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Tag: Quincy

  • Split In Bowdoin/Harris Family? Members Described As ‘Very Much’ Divided; At Least One Family Member Said To Have Contacted Federal Prosecutors

    Andy Bowdoin

    UPDATED 12:01 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Has the pressure of being challenged on multiple legal fronts led to a split in the extended family of AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin?

    The depths of any split are unclear, and it is believed that Bowdoin has the continued support of some members of the Bowdoin/Harris family.

    But interviews conducted by the PP Blog and information obtained through sources suggest Bowdoin is unable to travel internationally, no longer is living in Quincy, Fla., does not enjoy the uniform support of the extended Bowdoin/Harris family and has been blamed by some for engulfing them in the flames of a legal nightmare.

    At least one family member has contacted federal prosecutors, according to a source. How prosecutors responded to the overture, which was said to have been made in the summer of 2009, is unclear.

    On Saturday, numerous vehicles were parked at a Florida property associated with Bowdoin’s wife, Edna Faye Bowdoin, according to a source. Edna Faye Bowdoin is the mother of George Harris, the reputed co-owner of Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises and the AdViewGlobal autosurf, as well as the head of ASD’s purported “real-estate” division.

    Several women were present, but Bowdoin was not seen, the source said.

    A second source knowledgeable about the Bowdoin/Harris family described the family as a “family divided.” The PP Blog interviewed the second source in August 2009, and has not published comments from the interview until today.

    The source spoke with the PP Blog on the condition of anonymity, and demonstrated knowledge of the family by voluntarily answering questions posed by the Blog prior to the interview and during the interview. The Blog was satisfied that the source could offer insight into the thinking of certain family members.

    “There is already an unbelievable amount of friction in the family right now because of everything that Andy has done,” the source said. “This is very much a family divided.”

    Less than a month after the Blog conducted the interview, the state of Florida revoked the corporate registrations of ASD and Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises Inc. because neither company filed annual reports despite the continuing presence of active litigation involving both firms and despite being given a five-month window to file required documents.

    Neither Bowdoin nor family members explained why the corporate registrations were permitted to lapse. Only four days prior to the revocation, which could have been prevented by the simple filing of papers, Bowdoin told ASD members in a conference call that he had big plans for ASD.

    On the same date Florida revoked the corporate registrations — Sept. 25, 2009 — federal prosecutors turned up the heat on Bowdoin by accusing him in court filings of trying to lie his way back into the federal forfeiture case against ASD’s assets.

    Prosecutors made a veiled reference to AdViewGlobal in their filings, saying Bowdoin perhaps “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.”

    Three days later, on Sept. 28, prosecutors turned up the heat again, filing a Secret Service transcript of an ASD conference call and advising a federal judge that Bowdoin was telling her one story and members another.

    In the weeks that followed, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled that Bowdoin no longer had standing in the case. Bowdoin then attempted unsuccessfully to have Collyer removed as the judge.

    Collyer has granted the government’s forfeiture petition in a case filed in August 2008 involving tens of millions of dollars. Bowdoin now is seeking a reversal of that order, claiming it came as a result of judicial error. Prosecutors, however, said the judge did not err and that Bowdoin’s arguments are “impenetrably illogical.”

    Purportedly headquartered in Uruguay, AdViewGlobal, which crashed and burned in June 2009, had close family, membership and promotional ties to ASD.

    In the August 2009 interview, the source described George Harris and his wife, Judy Harris, as “very worried.”

    “Judy heard that the Secret Service was staring to investigate [AdViewGlobal,]” the source said.

    Certain family relationships are fractured beyond repair, the source said.

    “These relationships are done,” the source said. The source said that paranoia was gripping certain family members and that there were efforts to compartmentalize knowledge and limit use of the telephone.

    “They became very shady,” the source said.

    Andy Bowdoin led family members and members of ASD and AdViewGlobal down the primrose path, the source said.

    AdViewGlobal was described by Bowdoin as a “wonderful idea,” the source said, noting that Bowdoin described the successor autosurf as ASD with tweaks.

    AdViewGlobal launched after ASD’s assets were seized amid Ponzi, wire-fraud, securities fraud and money-laundering allegations.

    Andy Bowdoin wanted to proceed with AVG, according to the source, “because, with a few little tweaks, this company can make it.”

    In June 2009, less than a year after ASD’s assets were seized, AdViewGlobal announced a suspension of cashouts, exercising its version of a “rebates aren’t guaranteed” clause.

    How much money the surf collected and how much it paid out are unclear.

