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Tag: Pro Advocate Group

  • 4 Charged Amid Allegations ‘Industrial Bleach’ Was Sold On Internet As ‘Miracle Cure’ For Flu, Arthritis And Cancer; Web Chatter References Pro Advocate Group, Same Enterprise Linked To Bizarre Claims In AdSurfDaily Saga

    A YouTube video apparently in support of “Project GreenLife” superimposes an image of FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg against the backdrop of a height chart -- an apparent bid to suggest that Hamburg should be booked at a police station.
    A YouTube video apparently in support of “Project GreenLife” superimposes an image of FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg against the backdrop of a height chart — an apparent bid to suggest that Hamburg should be booked at a police station.

    The PP Blog first told you about “Miracle Mineral Supplement,” also known as “Miracle Mineral Solution” or MMS, in August 2010. The FDA warned that serious harm could come to human beings who consumed it, saying MMS produced industrial bleach when used as directed.

    “Multiple independent distributors” sold the product online, the FDA said.

    Now, the U.S. Department of Justice has announced that four people — two from Oregon and two from Washington state — have been charged criminally.

    Named defendants were Louis Daniel Smith, 42, and Karis Delong, 38, both of Ashland, Ore. Also charged were Chris Olson, 49, and Tammy Olson, 50, of Nine Mile Falls, Wash.

    “Our most vulnerable citizens need real medicine — not dangerous chemicals peddled by modern-day snake oil salesmen,” said Stuart F. Delery, principal deputy assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division.

    Smith and Delong operated a business known as “Project GreenLife” or PGL, the Justice Department said.

    A dissolved Nevada corporation known as PGL International LLC lists “Daniel Smith” as its managing member. A website styled ProjectGreenLife.com now appears to be parked at GoDaddy. Meanwhile, there are references online to ProjectGreenLife purportedly having been a “1st and 14th Amendment Private Membership Association.”

    At least one website that makes the claim makes a companion claim that Daniel Smith used “the help and counsel of the ProAdvocate Group” when contacting the FDA about MMS-related matters. “Daniel based his inquiry on a good-faith understanding of U.S. Supreme Court case law as it pertained to the activities of a private association,” the site claims. “Daniel told the FDA unless they objected within ten days he would assume they had no objection.”

    Pro Advocate Group reportedly was the Texas-based entity that assisted the AdViewGlobal HYIP scam form a “private association” in 2009 in which AVG appears to have tried to insulate itself from examination by the U.S. government by purporting to operate from Uruguay. In April 2012, federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia linked AVG to the $119 million Ponzi scheme operated by Andy Bowdoin of AdSurfDaily.

    Along with hawking purported private associations, Pro Advocate Group claims on its website that it offers “Pro Se Litigation with Super Appeal” and other services.

    A Justice Department news release yesterday on the charges flowing from Project GreenLife and the sale of MMS did not reference Pro Advocate Group.

    Smith, Delong and Tammy Olson were charged with one count of conspiracy, four counts of interstate sales of misbranded drugs and one count of smuggling. Chris Olson was charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of the interstate sale of a misbranded drug and one count of smuggling.

    The Justice Department said that “PGL provided consumers directions to combine MMS with citric acid to create Chlorine Dioxide, and the instructions told consumers to drink this mixture to cure numerous illnesses. Chlorine Dioxide is a potent agent used to bleach textiles, among other industrial applications. In humans, Chlorine Dioxide is a severe respiratory and eye irritant that can cause nausea, diarrhea and dehydration.”

    Research by the PP Blog shows that Daniel Smith apparently has supporters who’ve issued an appeal to “Please take a stand to help save MMS and Daniel Smith from the FDA.” A headline for video on the site describes the FDA as a “Cult of Tryanny.” A narrator describes the FDA as a “rogue agency” and superimposes the images of FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg and others against the backdrop of a height chart. It appears to be a ham-handed way to suggest that Hamburg and the other purported “rogues” should be booked at a police station.

    From the Justice Department statement (italics added):

    As part of the scheme to manufacture MMS, the indictment alleges that Smith, Delong, and others smuggled sodium chlorite into the United States from Canada using fraudulent invoices to hide the true end use of the product.   In these invoices, according to the indictment, they falsely claimed that the ingredients they were purchasing for MMS were to be used in wastewater treatment facilities.

    According to the charging documents, Smith and Delong were the managing members of PGL Smith co-founded the company, and Delong frequently handled financial transactions for the company and recruited friends and family to participate in the business. The indictment alleges that Smith and Delong paid Tammy Olson to handle all customer inquiries regarding the product.   It is alleged that Tammy Olson continued selling MMS on her own website after federal agents shut down the Project GreenLife website and production facilities.  

     The indictment also alleges that Smith and Delong paid Chris Olson to clandestinely manufacture MMS in a building on his property after regulators from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspected PGL’s original manufacture and shipping locations.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Prosecution Says Bowdoin Trying To Recontest Forfeiture So He Can Use Case As ‘Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free’ Card; Calls Bowdoin’s Assertions Against His First Lawyer ‘Insidious’ Lies; Says New Lawyer Engaging In ‘Fantasy’

    UPDATED 12:38 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Andy Bowdoin is trying to lie his way back into the civil forfeiture case involving tens of millions of dollars seized from him last year and now has a lawyer engaging in “fantasy” to help his client pull it off, federal prosecutors said this morning.

    Meanwhile, prosecutors made a veiled reference to the AdViewGlobal autosurf, saying “it may be the case that Bowdoin never intended to plead guilty when he agreed to debrief, and was just buying time while searching for a different exit strategy that failed to materialize. Maybe Bowdoin thought that before the government brought its charges he (like some of his family members) could move to another country and profit from a knock-off autosurf program that Bowdoin funded and helped to start.”

    In a blistering memorandum to U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer, prosecutors said Bowdoin’s new attorney, Charles A. Murray, had filed motions at odds with themselves — and even at odds with various statements Bowdoin himself has made in affidavits.

