NOTE TO READERS: Some of the evidence federal prosecutors have in the Ponzi scheme case against AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin is coming into clearer focus. The PP Blog expects to publish a report within the next couple of hours.
Our report is based on an affidavit originally filed under seal by the U.S. Secret Service in February 2009, during a time in which some ASD members were promoting a purported “offshore” autosurf known as AdViewGlobal — even after the August 2008 seizure of tens of millions of dollars from Bowdoin’s bank accounts amid wire-fraud and securities allegations.
The affidavit builds on earlier affidavits and paints a picture of a worried Bowdoin at the helm of ASD — and of astonishing corruption and deceit within ASD leading up to the summertime seizure nearly three years ago.
Instead of pulling the plug on his crime before investors were ruined, Bowdoin ramped up the criminality and sought to sanitize it, going so far as to trade falsely on the name of the President of the United States and permit others to do so, according to the Secret Service affidavit.
Much of the information in the affidavit never before has been published, although it was previously known that Bowdoin allegedly tried to tie ASD to the White House to disarm skeptical investors and keep the firm’s money wheel greased.
Here is a verbatim snippet from the affidavit:
“Hand-written notes that Bowdoin prepared in about December 2006 (which were recovered in August 2008, during a search warrant at Bowdoin’s home) show his and his silent partner’s awareness of the risks of the auto-surf program they were conducting. Bowdoin’s notes indicate that he told his silent partner that the partner should have made him better aware of those risks ‘knowing regulators were on the prowl for surfing sites.’”
Translation: Bowdoin knew at least 18 months prior to his June 2008 trip to Washington to receive the “Medal of Distinction” that ASD was playing with fire.
The “medal” was not a presidential acknowledgment of Bowdoin’s business acumen. Rather, it was a “marketing” memento from the National Republican Congressional Committee, according to the affidavit.
And the affidavit also spells out other things Bowdoin allegedly knew while he was touting Presidential recognition of his business career. (We’ll write about those things in the upcoming story.)
The February 2009 affidavit was prepared in part to seize more than $413,000 held in the bank accounts of certain ASD members from Iowa — and also to seize more than $310,000 in the bank accounts of two other ASD members: one from Florida, the other from Missouri.
At least $10,510 of the amount the government moved to seize was traceable to E-Bullion, according to the affidavit.
E-Bullion is a shuttered California money-services business whose operator, James Fayed, was convicted last month of ordering the murder of his estranged wife, Pamela Fayed, a potential witness against him.
Fayed faces the prospect of execution for the murder. The jury recommended the death penalty earlier this month. Formal sentencing is scheduled for September.
Get ready for some prosecutorial bombshells in the ASD case . . .
Members of the purported MPB Today “grocery” program now are touting company President Gary Calhoun as 2003’s “Businessman of the Year” in promotional news releases and articles online.
The company itself is doing the same thing on its website, explaining that Calhoun “was chosen as ‘Outstanding Young Men (sic) in America 1982’ . . . and in 2003 was selected as ‘Businessman of the Year’ by the National Republican Congressional Committee’s [NRCC] Business Advisory Council.”
None of the promos explains how one obtains either award. Regardless, the promos plant the seed that the awards are important.
Various references to the NRCC “Businessman of the Year” award appear online. The award is linked to Republican fund-raising, although it is unclear if all people who’ve claimed the award actually have contributed funds. It was not immediately clear if Calhoun donated money to NRCC in either his name or the name of a company to receive the award in 2003.
AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin, accused of operating a Ponzi scheme that gathered at least $110 million and making NRCC donations with Ponzi proceeds, claimed a similar award known as the “Medal of Distinction.” Like the “Businessman of the Year” award, the “Medal of Distinction” is doled out by NRCC.
The award can be obtained for writing a check for what amounts to the purchase of banquet tickets.
MPB Today claims that members who pay $200 to the MLM company one time can receive free groceries for life. Promoters have claimed that liars and thieves exist within MPB Today, but that prospects nevertheless should join the company.
At least one bank whose name has appeared in MPB Today promotions is operating under an FDIC consent agreement, according to federal records. MPB Today purports to have tens of thousands of members while enjoying an “unprecedented expansion.” Other promos show that MPB Today also has a relationship with a second bank.
