Retooling as it hatches a plan to launch anew? Huddling with its mysterious lawyer because the U.S. Department of Justice called it a “fraudulent scheme” and “pyramid” pushed by an accused felon awaiting trial in his Ponzi scheme case?
The website of “OneX” has been displaying an “under maintenance” message for days. The development occurs against the backdrop of former OneX pitchman and AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin’s guilty plea to wire fraud in the ASD Ponzi case May 18. In April, federal prosecutors said ASD stalwarts Rayda Roundy and Tari Steward had helped Bowdoin pitch OneX.
Those pitches began in October 2011, with Bowdoin saying he’d use his OneX earnings to pay for his criminal defense in the ASD Ponzi case. Steward is listed in court filings as a potential witness for Bowdoin in his trial on Ponzi-related charges.
Bowdoin, though, pleaded guilty prior to his trial date, which had been set for Sept. 24.
Just days before his guilty plea, a fellow OneX pitchman known as “Alan” asserted that Bowdoin was “our Mentor,” according to an email some ASD members received.
In at least one of the OneX pitches, Roundy asserted that OneX had a “top attorney.” She did not identify the attorney.
Bowdoin claimed “college students” were great prospects for OneX. But the ASD patriarch did not identify the operators or braintrust behind OneX or say where the “program” was operating from. Instead, he told prospects that they could earn $99,000 very quickly through OneX.
Federal prosecutors now say OneX was recycling money in ASD-like fashion. They also say they’ve linked Bowdoin to AdViewGlobal, an autosurf that launched after the seizure of tens of millions of dollars in the ASD Ponzi case in 2008 and disappeared in the summer of 2009 under mysterious circumstances.
Like ASD’s website during its Ponzi run, the OneX website has a history of going missing for days. It was offline and reportedly under maintenance during the 2011 Holiday season. Now, it’s under maintenance on the heels of Bowdoin’s guilty plea.
In 2009 — after the ASD seizure — Bowdoin also pitched a mysterious “program” known as Paperless Access. Much about Paperless Access remains mysterious. Its website also vanished.
As part of his plea agreement in the ASD case, Bowdoin has been banned from MLM, Internet programs and mass marketing.
One of the theories about ASD President Andy Bowdoin’s recent series of pro se legal filings in the August civil-forfeiture case is that he is trying to stave the filing of criminal charges by slowing the civil case to a crawl.
Could it be true? Sure. Bowdoin’s pro se pleadings, however, also could be a response to pressure applied by others.
Bowdoin, while still working with paid counsel in January, threw in the towel and submitted to the August forfeiture. He told the court that he did not intend to raise the forfeiture at a later time. Basically he ceded tens of millions of dollars to the government. Bowdoin did not tell the membership at large about his decision. He then vanished from the stage for weeks.
What happened during Bowdoin’s weeks of absence is not a matter of public record, but could be telling.
In late February, Bowdoin suddenly reemerged. He blamed his paid attorneys for poor lawyering, and then proceeded to act as his own attorney. Bowdoin says he now has rescinded his decision to submit to the forfeiture. His paid lawyers, who never withdrew from the case even as Bowdoin was filing pro se pleadings, now have asked the court to withdraw, saying their representation of Bowdoin had become unreasonably difficult. The court has not yet issued an order that permits the paid lawyers to leave the case.
The conventional wisdom that Bowdoin’s pro se reemergence was a bid to delay a criminal indictment could be true — but it could be that and more.
It’s not a stretch to think that some ASD members — perhaps particularly insiders and people who view Bowdoin as a person who owes them a pile of money — were unhappy about his decision to submit to the forfeiture and then keep the news of his decision to himself. Some of these people may view themselves as being at risk of indictment and see Bowdoin’s move as the move of a turncoat.
By pressuring Bowdoin to climb back on the horse, they could be trying to stave off indictments against themselves. There is no doubt that criminals were involved in ASD. What’s not known is just how much leverage criminals could apply to Bowdoin.
For the sake of discussion, let’s say ASD had 50,000 paying members. With an organization of that size, Bowdoin would know very little about the motivations of individual members — and the people who sponsored them into the program. One of the core risks of running an autosurf is not knowing who your neighbors are and how they are capable of behaving.
One piece of wishful thinking often shared by ASD members was that ASD was just one, big, happy family. This notion always struck us as fanciful. If ASD’s paid members were assembled in a 50,000-seat stadium, there is no reason to believe they wouldn’t reflect the best and worst of society — as is typical of large crowds, whether the sport is baseball, football or autosurfing.