    “This fantasy even Mr. Bowdoin fails to support,” prosecutors said of a recent filing by Murray.

    Prosecutors used italic type to stress their claim.

    “Mr. Murray’s apparent suggestion that Bowdoin made a mistake because he was ‘hoodwinked’ by his prior defense counsel is belied by Bowdoin’s own affidavits,” prosecutors said.

    “Bowdoin says (using more words) that he dismissed his claims in mid-January 2009 because he had decided to cooperate in either late December 2008 or early January 2009, after his attorney met with the government. Bowdoin explains that he understood that he was sitting down with agents in January 2009 in an effort to help himself, that he decided to withdraw his claims in this case as part of that effort, and that he eventually changed his mind,” prosecutors continued.

    “Mr. Murray’s manufactured effort to fault Bowdoin’s prior counsel for Bowdoin’s decision to cooperate and his revised decision to profess ‘my belief in my innocence’ is laughable,” prosecutors said. “Bowdoin knew he should expect no leniency unless he stopped pretending that he honestly earned the millions of dollars that the government recovered from his bank accounts in 2008.”

    Federal filings — and a lack of activity in the state case against Bowdoin in Florida — suggest Bowdoin had fired as many as six attorneys before Murray was retained. Bowdoin also embarked on a pro se litigation strategy in February after surrendering his claims to the seized money in January — and after meeting with what he described as a “group” of members.

    During the same time period, the AdViewGlobal autosurf, which has close ASD ties and now has suspended cashouts, introduced members to Pro Advocate Group. Pro Advocate Group is associated with a convicted felon and purports to offer services for pro se litigants. The company also advertises the formation of “associations” that purportedly help people practice law and medicine without being licensed.

    AdViewGlobal, which purported to be headquartered in Uruguay, then shifted to an “association” structure in which it incongruously claimed its authortity derived from the U.S. Constitution, despite the fact the company said it was based on foreign soil.

    Bowdoin and his attorney were making it up as they went along, prosecutors said.

    “In the release he filed, Bowdoin acknowledged he knew that by withdrawing the claims, he was consenting to a forfeiture judgment in the government’s favor,” prosecutors said. “In his affidavit, Bowdoin acknowledges that, as part of his cooperation, he agreed to withdraw the claims he filed in this case. Clearly, Bowdoin now has decided he no longer wants to cooperate to resolve this matter or his potential criminal liability. Bowdoin can certainly change his mind –but he cannot change facts.

    “Bowdoin’s new attorney spends almost seventeen pages asking the Court not to enforce a supposed settlement agreement that Bowdoin acknowledges did not exist and which, not surprisingly, the government does not seek to enforce. Bowdoin’s new attorney insinuates that Bowdoin was ‘hoodwinked’ or misinformed (presumably by either his prior counsel, or the government, or both). But Bowdoin’s own affidavit proves otherwise.

    “Moreover, most notable is the fact that, nowhere does Bowdoin’s new attorney demonstrate that Bowdoin has even a remote possibility of prevailing against the government in this civil forfeiture case were he permitted to reassert a challenge,” prosecutors said.

    Bowdoin says in his own motions that he alone owns the seized money, prosecutors said, pointing out that large sums of  money were used prior to seizure to support personal purchases for Bowdoin, his wife and others — and that the purchases were made from funds submitted by ASD members.

    Assertions Against Former Counsel ‘Insidious’; Differences Between What Bowdoin Claims And New Attorney Claims ‘Disturbing’  

    “What becomes clear, from Bowdoin’s current motion, is that Bowdoin believes that if he gets back into this case he can try to negotiate a better deal,” prosecutors said.

    “He wants to trade his right to challenge the forfeiture for the get-out-of-jail-free card that, Bowdoin himself acknowledges, the government has never been willing to offer.

    “To achieve that end,” prosecutors continued, “Bowdoin makes a series of remarkable misrepresentations and insidious accusations, primarily against [former defense counsel Stephen Dobson], in an apparent effort to have this Court reject a settlement agreement that everyone agrees never existed.

    “Mr. Murray’s new accusations are, in any event, utterly inconsistent with Bowdoin’s own affidavit testimony,” prosecutors said. 

    “Likewise, reports Mr. Murray[,”] prosecutors said, “Bowdoin understood from Dobson that he was obligated to dismiss claims in the civil in rem forfeiture action if he was to receive leniency from the government.’

    “The accusations are also irrelevant to the relief Bowdoin here requests: to reappear into a lawsuit against which he cannot mount a successful defense, solely to leverage a better deal in resolving criminal charges. But, this is not an exercise in horse-trading,” prosecutors said.

    “The difference between what Bowdoin says happened, and what Mr. Murray suggests happened, is disturbing,” prosecutors continued. “In the ‘Renewed Motion to Rescind Release of Claims,’ Mr. Murray sometimes reports, consistent with statements Bowdoin makes in his affidavits, that ‘Bowdoin understood from Dobson that to possibly avoid prison time he had to release claims in the civil forfeiture proceeding and disclose facts concerning the operation of ASD to Government counsel.”

    “In other words,” prosecutors continued, “Bowdoin understood from his attorney, before he started cooperating, that he could help himself if he did cooperate. Sounds like a smart lawyer’s good advice.

    “Bowdoin acknowledges that he started cooperating, voluntarily dismissed his claims in this case as part of his effort to demonstrate his sincerity, and (as he himself acknowledges to this Court) began to provide information about his operation to federal law enforcement authorities.

    “But, almost mysteriously, Mr. Murray’s motion transforms from statements like those quoted above into: ‘Dobson represented that Bowdoin’s cooperation would preclude the possibility of imprisonment following criminal charges.’  

    “Mr. Murray also writes: ‘Bowdoin agreed to release his claims in the civil forfeiture matter believing first that such action would avoid the possibility of imprisonment.’