Calhoun was the subject of a 2006 inquiry by the Food and Drug Administration, amid allegations he was selling a product that purported to treat multiple diseases, including “Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, axonal and other neuropathies, Down’s and other syndromes.”
The MPB Today program has been hawked on Internet boards associated with Ponzi schemes. The program has been targeted at senior citizens, foreclosure subjects, Food Stamp recipients, people of faith, college students and victims of the ASD Ponzi scheme.
Promoters of MPB Today have been linked to bizarre sales presentations, including one in which President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were depicted as Nazis. One script for an MPB Today promo suggested the Obamas aspired to eat dog food and table scraps left by the family pet and emerge from the ranks of welfare recipients.
“Hmm, I should prolly call my Food Stamp worker now that I’ve joined MPB,” the script read in part, depicting the First Family as welfare recipients. It also used the words “monkeys” and “Brown-noser” in the context of the Obama presidency.
Despite the claim that Calhoun was a top businessman, MPB Today has not issued a news release to distance itself from the bizarre promotion that pilloried the Obamas and Clinton, who was depicted as a drunken Nazi-In-Chief who received a left-handed salute from Obama and a greeting of “Heil Hitlary.”
Michelle Obama was depicted in the ad as having been knocked out by Clinton a short time after the First Lady experienced an embarrassing gas attack in the Oval Office after sampling beans at a Sam’s Club store.
MPB Today has not publicly disclaimed and disassociated itself from the ad, even though some members have insisted the firm is associated with Walmart and routinely have used Walmart’s intellectual property in sales promos. Hillary Clinton was the first woman to serve on Walmart’s board of directors.
The company removed an image of a Walmart store from its website in September. It also removed images of business tycoons Donald Trump and Warren Buffet. Regardless, MPB today promoters continue to use the images in sales promotions, giving rise to questions about whether the company has come into possession of money tainted by serial deceptions.
Agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission say it is not uncommon for fraudsters to use the names of famous people and entities when promoting scams. In September, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it was investigating certain claims about the MPB Today program.
MPB Today now appears to refer to Walmart as a “national grocery retailer.”
Other promos from MPB Today have asked members to lay down their “pipe bombs” when contemplating doing business with Walmart. Still other promos have insisted that MPB Today is associated with the federal Food Stamp program.
MPB Today now references the Food Stamp program on its website — in the context of Calhoun emerging from the ranks of Food Stamp recipients after lean times passed.
“Gary has experienced his share of failures as well,” the site notes. “There’s a 2-picture frame on the wall in his office. In one of the picture openings, it states, ‘Remember Where God Brought You From” and in the other opening . . . his old Food Stamp card.
“And as many successful business people have stated, it was adversity and failure that caused them to rise,” the site notes. “Gary firmly believes this. ‘Losing it all then getting up and going again brings a resolve like nothing else.
“I really believe the success we are experiencing today is a direct result of the adversity I’ve been through[,]” Gary says.
The NRCC “Businessman of the Year” award and the “Medal of Distinction” have been linked to scandals and bids to create legitimacy by establishing purported ties to prominent politicians.
ASD members, for example, claimed that Bowdoin had received an important award for business achievement from the President of the United States. Meanwhile, Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, convicted of financing terror and fleecing participants in an investment scheme, also appears to have claimed to be a person whose counsel the Republican party valued.
Earlier this month, the CFTC charged Ryan A. Nassbridges with operating a precious-metals scheme. A website registered in the name of Nassbridge’s wife purports that he was the recipient of both the “Medal of Distinction” and the “Businessman of the Year” award.
UPDATED 2:26 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A purported transcript of remarks in March 2007 by AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin paints a picture of a startup company with serious problems Bowdoin tried to solve by offering “stock” in the firm.
The “minimum purchase” of the stock was set at “$10,000,” and the the money would be used to help the company get back on its feet, according to the transcript, which was dated March 12, 2007, and posted in the asamonitor forum.
ASD had been operating only a few months at the time of Bowdoin’s remarks and already was in over its head, according to the purported transcript and other records.
AdSurfDaily also would undergo a name change to “AdSalesDaily,” according to the transcript.
Just two weeks earlier — on Feb. 27, 2007 — the Federal Election Commission recorded a $250 donation from “Mr. T. Bowdoin” in the name of “AdSalesDaily Inc.” The FEC recorded another $250 donation from “Mr. T. Bowdoin” in the name of “AdSalesDaily Inc.” on March 27, 2007, two weeks after the purported stock offering.