Bowdoin is 74. There is a chance that he believes he has more things to fear than just what the government can do to him personally. It is possible that Bowdoin family members could be indicted, for instance. At the same time, it is possible that Bowdoin perceives a threat from some ASD members and has safety concerns.
Would you fear for your safety if you were the public face of a $100 million Ponzi scheme that collected money from all over the world — and you knew only a very small fraction of the people who were sending you all that money? Bowdoin has no real way of knowing if he’s doing business with thugs unknown, criminal gangs or even terrorists.
No one seems to know why Bowdoin hasn’t been served a lawsuit filed in January that alleges racketeering. If it’s a clerical snafu of some sort, it would have to be one that also is affecting the plaintiffs’ ability to serve Bowdoin’s two RICO co-defendants, attorney Robert Garner and Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby.
With large sums of money involved, it’s not a stretch to believe that some people owed large sums would not be inclined to accept “rebates aren’t guaranteed” or “the evil government took the money” as excuses.
“Pay up” could be the policy in certain circles.
The conventional wisdom also has held that only traditional autosurf players and people new to Web commerce were players in ASD. That could be largely true, but not universally true. ASD was gaining a head of steam as the U.S. economy was going into steep decline. Legitimate securities brokers could have been using the company to generate cash to hide losses.
We’re not saying that occurred, mind you. At the same time, if legitimate brokers had been stealing from clients and knew those clients were due redemptions, they could have turned to ASD to generate cash flow. If such a group exists, it means clients of legitimate brokers also lost money in ASD — without their knowledge, as was the case with Bernard Madoff.
Some of the amounts reportedly directed at ASD were huge amounts for an ordinary autosurf player. It is possible that investment combines and criminal brokers were using ASD to stave off a Madoff-like day of reckoning.
You’ve likely noticed that AdViewGlobal, a surf with Bowdoin family ties and management in common with ASD, was promoting a 200-percent, matching-bonus program. It very much looks like a cynical bid to raise cash in volume to pay off ASD insiders and strategic shills. ASD did the same thing when it morphed into ASD Cash Generator.
Bowdoin has engaged in behavior that suggests he’ll do almost anything for cash. In the fall, after a judge ruled ASD hadn’t demonstrated it was a legal enterprise, Bowdoin pitched VOIP service to members.
Recently he appeared in a video for Paperless Access, which appears to be an upstart surf firm. Bowdoin told viewers they could use Paperless Access to recapture money seized by the government last year in the ASD probe.
There obviously is no arm’s-length distance between ASD and AVG, despite AVG’s tortured claims to the contrary. What’s less clear is the precise reason AVG exists.
One reason might be as a means to pay off debt racked up by ASD. Another reason might be because the people who are running it are monumentally stupid. It launched while an active criminal investigation and a RICO probe were under way, with Bowdoin and other ASD insiders, including Bowdoin family members and ASD executives, as likely targets.
AVG’s launch happened in full public view. Known ASD participants were pushing it. Suggestions were made that ASD accounts might get ported over to AVG. Bowdoin might as well have taken out an ad in the New York Times to announce he had decided to commit himself to a life of crime.
So much about ASD boggles the mind — and yet so much is not known.
What is known is that tens of millions of dollars are involved. And it’s also known that large sums of money can make people do crazy things.
News that a federal court had issued a second summons to ASD President Andy Bowdoin, ASD attorney Robert Garner and Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby to notify them they’d been named defendants in a racketeering lawsuit broke on March 19.
On the same date — March 19 — a video for upstart surf company Paperless Access that featured Bowdoin telling viewers that they could recapture money seized by the U.S. Secret Service in the ASD Ponzi scheme investigation appeared online. The video was removed from the Paperless Access site within days — without explanation.
Lawyers in the racketeering lawsuit said yesterday that Bowdoin, Garner and Busby still have not been served with notice of the RICO lawsuit — despite the issuance of the original summons on Jan. 15 and the follow-up summons on March 18.
Now U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer has granted a delay in the RICO case.
Plaintiffs Mike Collins, Frank Greene and Natures Discount Inc. — all former ASD members — asked for the delay yesterday.
Bank of America, named a non-RICO defendant in the lawsuit and accused of aiding and abetting Bowdoin, Busby and Garner in a fraud scheme, joined in the plaintiffs’ motion.