    “Through these subtle but significant revisions, Mr. Murray suggests, and hopes to convince this Court, that even though Bowdoin was told by his several different prior attorneys that his conduct was criminal, and even though he retained criminal counsel to assist him, and even though Bowdoin says he was told that cooperation might lessen the prison exposure Bowdoin was facing for his criminal conduct, Bowdoin really thought he had resolved the criminal matter in a way that would guarantee him no jail time (as if this were merely a regulatory matter) when Bowdoin released his challenge to the seized money.”

    Read the prosecution’s memo.

  • Surf’s Up Mods Have High Positions In AdViewGlobal

    Four moderators at the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum hold high positions in the AdViewGlobal autosurf or have a spouse who does, according to AVG’s website.

    AVG launched in the aftermath of the seizure of tens of millions of dollars last year from ASD, a Florida company federal prosecutors said was engaged in wire fraud, money-laundering and the sale of unregistered securities while operating a Ponzi scheme.

    Larry Alford, the husband of Surf’s Up Mod Barb Alford, holds position 11; Mod Terralynn Hoy holds position 12; Mod Laura Pont holds position 14; and Mod Kathryn Milner holds position 15.

    Whether the Mods are still associated with AVG is unclear. Also unclear is whether Alford, Hoy and Pont continue to play an active role at Surf’s Up.

    Other members with high positions include David Meade (9); Mindy Bales (19); and Nate Boyd (20). Bales helped organize rallies for ASD in Iowa, and Boyd is a former ASD compliance officer, members said.

    The No. 5 position in AVG is held by unnamed “AVG Executives.” Gerald Castor, an AVG compliance officer who was sued twice last year for violations of federal labor law, is AVG member No. 59, according to the website.

    ASD gave Surf’s Up its official endorsement Nov. 27, 2008, eight days after a federal judge ruled that ASD had not demonstrated at an evidentiary hearing that it was a legal business and not a Ponzi scheme.

    AVG insisted for weeks prior to its February launch that it had no affiliation with ASD or ASD President Andy Bowdoin, whom members now say was the silent head of AVG. On Jan. 31, AVG’s graphics appeared in an ASD-controlled webroom, but AVG said the development was an “operational coincidence.”

    Former ASD executive Gary Talbert holds the No. 1 position in AVG, which purports to be headquartered in Uruguay but also filed papers in Florida.

    In March, AVG advised members its bank account had been suspended. The surf blamed members in its announcement. Regardless, AVG embarked on a 200-percent, matching-bonus program for both members and their sponsors. One email promotion after the announcement of the account suspension claimed $5,000 spent with AVG turned into $15,000 “instantly!”

    The March email bore the name of Shad Foss, a promoter associated with the CEP Ponzi scheme. ASD once advertised that it accepted CEP Trust, the failed payment processor associated with CEP, which was dismantled in 2007 by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

    By June 25, AVG announced it was suspending member cashouts and conducting an audit of itself.

    In April, federal prosecutors announced in court filings that ASD President Andy Bowdoin had signed a proffer letter in the ASD forfeiture case and acknowledged the company was operating illegally. The date Bowdoin signed the proffer letter is not publicly known. It is possible Bowdoin signed the letter weeks before the launch of AVG.

    What is known is that Bowdoin signed the letter before Jan. 13, 2009. AVG was in prelaunch at the time and launched fully in early February.

    It is not publicly known if others have signed proffer letters. Federal prosecutors say ASD is a criminal enterprise, and private attorneys have accused ASD and Bowdoin of racketeering.

    During the spring and summer, AVG authored a series of bizarre announcements to explain developments, blaming members for a decision to disable a forum and threatening them with copyright-infringement lawsuits for sharing news. The surf also threatened to contact the ISPs of members who asked questions.

    Another AVG forum run by some of the Surf’s Up Mods and members also closed in the aftermath of the surf’s decision to suspend cashouts. Surf’s Up itself deleted some AVG-related content.

    Both Surf’s Up and the AVG forum operated by some of its Mods declared Curtis Richmond a “hero” earlier this year, after Richmond accused a federal judge and the ASD prosecutors of crimes in a pro se court filing.

    Richmond is associated with a Utah “Indian” tribe a federal judge ruled a complete “sham” in a racketeering case in which it was alleged that the tribe had harassed public officials by placing enormous financial judgments against them, including one for $250 million against a county prosecutor and one for $300,000 against a family-services worker.

    Richmond signed the fraudulent award against the family-services worker, and also sought to have judges and litigation opponents jailed, according to court filings. In one case, the tribe contrived its own “Supreme Court,” using the address of a Utah doughnut shop, and issued bogus arrest warrants. The U.S. Marshals Service refused to serve the warrants, which called for the arrests of judges, bankers and attorneys representing bankers.

    An unofficial total of 57 pro se pleadings by Richmond and other ASD members followed after Richmond’s initial filing in February, including a recent spate of 41. A federal judge has rejected all of the claims. The most recent claims accused the government of “reckless action and reckless disregard of the law.”

    Pro se claims by Andy Bowdoin have not been fully addressed by the judge because Bowdoin did not follow up on his initial claims. Bowdoin’s attorney announced last month that he is negotiating with federal prosecutors. Bowdoin has been ordered by the court to show cause by Monday why his pro se motion to undo the decision he made to submit to the forfeiture in January should not be denied.

    Bowdoin submitted to the forfeiture while employing paid counsel Jan. 13. The first of his pro se pleadings to reverse his forfeiture decision was dated Feb. 25. On the previous day, Feb. 24, reports circulated that the U.S. Secret Service had seized the individual bank accounts of some ASD members, including at least one account owned by an AVG member.

    On Feb. 26, AVG announced it was switching to an “association” structure after consulting with Pro Advocate Group, a firm associated with Karl Dahlstrom, a felon convicted of securities fraud in the 1990s and sentenced to 78 months in federal prison.