Screen shot of Federal Election Commission record showing 'Mr. T. Bowdoin' was the 'owner' of 'Adsalesdaily, Inc' and made a political donation under that name in 2007.
Both donations were targeted to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and used an address — 13 S. Calhoun Street, Quincy, FL 32351 — federal prosecutors later said was bogus.
Although the donations listed Bowdoin as the “owner” of AdSalesDaily Inc., the corporation appears not to have been registered in Florida. Records in Georgia list “Ad Sales Daily, Inc.” as a corporation that initially was registered in Georgia May 8, 2007, more than two months after Bowdoin identified himself as the owner in federal campaign records.
The Georgia entity does not list Bowdoin as an owner, officer or filer for the corporation — or as a person involved in any capacity. Rather, “Ad Sales Daily, Inc.” is listed as a Delaware foreign corporation, with J. Heardy Myers listed as the corporate filer and Myers (of Marietta, Ga.) and Otis Whitcomb (also of Marietta) listed as officers.
AdSalesDaily Inc. was incorporated in Delaware on March 22, 2007, according to filings.
In posts from March 2, 2007 at a forum known as stacontact.myfastforum.org, Myers is referred to as “Executive Vice President” and “Chief Information Technology Officer” of Ad Sales Daily Inc., with Bowdoin listed as “president.” A “write-up” that resembled a news release on Bowdoin and Myers was published in the forum.
Within the same thread later in the month, however, a poster said Myers had resigned as executive vice president to “focus on getting the other website completed. He will continue to be a member of the President’s Circle.”
A person who identified himself as a member of an ASD downline group known as “oneteam” started the forum thread. “oneteam” used free hosting at homestead.com to promote ASD. At one time, “oneteam” displayed an ad that said ASD deposits were insured by the FDIC and that ASD provided “shelter” from the SEC and the FTC.
On March 22, 2007, a forum poster quoted Bowdoin as saying, “We should have all the stock money coming in this week.”
On July 17, 2008, a Blog known as “Otitis’s Weblog” (sic) included a denial that Ad Sales Daily Inc. had been affiliated with Bowdoin, saying “Any Bowdin (sic) has made false public statements in late 2006 to beginning 2007, that he had a company named Ad Sales Daily. Andy Bowdin (sic) has never done business as Ad Sales Daily, or incorporated this name or filed for a business license in Florida where he resides.”
The denial on “Otitis’s Weblog” appears to be the only post on the Blog.
Why Bowdoin would claim to own a company he did not own — and make two campaign donations recorded by the FEC in the name of AdSalesDaily Inc. — is unclear. The federal filings recorded in February and March 2007 specifically list Bowdoin as the “owner” of AdSalesDaily Inc. (See the screen shot above of the February 2007 FEC record.)
Bowdoin, according to the transcript at asamonitor, had been in Atlanta in March 2007 to get “input” from “leaders” on the company’s problems. It is unclear if Bowdoin actually sold any stock in ASD. There does not appear to have been any public filings concerning an offering, although an offering could have been conducted privately.
“Hi Folks,” the transcript began. “My name is Andy Bowdoin, President of AdSurfDaily. We are not having an opportunity call tonight, but it will be an update call instead.
“I am in Atlanta Georgia tonight and I have been up here this afternoon meeting with some of our leaders getting some input on some of the issues we have,” Bowdoin continued, according to the transcript.
The transcript did not identify the leaders.
“We have known that we should have shut down the site for a long time, because of the issues we continually have with the site, but we have been putting band aids on it to keep it going until the new site was ready,” Bowdoin said, according to the transcript. “We have been using a lot of our programmers time to repair it and keep it going. That is expensive and wasting money and prolonging the development of our new site. But now the existing AdSurfDaily site is beyond repair.”
Script problems “drained” money from ASD, according to the transcript.
“[T]he mathematical formula that governs the payouts are wrong,” Bowdoin was quoted as saying in the transcript. “The site has been paying out 63%, 67% and 72% instead of the normal 60%. This has drained the money we had for pay outs. Therefore all pay outs are on hold at this time.”
