Timothy Shawn Donavan and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen.

    Donavan, 63, and Henningsen, 67, made an appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Richard Creatura in Tacoma yesterday, according to records. They remain in custody at the Sea Tac Federal Detention Center near Seattle, according to records.

    Leaming is being held at the same facility.

    A grand jury in the Western District of Arkansas returned mail-fraud indictments against Donavan and Henningsen on Feb. 24. The envelope-stuffing scheme, according to the indictment, was “created solely to defraud persons seeking home-based employment” and operated through entities known as Trial Head Options Inc. and Premier Solutions in Van Buren, Ark.

    When the U.S. Court of Federal Claims dismissed the lawsuit brought by Leaming and Oesch last year, Judge Christine Odell Cook Miller noted that their “challenge took the form of presenting claims issued by Tina M. Hall, a notary public in the State of Washington . . .”

    Hall’s name appears on the court docket in the ASD case on Jan. 27, 2010, and Feb. 12, 2010 — with entries of “Leave to file denied” by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer, whom the FBI now says was one of the targets of Leaming’s bogus liens. Hall’s license later was revoked by the state of Washington.

    Read a story on Leaming’s arrest published last night on the website of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

    Find additional “Recommended Reading” links in this Oct. 25 PP Blog post.

     

  • Document Linked To Company Associated With AdSurfDaily Figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming Is Referenced In Congressional Record As ‘Claim Against The United States Of America’

    Screen shot from the Congessional Record of April 8, 2011. (Also see image and link to full-scale PDF below.)

    UPDATED 6:55 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A garden-variety, lawful protest commonly received in mailrooms within the halls of power? A self-serving, reality-inverting tale of the civil-forfeiture case against the proceeds of an alleged $110 million autosurf Ponzi scheme? A backdoor bid to end-run rulings made by the U.S. Judiciary and hand an invoice to the U.S. Congress for purported damages and financial penalties against public officials sprouting from the government’s alleged mishandling of the ASD case?

    The staff of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, did not immediately respond to a PP Blog request for comment this afternoon on a document apparently tabled by the panel after it was received in April after having been submitted by American-International Business Law Inc.

    AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming, a purported “sovereign citizen,” is listed in Washington state records (as “Kenneth Wayne”) as the chairman and president of American-International Business Law Inc. The firm’s name appears in the Congressional Record of April 8 as the presenter of a “petition . . .  relative to a claim against the United States of America.”

    Among other things, Leaming, who once was convicted of piloting an airplane without a license,  also was accused of practicing law without a license. He has purported to be a specialist in admiralty law — and has advertised the availability of a lower rate for “prepaid” clients.

    Details about the April document were not provided in the Congressional Record entry, and Leahy’s committee staff was unable to provide details immediately. The Blog asked the staff staff to provide a copy of the claim and, if possible, forward it to the Blog. Whether the staff will be able to accommodate the request was not immediately clear.

    Leaming and ASD member Christian Oesch unsuccessfully sought to sue the United States last year in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, apparently seeking the staggering sum of more than $29 TRILLION — more than twice the U.S. Gross Domestic Product in 2009.

    Their lawsuit targeted federal employees who had a role in the civil-forfeiture case filed against tens of millions of dollars alleged to be the proceeds of a massive Ponzi scheme conducted by Florida-based ASD. About $65.8 million was seized by the U.S. Secret Service from the personal bank accounts of ASD President Andy Bowdoin, and federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia scored a clean sweep in forfeiture-related litigation. The government now holds title to about $80 million seized from ASD-related bank accounts.

    The lawsuit came in the form of purported “Certificates of Default” issued against public officials on Feb. 16, 2010, by Tina M. Hall, a notary public with ties to Leaming.

    Hall’s notary license was revoked by the state of Washington in October 2010, about three months after Leaming and Oesch filed their lawsuit. The PP Blog reported yesterday that the license of Kathryn E. Aschlea, a second notary with a tie to Leaming and American-International Business Law Inc., also had her license revoked by the state of Washington.

    When Judge Christine Odell Cook Miller dismissed the Leaming/Oesch lawsuit in December 2010, she noted that the complaint included a claim by Hall that the officials had failed to respond to “claims in admiralty.”

    “At this point the complaint deteriorates into rambling,” the judge wrote  in her dismissal order.

    Whether the Judiciary Committee received a similar rambling narrative from Leaming and Oesch and one or more notaries public is unclear.

    See February 2009 story about ASD-related letter-writing campaign to Sen. Leahy by ASD figure “Professor” Patrick Moriarty. See follow-up editorial by PP Blog. Read May 2009 “Poof Penalty” story. Click here to read a Congressional Record PDF that includes the American-International Business Law Inc. reference.

  • BULLETIN: Court Dismisses Bizarre, ASD-Connected Lawsuit Filed By Leaming, Oesch; ‘Complaint Deteriorates Into Rambling,’ Judge Says

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming, also known as "Kenneth Wayne."

    BULLETIN: A bizarre lawsuit filed against the U.S. government by AdSurfDaily figures Kenneth Wayne Leaming and Christian Oesch has been dismissed.

    In dismissing the complaint, Judge Christine Odell Cook Miller of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims agreed with the government’s contention that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the claim.

    The judge described the complaint by Leaming, Oesch and an affiliated company known as MYHUB GROUP LLC as a bid to argue about “an unlawful taking of the forfeited property” in the ASD case, which was heard in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

    Meanwhile, the judge ruled that MYHUB GROUP inappropriately sought to act as its own attorney.

    Corporations are required to have professional counsel to appear in court, the judge ruled.

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin suffered a similar setback last year when he tried to represent ASD pro se in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

    Leaming and Oesch appear to have tried to use the U.S. Court of Federal Claims as an appeals court for U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, while apparently seeking the staggering sum of $29 trillion from a federal judge, three federal prosecutors and a U.S. Secret Service agent involved in the ASD Ponzi scheme forfeiture case.

    “Plaintiffs’ challenge took the form of presenting claims issued by Tina M. Hall, a notary public in the State of Washington to officials associated with the forfeitures,” Cook Miller noted in the order of dismissal.  “Ms. Hall issued ‘Certificates of Default  on February 16, 2010, against these government officials for failure to respond to plaintiffs’ claims ‘in admiralty.’ At this point the complaint deteriorates into rambling.”

    The judge also barred Leaming and Oesch from seeking sanctions against the government.

    “As an initial matter, this court notes that, during the course of briefing on defendant’s motion, defense counsel has suffered the opprobrium of plaintiffs’ aspersions and disparagement, including charges of unethical practices,” Cook Miller said in the ruling. “Defendant charitably characterizes this argument as hyperbole . . . and the court will lay the matter to rest by denying any request for sanctions that plaintiffs may be making.”

    Hall’s notary license was revoked by the state of Washington in October. Records show that she has notarized other bizarre claims on Leaming’s behalf, including a claim against a Franciscan hospital for more than $9 billion.

    See earlier story.