    Surf’s Up also endorsed a letter-writing campaign by “Professor” Patrick Moriarty, now under indictment for federal tax fraud. In 2006, Moriarty started a nonprofit corporation for a man accused of murdering a Missouri woman in cold blood, shooting a police officer four times — and another man eight times.

  • BREAKING NEWS: ASD’s New Attorney Seeks To Withdraw Bowdoin’s Pro Se Motion To Rescind His Decision To Submit To Forfeiture And File Anew: Will Case Slow To A Crawl?

    On Feb. 27, ASD President Andy Bowdoin — acting as his own attorney — filed a motion to rescind a decision he made in January to submit to the forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars and real estate seized by the government in a wire fraud, money-laundering and Ponzi scheme investigation.

    Federal prosecutors, on April 24, filed a memorandum asking U.S. District Judge Judge Rosemary Collyer to deny Bowdoin’s motion to rescind the forfeiture. Prosecutors argued that the law wasn’t on Bowdoin’s side, and advised the court that Bowdoin had acknowledged the government’s material allegations all were true and that Bowdoin had signed a proffer letter.

    Bowdoin, according to prosecutors, had:

    • “confirmed to law enforcement officials that he modeled his enterprise on another’s failed fraud scheme”
    • “acknowledged that there was almost no revenue independent from what he secured from the ‘members’”
    • “confirmed that the revenue figures of the enterprise were managed to make it appear to prospective members that the enterprise called Ad Surf Daily was a consistently profitable, and brilliant, passive income opportunity”

    Charles A. Murray, whom Bowdoin retained as paid counsel in April after Bowdoin earlier had filed one pro se motion after another, now has asked Collyer to let Bowdoin withdraw his self-filed motion to rescind his decision to submit to the forfeiture “without prejudice.”

    Murray advised the court that, as Bowdoin and ASD’s new paid corporate counsel, he intended to “resubmit this Motion to Rescind on or before May 15, 2009″  — only with a lawyer’s touch, not the amateur legal prose of a pro se litigant.

    “Good cause exists for permitting Mr. Bowdoin et al, Claimants’ to withdraw the pro se
    pleading and refile it upon consultation with counsel,” Murray argued.

    “Unrepresented at the time Mr. Bowdoin, et al, Claimants’ filed the original motion, Mr.
    Bowdoin et al, Claimants’ were not aware of the legal standards applicable to the motion and, so, did not present all facts germane to decision.”

    In a March 13 letter to ASD members published at the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum, Bowdoin chided prosecutors by saying his pro se filings “should really get their attention.

    “Watch for the filings,” Bowdoin instructed. “I will be speaking out on a conference call as soon as the filings are completed. We will notify you of the call. I look forward to talking to you then.”

    Bowdoin, however, never filed another pro se motion (the last one was filed March 9, four days before Bowdoin had turned to Surf’s Up to reinvigorate support and taunt prosecutors).

    And Bowdoin never conducted the promised conference call.

    Even before news of Bowdoin’s pro se filings broke on March 4, Surf’s Up had been hinting something special might be coming. Bowdoin’s pro se move coincided with an announcement by the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf, which has close ties to ASD, that it was moving underground and forming a private association.

    AVG introduced members to a company known as Pro Advocate Group, which says it can help people practice law without a license. Bowdoin’s three initial pro se filings were signed and dated  by him Feb. 25, one day before AVG introduced Pro Advocate Group.  Bowdoin’s filings did not become a matter of public record until March 4.

    Best-laid plans?

    It is possible that an order from Collyer that Bowdoin didn’t anticipate short-circuited his pro se litigation plan. On March 26, the judge ordered Bowdoin’s previous paid counsel to inform Bowdoin that corporate entities that had filed claims in the ASD case — AdSurfDaily Inc. and Bowdoin/Harris Enterprise Inc. — could not proceed pro se. Collyer also ordered the lawyers to request permission to withdraw from the case if that was their intent.

    Akerman Senterfitt, Bowdoin’s previous paid counsel, complied with the judge’s order and was granted leave to withdraw from the case.

    Probe Still Under Way

    The ASD case continues to be an active investigation. It is possible that investigators viewed Bowdoin’s March 13 Surf’s Up letter and that prosecutors made a veiled reference to it in their April 24 memorandum to Collyer asking her not to permit Bowdoin to change his mind about submitting to the forfeiture.

    “Mr. Bowdoin says that after discussing this case with his supporters, and concluding that
    they were smarter than his attorneys, he has changed his mind,” prosecutors said.

    Are they referring to these words in Bowdoin’s Surf’s Up letter?

    “About a month ago, several members introduced me to a group that studied what my attorneys did,” Bowdoin said in the letter. “The group said that my attorneys had taken the wrong approach. The group was very confident that they could help because the government had broken so many laws and had violated our rights as citizens of the United States.”

    Nowhere in any of Bowdoin’s four self-filed pleadings does he discuss his rationale for becoming a pro se litigant after conferring with supporters. His only public statements on the matter have been made on Surf’s Up.

    A New Clash?

    Murray’s filing on Bowdoin’s behalf potentially sets up a new clash with prosecutors, who now have yet another document to address. At the same time, pro se motions filed by other litigants in the case have appeared on the record in recent days, and may require additional responses from prosecutors.

    If Murray persuades Collyer to grant Murray’s motion to withdraw Bowdoin’s rescission motion and Murray files a new motion to rescind, it would mean that:

    • Bowdoin had submitted to the forfeiture on the advice of previous paid counsel.
    • Changed his mind more than a month later as a pro se litigant and tried to undo his forfeiture decision with a self-filed rescission motion.
    • Changed his mind again about his rescission motion under the advice of new paid counsel.
    • Withdrew his motion to rescind his forfeiture decision, only to have it reinstated on his behalf by a professional attorney.