The Plaintiffs now have until April 30 to respond to a BOA motion to be dismissed as a defendant, and BOA has until May 20 to respond to the plaintiffs’ argument against the dismissal.
Why Bowdoin, Garner and Busby have not been served more than two and one-half months after the filing of the lawsuit is unclear.
Also unclear are the date upon which the Bowdoin video for Paperless Access was recorded and the location at which the video was recorded.
Some rank-and-file ASD members were outraged that Bowdoin was pitching another surf. They also were angry that Bowdoin had transferred the ASD database to Paperless Access, which gave the company access to private information.
The first explanation for the video removal appeared yesterday, several days after the video disappeared from the Paperless Access website. A Mod at Surf’s Up, a Pro-ASD forum that received ASD’s official endorsement as an ASD infomation source in November, reported that Bowdoin asked Paperless Access to remove the video because the firm had “not accurately presented†its program to Bowdoin.
Surf’s Up did not explain how the company misrepresented itself to Bowdoin.
Also left up in the air were questions about why Bowdoin sent an email broadcast yesterday for Paperless Access after apparently deciding days ago that the firm had misrepresented itself and asking for the video to be removed.
Bowdoin has not announced to members — through Surf’s Up or in a conference call — why he has not responded to the RICO complaint.
UPDATED 12:29 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The controversial video from upstart surf company Paperless Access starring Andy Bowdoin went missing after enraging ASD Members, and now the firm is insulting members in brand-new ways.
In yet another impossibly butchered communication from the surf world, Paperless Access said it wanted ASD’s top downline sponsors to make back money lost in ASD, insisting that they were under no pressure to enroll.
Here is part of a mixed message Paperless Access registrants received (emphasis added):
“With this opportunity and our help, you can personally earn thousands of dollars per month. You owe it to yourself and your downline to register for one of the Webinars below. There are only 18 top leadership spots available on a first come first serve basis. If you don’t want to participate, that is fine and there is no pressure. We are only going to work with those Leaders that want to help their downline be successful. There are hundreds of leaders that are waiting to take your place but we want to work with you.”
Why those “hundreds of leaders” purportedly waiting to register hadn’t actually registered wasn’t made clear. Also unclear was why Paperless Access chose to say there was “no pressure,” and then instantly began applying pressure. Why Paperless Access would suggest people who didn’t want to bother with building a downline or working to build an existing downline were unwelcome to register for the prelaunch also wasn’t clear.
The Paperless Access message appears to have been directed only to top recruiters, not rank-and-file ASD members, some of whom lost tens of thousands of dollars by believing in ASD and representations made by their upline sponsors.
Here is another part of a message recruiters received from Paperless Access (Italics added):
You have been chosen for this invitation to begin the journey with us to reconstitute the member network. You have demonstrated leadership in the creation of a group of at least 15 personally sponsored individuals and a total group size of more than 1,000 members. Your sponsor may not have been invited if your group is 90% of the total in your sponsor’s group. The information shared in this Private Launch is for your eyes only so that we can keep the lines of sponsorship intact for your maximum financial benefit.
Two separate messages appear to have gone out, according to “Joe,” a former ASD member.
“I used my ASD email address to test if they indeed did have the ASD database and sure enough they do,” Joe said. “I think this page is customized based on the # of referrals I had . . . in ASD, as I was able to retrieve another version which talks about leadership positions. The webpage must have backend code which checks the database for # of referrals and then based on a certain level, serves up one of these 2 pages.”
Here is what “Joe” said he received, with the URLs listed (italics added):
Welcome to the Private Launch for Paperless Access, Inc., where you earn for viewing advertising for only 10 minutes per day. You have been chosen for this invitation to begin the journey with us to reconstitute the member network.
The goal of Paperless Access is to recreate the old network line of sponsorships and provide an opportunity for the members that lost money to earn income again.
Our plan is simple and we are not selling advertising, or investments, or offering rebates to members. We are offering five ways to earn compensation and two of them are:
1. Viewing advertising and sharing in the Sales Revenue from Advertising Sales
2. Viewing advertising and sharing in Network Bonus Revenue generated from Business Builder Partners.
We have an Introduction Webinar just for you. Please choose one of the times below to see and learn all about Paperless Access and what Paperless Access has to offer to you.
Let’s RIDE THE WAVE to success
Please click on one of the following webinars to register: (All Times Eastern)
Each of the webinars are the same. Please only register once
to help us make room for everyone.
Welcome to the Private Launch for Paperless Access, Inc.