Bowdoin did not say if people who benefited from extra payout amounts were asked to return the money, according to the transcript. Instead, ASD stopped payouts altogether.
“We have frozen all accounts,” Bowdoin said, according to the transcript. “We have disabled the ability to make upgrades and purchase new ads. You can still view ads and earn credits to show your site. You can still look at you history and referral page. You can print out your information in your History page and Referral page. We will use this information to make everyone whole when we launch the new site. Our goal is to launch the new site during the month of May and make everyone profitable.”
Bowdoin next pitched a stock offering, according to the transcript (emphasis added).
“We will be selling stock in the new corporation AdSalesDaily to finish paying for the development of the new site and make the current payouts. The minimum purchase for the stock is $10,000. We are looking for people who share our vision, and are willing to invest toward the continued development and completion of the new AdSalesDaily website. If you are interested in purchasing some of the stock or if you know someone that might be interested in listening to the stock presentation, call the home office at 850-627-2206.”
The transcript and political donations in the name of AdSalesDaily may mean that ASD operated under three different names — not just two — between October 2006 and August 2008, the month certain assets tied to the firm were seized by the U.S. Secret Service. The assets were seized when ASD was operating as ASD Cash Generator.
A second forfeiture complaint filed in December 2008 against assets tied to ASD cites at least one unidentified “silent partner.” The December complaint references a purported theft of $1 million from ASD at the hands of “Russian” hackers, alleging that no police report ever was filed despite the loss of a magnificent sum.
The complaint describes the transition from the name AdSurfDaily to ASD Cash Generator. It does not reference “AdSalesDaily,” but federal records show that Bowdoin gave two campaign donations in that name.
“Mr. Bowdoin told some individuals that he had to stop operating the program over the Internet as AdSurfDaily after one or more Russians hacked into his program and caused the ASD operation to issue approximately $1 million to one or more Russians,†prosecutors said.
Bowdoin explained the money was taken “before [he] discovered that the Russians had not paid any money to ASD to secure for themselves a portion of its revenue stream (as so-called ‘rebates’),†prosecutors said.
The December complaint also alleges that Bowdoin blamed the company’s problems on “cash reserves that had been drained because surfing commissions were overpaid” — a possible reference to Bowdoin’s remarks in the March 2007 transcript about script problems.
But Bowdoin and ASD insiders, according to the December complaint, arranged for ASD money to be stolen.
“Mr. Bowdoin and associates issued ad packages to friends and family (who paid nothing for the ad packages) as free investment, and compensation programs,” prosecutors said. “Mr. Bowdoin also gave free ad packages to a son and former daughter-in-law, by which they pulled funds out of ASD without paying any money to ASD. In his son’s case, he arranged for another employee to ‘surf’ the program in order to qualify for a share of the daily rebates.”
Select individuals “were able to pull out considerable funds from the so-called rebate program even though in many cases they put little, if any, of their own money into the scheme,†prosecutors said.
“For example, a former employee took over $30,000 out of ASD after putting in nothing. Another former employee pulled out over $300,000 after putting in about $10,000,†prosecutors said. “One ASD promoter pulled out almost $100,000 after putting in less than $1,000.â€
FEC records show that Bowdoin — under the name of “Mr. T. Andy Bowdoin, Jr” and “AdSurfDaily Inc. and AdSurfsDaily Inc. (the second “s” is an apparent typo) ” — gave $5,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee in 2008. Two donations of $2,500 were recorded — one on June 6, 2008, and another on July 7, 2008.
Bowdoin’s NRCC donations resulted in the issuance of a “Medal of Distinction,” which Bowdoin and ASD promoters positioned as an important award for business accomplishments from the White House. The “medal,” however, is issued for campaign donations and signfies only one’s ability to write a check for what amounts to the purchase of banquet tickets.
Even as the FEC was recording the donation on July 7, undercover agents from an IRS/Secret Service task force based in Florida were beginning to scrutinize ASD.
Prosecutors said last month that Bowdoin had signed a proffer letter and acknowledged to law enforcement that the material allegations in the government’s August complaint all were true. The government did not reveal the entire contents of the proffer letter or the date it was signed.
Given the allegations in the December forfeiture complaint and direct quotations attributed to Bowdoin, it is possible that the December complaint itself is based at least in part on Bowdoin’s proffer.