    On Jan. 13, Bowdoin asked the court to permit him to submit to the forfeiture. Collyer granted Bowdoin’s request Jan. 22, a hurdle that began to open a door for prosecutors to begin the slow process of liquidating ASD assets to provide refunds to customers.

    Now, approaching four months later — and with pro se pleadings dominating the docket — prosecutors have not been able even to begin the liquidation process or implement a refund program.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Andy Bowdoin Hires New Attorney

    UPDATED: 11:40 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin has a new paid attorney: Charles A. Murray of Bonita Springs, Fla.

    Murray filed an appearance notice today in the civil-forfeiture cased filed in August against money and other assets tied to ASD.

    The appearance notice says that Murray will represent Bowdoin and two corporate entities: AdSurfDaily Inc. and Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises Inc.

    This may mean an end to Bowdoin’s pro se pleadings in the case. Bowdoin began to act as his own attorney in February. Judge Rosemary Collyer informed him, through his prior counsel, that the corporate entities could not proceed pro se.

    Michael Fayad, one of Bowdoin’s original attorneys, filed a motion today to correct an appearance notice from August that erroneously listed Bowdoin and his firms as “Defendants,” rather than “Claimants.”

    Murray says in his filing that he is taking over for Fayad’s firm, Akerman Senterfitt. Akerman Senterfitt filed a motion last week, asking the court to resign as Bowdoin’s counsel, saying its representation of him amid the circumstances was unreasonably difficult.

    Bowdoin did not consult with the firm before proceeding as a pro se litigant, Akerman Senterfitt said.

    In one of Bowdoin’s pro se pleadings, he acknowledged that ASD was operating illegally at the time of the August seizure of tens of millions of dollars. He advised the court, however, that he had been denied “fair notice” that his conduct was illegal.

    Prosecutors responded by saying ignorance of the law is no excuse and that the government had no duty to inform Bowdoin that fraud is illegal.

    Another Bowdoin pro se filing seeks to reverse his January decision — while working with paid counsel — to submit to the forfeiture and not raise the issue again. Collyer advised Bowdoin that he had not raised points of law to supplement his argument, in essence telling him that the motion alone might not be enough for her to grant his motion to reopen the forfeiture litigation.

    Using her discretion, Collyer had to construe a meaning for Bowdoin’s pro se motion — a somewhat common occurence when pro se litigants are filing papers. Pro se pleadings often are vague, sometimes making baffling leaps of logic and tortured arguments.

    In late February, AdViewGlobal (AVG), a surf firm with close ties to ASD, introduced Pro Advocate Group to members. Pro Advocate Group says it can help people practice law without a license.

    Karl Dahlstrom is associated with Pro Advocate Group. Dahlstrom was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison in the 1990s for securities fraud. Bowdoin’s pro se pleadings began at the same time AVG was introducing Pro Advocate Group to members.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Bowdoin’s Paid Attorneys File Motion To Withdraw; Akerman Senterfitt Says Relationship ‘Deteriorated’ After Evidentiary-Hearing Ruling Went Against ASD

    UPDATED 7:24 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Michael Fayad and Jonathan Goodman of Akerman Senterfitt have asked a federal judge to withdraw themselves and the firm as attorneys for AdSurfDaily Inc.,  Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises Inc. and Andy Bowdoin.

    At the same time, the firm cited attorney-client privilege with respect to its communications with Bowdoin.

    In asking for leave to withdraw, the attorneys said their representation of Bowdoin had become “unreasonably difficult.”

    “After this Court denied Claimant’s Emergency Motion for Return of Seized Funds [on Nov. 19, 2008], the client-lawyer relationship between the Firm and all three Claimants substantially deteriorated and has not improved thus rendering the representation unreasonably difficult,” the lawyers said.

    U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ordered the lawyers to instruct Bowdoin on critical points of law last week, after Bowdoin had filed a series of motions acting as his own attorney. The firm never formally withdrew from the case, but Bowdoin said in court filings that he had fired Fayad and Goodman.

    Bowdoin told ASD members March 13 that he had spent $800,000 on the forfeiture case filed last August and dismissed the attorneys for getting “no results.” He added that he had consulted with a “group” that “said that my attorneys had taken the wrong approach. The group was very confident that they could help because the government had broken so many laws and had violated our rights as citizens of the United States.”

    Akerman Senterfitt advised Collyer today that it had contacted Bowdoin and his corporate alter egos “recently” and advised them on the critical matters, which dealt with a rule that corporations could not proceed as pro se litigants.

    “The Akerman Senterfitt law firm has recently been able to contact its clients and has obtained their consent to withdraw from representing them,” the firm said. It did not say how it contacted Bowdoin or identify his whereabouts.

    “In addition, Akerman Senterfitt’s two corporate clients have been specifically advised that they cannot appear as litigants in this Court on a pro se basis and that they must have counsel,” the firm said. “Through their principal, Mr. Bowdoin, the two corporate clients provided written acknowledgment of their understanding of this legal rule.”

    Collyer said last week that AdSurfDaily Inc. and Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises Inc. could not represent themselves pro se on claims to seized proceeds because they are corporations. Bowdoin is permitted to represent himself as an individual on claims, but the corporations must have an attorney.

    Plaintiffs in a racketeering lawsuit against Bowdoin that is separate from the forfeiture case said they have not been able to serve Bowdoin or co-defendants Robert Garner or Clarence Busby.

    Garner was an ASD attorney. Busby was president of Golden Panda Ad Builder, a company whose assets were seized in the ASD probe. The RICO lawsuit has been pending since Jan. 15. A second summons was issued March 18.

    Why Bowdoin, Garner and Busby have not been served is unclear. Garner is listed as a director of AdSurfDaily Inc. in Nevada corporation records. But ASD’s incorporation in Nevada appears to be in default for not filing an annual update of officers by Dec. 31, 2008.