You have been chosen for this invitation to begin the journey with us to reconstitute the member network. You have demonstrated leadership in the creation of a group of at least 15 personally sponsored individuals and a total group size of more than 1,000 members. Your sponsor may not have been invited if your group is 90% of the total in your sponsor’s group. The information shared in this Private Launch is for your eyes only so that we can keep the lines of sponsorship intact for your maximum financial benefit.
Our goal is to recreate the old network line of sponsorships and provide continuing opportunities for the members, that lost money, to earn that money back. Even though you may not have lost money, there will be many in your group that will join to recoup their money.
This is your opportunity to start with Paperless Access and help your group in this effort. We are looking for the first 18 Leaders that will work with us to actively contact their members and help them earn back their losses. We only sent out 60 invitations.
Our plan is simple – putting more money back into the hands of Viewers. We are not selling “advertisingâ€, or investments, or offering rebates to the Viewers. We are presently offering five+ ways to earn money – three of which are:
1. Viewing advertising and sharing in the Sales Revenue from Outside Advertising Sales
2. Viewing advertising and sharing in the Network Bonus Revenue generated from Business Building programs
3. Viewing advertising to receive the Monthly Reward Bonus for participation in the Viewer Network
Sales Revenue will only go so far in generating the millions of dollars required to recoup legal losses. We need something bigger and more powerful and something we can plug the entire network into within 30 to 60 days. We found the first of many Business Building opportunities which will be introduced this evening.
With this opportunity and our help, you can personally earn thousands of dollars per month. You owe it to yourself and your downline to register for one of the Webinars below. There are only 18 top leadership spots available on a first come first serve basis. If you don’t want to participate, that is fine and there is no pressure. We are only going to work with those Leaders that want to help their downline be successful. There are hundreds of leaders that are waiting to take your place but we want to work with you. The first step is to register for the Webinar below. At the conclusion of the Webinar there will be a website address and phone numbers to get more information and get started. Welcome to a whole new beginning!
Please click on one of the following webinars to register: (All Times Pacific)
Webinar being rescheduled.
New times will be available soon.
UPDATE 11:16 A.M. EDT (March 26, U.S.A. See bottom of post and see Comments.) A video starring Andy Bowdoin that enraged some members of AdSurfDaily has been removed from its sponsor’s site.
The video formerly was at this URL. No explanation for the removal appears at the site. Bowdoin pitched a new surf site called Paperless Access in the video.
PaperlessAccess, Bowdoin said, was a way members could recapture funds federal agents seized in August as part of the ASD Ponzi scheme investigation. Bowdoin insisted he was not involved with the Paperless Access business.
But Bowdoin did not name the company owners in his video pitch. Nor did he say where the company was located.
Jaws dropped with Bowdoin’s video appearance. He did not describe how Paperless Access was legal, making only the vague claim that the company employed a business model “based solely on outside revenue.â€
Just days prior to the release of the video, Bowdoin acknowledged in court filings that ASD was operating illegally when federal agents seized tens of millions of dollars last summer. Archived Web files showed that Paperless Access was using a template identical in places to a template ASD had used in 2007.
The Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum has deleted at least two threads critical of Bowdoin’s appearance in the Paperless Access video. Prior to the deletions, some members expressed shock and horror that Bowdoin would appear in a video to promote a surf site. Some were equally horrified that a surf site would use Bowdoin as a spokesman, given ASD’s troubles and the possibility of a criminal indictment against Bowdoin.
Bowdoin appears to be losing credibility rapidly among people who formerly were supporters.
ADViewGlobal (AVG), another surf site with close ties to ASD, announced Monday that its bank account had been “suspended.”
UPDATE: A discussion thread critical of Bowdoin started by a Surf’s Up member late yesterday has been deleted. The member said Bowdoin’s video appearance was telling and that he had come to believe ASD was a scam and that he’d been taken in by a scammer. In a bitterly sarcastic response to the poster, a Bowdoin apologist said she was certain the poster and the government now would get along nicely. But the poster also had supporters in the thread. This is at least the third time Surf’s Up has deleted a thread critical of Bowdoin’s Paperless Access video appearance.
UPDATED 10:45 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) History may record that ASD President Andy Bowdoin’s final slide into infamy began last week with the release of a video for Paperless Access, a new surf company.
Some ASD members, including members of the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum, reacted with anger and horror. Surf’s Up predictably went into damage-control mode by ending debate on the subject, but it was too late. This genie refused to go back in the bottle.