    ASD is listed as a Nevada-based foreign corporation in Florida, with Bowdoin holding the titles of director, president, secretary and treasurer. Garner’s name is not listed in the Florida documents, which were filed May 23, 2008.

    ASD, in longhand, listed its address as 13 S. Calhoun St., Quincy, Fla., in its May 2008 Florida filing. Federal prosecutors said the address was bogus. The same address is listed in Nevada corporation records. Public filings suggest that the U.S. Secret Service was on the ground in Quincy prior to the seizure of ASD’s assets last August. The forfeiture complaint contains a photograph of an ASD sign the prosecution said listed the bogus address.

    Florida filings from 1995 and 1996 by Bowdoin’s wife, Edna Faye Bowdoin, list the address of the building ASD went on to use as its headquarters as 11 S. Calhoun Street. The building once was home to Faye’s Florist Inc. The same building was listed by Edna Faye Bowdoin as having the 13 S. Calhoun Street address and serving as headquarters for Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises, according to June 2008 Florida records.

    Fayad and Goodman today did not say where Bowdoin could be reached, acknowledging that they were aware of his pro se pleadings because they were a matter of public record.

    “Given the attorney-client privilege, the Akerman Senterfitt law firm cannot disclose the
    specific issues underlying the problems with the client-lawyer relationship,” the firm said.

    “However, without breaching the attorney-client relationship, and based on documents which Mr. Bowdoin publicly filed with the clerk’s office, it is obvious that Claimants have decided to represent themselves without consulting their counsel,” the firm continued.

    “By way of example only, Mr. Bowdoin has recently filed, on a pro se basis, a series of motions. Mr. Bowdoin filed these motions without consulting with counsel and without bothering to advise counsel that he would be submitting motions on his own. Under these circumstances, the Akerman Senterfitt Law Firm cannot render effective assistance of counsel.”

    In a proposed order for leave to withdraw as Bowdoin’s counsel, the firm said Bowdoin’s last known address was 8 Gilcrease Lane, Quincy, FL 32351.

    AdViewGlobal (AVG), a surf firm that has close ties to ASD, introduced members to a firm known as Pro Advocate Group in February. Pro Advocate Group says it can help people practice law without a license. Bowdoin’s pro se pleadings began to appear at the same time AVG introduced the company.

    Karl Dahlstrom is associated with Pro Advocate Group. He was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison in the 1990s for securities fraud.

    Fayad and Goodman filed notice with the court last fall that Bowdoin would exercise his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination at the Sept. 30-Oct. 1 evidentiary hearing. Bowdoin did not appear for the hearing or take the stand.

    In his pro se pleadings, however, Bowdoin acknowledged ASD was operating illegally last summer when agents seized real estate and tens of millions of dollars amid allegations of wire fraud, money-laundering and running a Ponzi scheme.

    Bowdoin said he was denied “fair notice” that his conduct was illegal. Within days of his claim, Gary Talbert, a former ASD executive, resigned as chief executive officer of AVG.

  • ‘Paperless Access’ Video May Seal Bowdoin’s Slide Into Infamy

    Andy Bowdoin
    Andy Bowdoin

    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.

  • Surf’s Up Mod Releases Andy Bowdoin Letter To Troops; ASD Head Urges Letter-Writing Campaign To Glenn Beck

    Andy Bowdoin.
    Andy Bowdoin.

    First, members of the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum tried to whip up support for ASD President Andy Bowdoin by sending Kool Aid packets to Bill O’Reilly of Fox News. Now Bowdoin himself, through a Surf’s Up Mod, is urging members to write letters to Glenn Beck, another Fox personality.

    And, taking a page from his own playbook, Bowdoin also has asked members to write to President Obama, the Justice Department and elected officials “to stop this misuse of power.”

    The move comes on the heels of a stunning court motion Bowdoin filed March 11 in which he acknowledged ASD was operating illegally when the government seized tens of millions of dollars from Bowdoin last summer. Bowdoin claimed in the filing that he did not know ASD was operating illegally at the time of the seizure and that the government denied him fair notice and due process.

    In the filing, Bowdoin claims to be a “defendant” in a “quasi-criminal” prosecution. But Bowdoin hasn’t been named a defendant by the government, which sued the money and property for forfeiture, saying it was the proceeds of a criminal enterprise.

    Prosecutors said ASD was engaging in wire fraud, money-laundering and the sale of unregistered securities — all while operating a $100 million Ponzi scheme.

    Bowdoin had not communicated with the membership at large in months. He did not tell members about a second forfeiture complaint that had been filed in December against assets tied to the firm. Nor did Bowdoin tell members that, in January, he had submitted to the forfeiture of the money and property seized last summer.

    In court filings, Bowdoin now says he has changed his mind about submitting to the forfeiture, even though he acknowledged that ASD was operating illegally — exactly what the government contended.

    In his letter to the members, however, Bowdoin did not mention the motion in which he acknowledged ASD was operating illegally.

    His last formal contact with the members was in late fall, a few months after the initial seizure, when Bowdoin tried to sell them VOIP phone service, positioning the $19.95-a-month plan as a gift to the membership. Days before, he told members that Ponzi allegations had been dropped against ASD in Florida, even though Ponzi allegations hadn’t been brought in Florida.

    During the same time period in the fall, ASD’s Breaking News site announced a deal with Praebius Communications, saying ASD expected to pump $200 million into its coffers as a result of the deal. Praebius is a penny-stock company that does not publish financials.

    In early December, an autosurf known as AdViewGlobal (AVG) began to position itself for launch. AVG has close ties to ASD, including George Harris, Bowdoin’s stepson and an AVG trustee; Gary Talbert, a former ASD executive now an executive and trustee for AVG; Chuck Osmin, a former ASD employee now working for AVG; and Nate Boyd, a former ASD compliance officer now listed as the “Protector”  of AVG.