Incredibly, Bowdoin positioned PaperlessAccess as a way members could recapture funds federal agents seized in August as part of the ASD Ponzi scheme investigation. Although insisting he was not involved with the Paperless Access business, Bowdoin did not name the company owners in his video pitch. Nor did he say where the company was located.
Nor did Bowdoin describe how the company was legal, choosing instead to make the vague claim that Paperless Access employed a business model “based solely on outside revenue.” Bowdoin didn’t mention his own name in the video. Nor did he mention the name of ASD.
No, with nothing that resembled clarity, Andy Bowdoin told members to sign up for Paperless Access — and this only a few days after he acknowledged in court filings that ASD was operating illegally when agents seized tens of millions of dollars last summer.
One of the ways the video can be construed is as a fail-safe for Bowdoin: He is a defendant in a private racketeering lawsuit brought by ASD members. One question, of course, is whether he is trying to minimize the number of plaintiffs against him by telling people they can get back their money by joining Paperless Access.
Another question the video raises is whether Bowdoin is trying to limit the number of complaints ASD members file with the government, which intends to implement a refund program.
Within hours of the release of the Paperless Access video, web records surfaced that showed Paperless Access was using virtually the same template ASD used in June 2007 — right down to the FAQs. The company called itself an “Income Generator”; ASD had been a “Cash Generator,” and Paperless Access used “viewing earnings” to describe what ASD called “rebates.”
Surf’s Up, doing what it does, deleted complaints about Bowdoin’s decision to turn over the ASD database to Paperless Access. Members’ private information now is in the hands of people Bowdoin wouldn’t identify.
Think about what just happened: Bowdoin, who said he spent $800,000 to try to get back money the government seized from him, submitted to the forfeiture in January. He didn’t tell members. They found out about it in the newspaper and by reading Blogs. Nor did Bowdoin tell members about a second forfeiture complaint that had been filed against assets tied to ASD in December.
The December forfeiture complaint described how Bowdoin’s family members used company money to buy cars, water equipment and haul trailers — and then used company funds to pay off the mortgage on the home of Bowdoin’s stepson, George Harris.
Harris is a trustee in AdViewGlobal (AVG), yet another autosurf with ASD ties.
Members again learned about unsettling events from the newspaper and Blogs. Bowdoin didn’t tell them; he simply vanished from the stage. While he was off-stage, some of the Surf’s Up Mods created a promotional site for AVG — after receiving ASD’s official endorsement in November.
In late February, Bowdoin resurfaced. He blamed his defeat on his paid attorneys. He changed his mind about submitting to the forfeiture and started acting as his own attorney — all while AVG announced it was receiving advice from Pro Advocate Group.
A man named Karl Dahlstrom is associated with Pro Advocate Group, which says it can help people practice law without a license. Dahlstrom was sentenced to 78 months in prison in the 1990s for securities fraud.
Securities fraud is one of the elements in the ASD case. It could be one of the elements in any future case that might evolve against AVG or Paperless Access.
All of this was done while Bowdoin was choosing not to respond to the RICO lawsuit filed against him by ASD members. In a prospective class-action, the members accuse Bowdoin of racketeering — and Bowdoin’s response was to ignore the lawsuit and star in a video for Paperless Access.
The theory behind the RICO lawsuit is that Bowdoin, ASD attorney Robert Garner and Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby engaged with unnamed parties in a conspiracy to defraud. The plaintiffs claim the defendants committed indictable racketeering offenses.
Now Bowdoin is starring in a video for unnamed parties at Paperless Access, as controversy swirls around every square inch of the ASD and AVG operations.
For its part, one of the first acts by Paperless Access was to turn over its brand to Andy Bowdoin, a convicted felon and suspected racketeer. The decision boggles the mind.
Bowdoin, however, has lost what once was a considerable support base, his celebrity days at an end, the vestiges of his reputation propped up by Surf’s Up Mods and a handful of remaining loyalists.
People want their money back. They’re growing increasingly tired of Bowdoin’s pro se legal pleadings, and the release of the Paperless Access video well may be recorded as the singular event that cemented his place in infamy.
A web page in Google cache from March 12, 2009, that shows information about a new surf program known as Paperless Access is identical in places to a June 16, 2007, archived page for ASD Cash Generator.
ASD President Andy Bowdoin introduced members to Paperless Access in a video two days ago, saying the company could help ASD members recover money seized by the government in August 2008. Bowdoin said he is not involved in Paperless Access, and was vague in his description of the company program.