    By December 19, federal prosecutors filed a second forfeiture complaint, saying Bowdoin’s wife, Edna Faye Bowdoin and her son, George Harris, had used proceeds from ASD to retire the $157,216 mortgage on the home Harris shared with his wife, Judy Harris.

    Bowdoin now says that he recently was introduced to a “group” that is giving him legal advice. Bowdoin started filing his own court pleadings in late February, at the same time AVG was introducing members to Pro Advocate Group, which says it can help people practice medicine and law without a license.

    Pro Advocate Group is associated with Karl Dahlstrom. In 1997, Dahlstrom was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for orchestrating a securities scheme.

    In his letter to ASD members, Bowdoin did not disclose the name of the “group” from which he was receiving advice. Nor did Bowdoin reference or confirm reports that bank accounts belonging to ASD and AVG members recently had been seized.

    He did say he fired his paid attorneys.

    Here is Bowdoin’s letter. We added the italics.

    Hi Folks,

    It’s good to be talking to you once again. My attorneys kept me quiet for months, but after $800,000.00 and no results I fired them all.

    About a month ago, several members introduced me to a group that studied what my attorneys did. The group said that my attorneys had taken the wrong approach.
    The group was very confident that they could help because the government had broken so many laws and had violated our rights as citizens of the United States.

    I have rescinded my decision to release our ownership of all the assets. I filed various motions a few weeks ago, and several more last week, to dismiss our case and to return the assets because of the violations committed by our government.
    We are ready to pursue this all the way to the US Supreme Court.

    A great injustice has been done to 100,000 people, and we need to stand up and fight for our rights. Some agencies of the government have become so powerful that they believe they are above the Constitution. We, as members of ASD, need to help stop this misuse of power. I ask each one of you to write to the Justice Department, to your senators and representatives, to the President, and even to Glen Beck of Fox News. Tell them all what the Justice Department has done to your business.

    We will be filing papers in the next couple of weeks that should really get their attention. Watch for the filings. I will be speaking out on a conference call as soon as the filings are completed. We will notify you of the call. I look forward to talking to you then.

    I appreciate your support in helping us get back what rightfully belongs to the members of ASD.

    Thanks,
    Andy Bowdoin

  • BREAKING NEWS: Bowdoin Files Motion To Dismiss In Which He Acknowledges AdSurfDaily Was Illegal

    UPDATED 10:06 A.M. EDT (March 12, U.S.A.) Did Andy Bowdoin just sink AdSurfDaily’s ship — and also the ship of AdViewGlobal?

    In a court filing today, Bowdoin, the president of ASD, made a stunning acknowledgment that the company was operating illegally.

    Bowdoin’s acknowledgment came in the purported form of a motion to dismiss the forfeiture complaint against proceeds tied to the firm, which prosecutors said engaged in wire fraud, money-laundering, selling unregistered securities and operating a $100 million Ponzi scheme.

    “The defendant did not know or realize that his conduct was illegal until this instant case was filed against him,” Bowdoin said, referring to himself as “defendant.”

    Bowdoin contends in the pleading that the case is “quasi-criminal” and that he was denied due process and fair notice that his conduct was illegal.

    Bowdoin, however, is not a defendant in the forfeiture case. His self-filed pleading references the forfeiture case on its title page, but appears to be a response to a case that never was brought.

    For days, the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum has been applauding legal filings Bowdoin made last week and encouraging others to do the same.

    But today’s filing could cause Bowdoin’s remaining support to evaporate because of his concession that ASD was operating illegally. Bowdoin had spent months insisting ASD was legal and collected tens of millions of dollars from members last year, all the while advertising ASD as completely legal and above-board.

    Bowdoin now is acting as his own attorney. AdViewGlobal (AVG), an autosurf with close ties to ASD, recently formed a private association and turned to a firm known as Pro Advocate Group  for advice.

    Karl Dahlstrom is associated with Pro Advocate Group.  In 1997, Dahlstrom was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for his role in a securities scheme.

    Today’s filing by Bowdoin is potentially devastating both for ASD and AVG because of the concession that ASD was operating illegally. Prosecutors could claim the document has the effect of a signed confession.

    Bowdoin’s stepson is an AVG trustee. So is Gary Talbert, AVG’s chief executive officer and a former ASD executive. Chuck Osmin, a former ASD employee who testified for the firm at a hearing last year, also works for AVG. Nate Boyd, whom ASD members said once was a compliance officer for ASD, is listed as the “Protector” for the AVG association. Some of the Mods and members of Surf’s Up started a forum for AVG.

    Bowdoin’s pleadings today appear to attempt to manufacture a criminal defense out of whole cloth, by rewriting the history of the forfeiture case — a civil proceeding — and turning the case into something it never was: a criminal prosecution against Andy Bowdoin. The only defendants in the case to date are money and property prosecutors claim are the proceeds of a criminal enterprise.

    At the same time, today’s pleadings may be designed so potential ASD co-defendants in any criminal case that evolves will have a legal template for a self-filed defense. There have been reports that bank accounts owned by ASD members beyond Bowdoin have been seized in the past two weeks.

    Meanwhile, the cheerleading for Bowdoin at the Surf’s Up forum appears to be particularly unseemly now because today’s pleadings had everything to do with Andy Bowdoin, and nothing to do with the rank-and-file members who’d been asked to support him. The document does not cite the membership in a single place.

    Read today’s Bowdoin pleadings.

  • Purported Joe Shoop ASD Letter Was On Website Registered To Litigant Who Sued Chase Bank By Posting Bond Of ‘Twenty-One Dollars In Silver Coinage’

    UPDATE 8:14 P.M. EST (U.S.A.) With each passing day the AdSurfDaily case reveals new and strange details about a subculture that appears to have firm roots in the organization. It is a subculture of rants against the government for perceived injustices, underground business “associations” that purport to permit nonlawyers and nondoctors to practice law and medicine, and legal filings that seek to undermine banks’ abilities to collect on debts.