Paperless Access appears to be in prelaunch phase. Google cache from March 12 reveals that a template used by the company or a promoter was similar to the template ASD used in its formative stages.
The word “Generator” was used by both companies: Paperless Access saying it was an “Income Generator” and ASD calling itself a “Cash Generator.” Meanwhile, the FAQs for both companies were largely identical in certain places and precisely identical in others.
Below are two screen shots of the first 20 FAQs for both companies.What ASD called “rebates,” Paperless access appears to be calling “viewing earnings.”
Paperless Access FAQs
Screen shot taken today from March 12, 2009, Google cache page for Paperless Access. This screen shot is of a section of FAQ's on the page and has been magnified. Compare to the ASD Cash Generator FAQs, as reproduced in a screen shot below.
ASD Cash Generator FAQs
Screen shot taken today of section of ASD Cash Generator FAQs, as it existed on June 16, 2007.
Here is the Google Cache URL from March 12, 2009, for Paperless Access. There are references on the page to PaperlessAccess.com and PaperlessAccess.org.
UPDATED 12:15 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) AdSurfDaily Inc. President Andy Bowdoin once had members eating out of his hand, but his faithful flock now appears to be splintering.
Helping drive Bowdoin’s fall from grace is a video in which he positions “Paperless Access,” a company that appears to use a surf model, as a way ASD members can recover money seized by the government in August by participating in the new venture.
AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin, whose video for ASD is a major part of a federal fraud investigation, is now a video pitchman for 'Paperless Access.'
The video first appeared online two days ago. Bowdoin did not identify the owners of Paperless Access, describing them only as a small group of people. Nor did Bowdoin mention that the government is establishing an ASD refund program.
One of the reasons it hasn’t been able to implement the program is because of Bowdoin’s self-filed legal maneuverings.
Except for a letter Bowdoin released through Surf’s Up several days ago, he had been silent for months. Bowdoin, for example, did not tell members about a second forfeiture complaint filed in December against assets linked to ASD. Nor did Bowdoin tell members about his January decision to submit to the forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars seized in August.
Before Bowdoin went silent late in the fall, he tried to sell members VOIP telephone service, positioning the $20-a-month offer as a gift.
Bowdoin, now acting as his own attorney, has changed his mind about submitting to the forfeiture, an act that will delay any government refund program because prosecutors can’t liquidate seized assets to create a victims’ pool until the case is fully litigated.
At the same time, other ASD members also are filing pro se pleadings in the forfeiture case — something the government says also affects its ability to implement a refund program.
Why Paperless Access would choose Bowdoin for a commercial spokesman at the risk of being dragged into a major federal fraud investigation is unclear, especially when one of the issues in the federal case is Bowdoin’s appearance in a video to promote ASD.
Prosecutors said Bowdoin was the head of a criminal enterprise. Private litigants have accused him of racketeering, and Bowdoin was accused of 89 separate counts of fraud in four Alabama counties in the 1990s, pleading guilty to felonies.
Database Decision Ruffles Feathers
Some ASD members were angry that Bowdoin had turned over the ASD database to Paperless Access, saying the move invaded their privacy and exposed them to identity theft.
“They have been given access to the database for the purpose of determining losses and the structure of the network,” Bowdoin said.
In short, Bowdoin appears to have turned over the database to a company whose owners he appears unwilling to identify. If ASD member “losses” are recorded in the database as Bowdoin says, the new owners might gain insider’s knowledge about possible targets in a federal criminal probe into ASD’s business practices. At the same time, the database would provide Paperless Access with the names of thousands of potential witnesses against ASD and the spending habits of ASD members at large.
Bowdoin does not identify himself in the Paperless Access video. Nor does he refer to ASD by name a single time. At the same time, Bowdoin’s claims about Paperless Access are filled with vagaries and confusing information.
Paperless Access has a “variety of outside revenue-generating sources,” Bowdoin said, without revealing the sources.
Bowdoin said the company’s business plan was based “solely on outside revenue.” Vague claims of outside revenue was one of the things that got ASD in trouble.
Meanwhile, Bowdoin makes the odd claim that the goal of Paperless Access is to “return the members’ legally purchased funds.” ASD members used funds to make their purchases, but they did not purchase funds.
Retooling as it hatches a plan to launch anew? Huddling with its mysterious lawyer because the U.S. Department of Justice called it a “fraudulent scheme” and “pyramid” pushed by an accused felon awaiting trial in his Ponzi scheme case?