    Today a post appeared on the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum purporting to take viewers to a page from which they could download a Microsoft Word template  of a letter to send the government to protest its actions in the ASD case. The author of the letter was identified as ASD promoter Joe Shoop, and the website — credittechs.net — was registered to Ricky Jackson.

    In 2004, Ricky Jackson and Regina Jackson sued Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp. in federal court for the Eastern District of Missouri to overturn a mortgage foreclosure. The documents in the case purported to show that Ricky Jackson had posted a bond consisting of “twenty-one dollars in silver coinage” in a bizarre bid to undermine the bank’s interest in the property.

    The Jacksons, according to filings, ordered the bank to respond to the document within three days or lose all of its rights in the case, which appears to have started in Missouri state court and morphed into multiple federal cases.

    U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry ultimately dismissed the Jackson complaint against the bank with prejudice, saying the pleadings were nonsense.

    “This document is even more incomprehensible than the initial complaint, ” Perry said of the 21 Silver Coins filing.

    For days now, the Surf’s Up forum has been suggesting the ASD case soon will take a legal turn for the better — from ASD’s point of view. One Surf’s Up Mod pleaded with a member to “just hold on — a little bit longer now baby.”

    But pleadings filed in the case recently by ASD members have used the template of Curtis Richmond, a California man associated with a Utah “Indian” tribe a judge ruled a sham.

    Four motions to intervene have been filed in recent weeks in the ASD case. All four used the Richmond template. They accused Judge Rosemary Collyer, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor and Assistant U.S. Attorney William Cowden of crimes.

    Richmond, a nonlawyer, has been a thorn in the side of banks from coast to coast. His name appears in lawsuits in which borrowers claimed not to owe lenders money because they had “assigned” their debts to him. Meanwhile, Richmond has tried to have litigation opponents in debt cases arrested.

    On Feb. 26, an autosurf known as AdViewGlobal, which has close ties to ASD, announced it was forming a “private association.” The company to which it turned for advice is Pro Advocate Group, which says it can set up individuals to practice law without a license.

    Karl Dahlstrom, who is associated with Pro Advocate Group, was sentenced in 1997 to 78 months in federal prison for his role in a securities scheme.

    The credittechs.net website registered to Jackson features a media player with the ASD logo, and also appears to host a credit-repair organization set up as a private association.

    “At Credit Techs we are not credit counseling or credit negotiators, we are credit debt ELIMINATORS,” the site says. “We can help stop the credit companies from stealing your hard earned money. Our specialty is credit cards and unsecured debt. We are an organization of members who help one another out with such financial matters.”

    Credit Techs also says this:

    “Members of groups who are competent nonlawyers can assist other members of the group achieve the goals of the group in court without being charged with ‘unauthorized practice of law,’” the site says.

  • Shush! AdViewGlobal Promoters Get Tongue-Tied

    Here’s how one AdViewGlobal (AVG) promoter put it in a message to his list:

    “Ad View Global is now known as AV Global Association. AV Global Association is a private membership association. To help protect the members of this private association, I will no longer discuss AVG in my Newsletter.”

    He did not mention that AVG is taking advice from Karl Dahlstrom of Pro Advocate Group.  Dahlstrom, in 1997, was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for his role in a securities scheme. Nor did the promoter mention that Dahlstrom’s daughter also was sentenced to prison.

    No one at the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum has mentioned it either. A sister site for AVG set up by some of the Surf’s Up Mods and members, however, also has gone underground. A couple of weeks ago the AdViewGlobal forum anointed Curtis Richmond a “hero” for intervening in the ASD case, but never told members about Richmond’s conviction for threatening federal judges.

    Nor did the AdViewGlobal forum tells members about an order by a federal judge for Richmond and others to pay nearly $110,000 in damages and costs to public officials harmed by an organized nuisance campaign. Richmond is a member of a Utah “Indian” tribe the judge ruled a sham, saying the “tribe’s” efforts to undermine the legal system by filing vexatious lawsuits and trying to collect enormous judgments against public officials amounted to racketeering.

    BizAdSplash

    Here’s what the first promoter cited above had to say about BizAdSplash, yet another surf with ties to ASD that came to life in the aftermath of the government seizure of assets linked to ASD in August and December.

    “I think it is best to leave the percentages off my Newsletter going forward. For those who are already members of Biz Ad Splash, you can see the daily calculations by going to your Ad Package History and then clicking on any one of your active ad packs.

    “Biz Ad Splash announced over the weekend that they are discontinuing the Strict Pay payment processor. Strict Pay is having some problems right now which has caused Biz Ad Splash to stop using them for the time being at least.”

    Early promoters of BizAdSplash linked it to Clarence Busby, the operator of GoldenPandaAdBuilder. Assets linked to Golden Panda were seized in the ASD probe. Busby was called a “special consultant” to BizAdSplash. Other promoters said he was the owner.

    Like ASD President Andy Bowdoin and ASD attorney Robert Garner, Busby has been named a defendant in a racketeering lawsuit.

    The BizAdSplash promoter did not mention banking problems in Panama and elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean created by the collapse of the R. Allen Stanford Ponzi in Antigua. Three of three surfs that sprouted up after the government seizure of assets linked to ASD claimed ties to Panama or South America. These included BizAdSplash, AVG and AdGateWorld.

    All three surfs are trolling for cash in particularly odious ways right now — and this on the heels of other surfs that collapsed in the wake of the Stanford Ponzi. The extent of Stanford’s troubles on the autosurf trade is unclear, but two surfs — PAC and Aggero Investment — flamed out in spectacular fashion in the past week, and promoters for both surfs claimed the programs were safe because they were offshore.

    Both PAC and Aggero Investment collected money until the bitter end, saying things were just fine.

    Boom! They were gone.

    And, speaking of “gone,” MegaLido also is gone. The first promoter cited above promoted it, too, and he’s also promoting AdGateWorld.