  • 2009 Ends With Ponzi Clawbacks In Nadel Case, Demands By Fleeced Investors In Bolze Case For Politicians To Return Tainted Campaign Donations

    EDITOR’S NOTE: There is a link at the bottom of this story to a report filed by Burton Wiand, the receiver in the Arthur Nadel Ponzi case in Sarasota, Fla. We encourage readers to read the document in its entirety. The Nadel case is not yet a year old. Nadel, who turned 77 today and is  a onetime attorney, was disbarred in 1982 for taking money from a trust fund to pay off a loan shark, a fact allegedly hidden from investors. Nadel allegedly also employed an unlicensed accountant.

    Among other things, the Wiand document shows that unwinding a Ponzi scheme is a monumental undertaking. At the same time, the document may leave some readers scratching their heads and asking how on earth any person actually could advocate for Ponzi schemes — and yet such advocacy occurs on a daily basis in the bizarre world of autosurf and HYIP Ponzi schemes, where so-called “leaders” get paid for recruiting people into Ponzis.

    Here, now, the story . . .

    Arthur Nadel turns 77 today. He is jailed in New York.
    Arthur Nadel turns 77 today. He is jailed in New York.

    Burton Wiand, the court-appointed receiver in the alleged Arthur Nadel Ponzi scheme involving at least $350 million, has identified at least 85 investors who received more than they paid in and is working to identify more.

    Clawbacks have begun in earnest, with the winners offered a choice of settling for 90 percent of the total they received and returning the money or being sued for 100 percent and paying lawyers to defend them in the lawsuits.

    Meanwhile, fleeced investors in a separate Ponzi case in Tennessee are demanding that politicians who received campaign donations from the Dennis Bolze Ponzi scheme return the money so it can be used to compensate victims.

    Bolze, 61, of Gatlinburg, Tenn., pleaded guilty Nov. 10 to all counts against him, and is awaiting sentencing. He was accused of wire fraud and money-laundering in a $21.5 million scheme.

    WATE reported that Bolze gave money to a number of politicians.

    Beyond the Bolze case, it is clear that substantial sums of Ponzi money made its way into the coffers of local, state and national politicians in various jurisdictions. It is equally clear that there is no uniform approach to returning the money. Some politicians have said they’ve spent the money. Others have said they donated it to charity after Ponzi allegations surfaced. Still others have returned money.

    Unlike fleeced Ponzi investors who receive tainted largess directly, politicians’ ill-gotten gains may come indirectly from a polluted money stream linked to a Ponzi. There are allegations in Florida, for instance, that disbarred Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein provided campaign donations from Ponzi proceeds, while at the same time paying lawyers in his now-shuttered, 70-attorney firm from Ponzi proceeds. It is possible that some of the Ponzi money paid to attorneys also made its way into the political process.

    Elsewhere in Florida, there are allegations that Andy Bowdoin, president of Quincy-based AdSurfDaily — itself implicated in a Ponzi scheme — donated at least $5,500 to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) — before the alleged ASD Ponzi scheme was exposed in August 2008.

    Meanwhile, the Miami Herald reported that Allen Stanford, implicated in an alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme, also donated to politicians prior to the scheme being exposed. Like the Rothstein case, politicians in both major U.S. political parties received donations.

    Nadel Clawbacks

    In the Nadel case, Wiand estimated that the winners received at least $39 million in fictitious profits — ill-gotten gains from the scheme. He has settled with 26 investors to date, meaning that at least 59 potential clawback cases remain to be resolved. The number could increase because Wiand still is working to identify winners.

    The Sarasota Herald Tribune reported that six of the 26 settled clawback cases were settled in the final two weeks of 2009. One investor agreed to return $207,000 in fictitious profits by making four payments over the next three years.

    This chart from Burton Wiand's court filings in the Arthur Nadel case shows that the hedge funds purported to have recorded more than $272 million in gains between 2003 and 2008, then the funds actually lost more than $18 million. In 2007, the funds purported to have gained more than $54 million, but actually lost nearly $25 million.
    This chart from Burton Wiand's court filings in the Arthur Nadel case shows that the hedge funds purported to have recorded more than $272 million in gains between 2003 and 2008, when the funds actually lost more than $18 million. In 2007, the funds purported to have gained more than $54 million, but actually lost nearly $25 million.

    The SEC approved the 90 percent settlement figure, Wiand said. He added that the window was closing on the discount deal.

    In a November court filing, Wiand said that “those who do not settle with the Receiver should anticipate that litigation will be commenced in the immediate future” and that the discount “will no longer be available.”

    It appears as though two groups of clawback targets exist: a group of 85 who received letters and were offered the discount, and a group of an unknown size that will receive settlement letters soon.

    Wiand said the group of 85 represented about $16.2 million in fictitious profits from the scheme. The other group represents about $22.8 million.

    Read Wiand’s interim receivership report in the Nadel case.

    See Nadel story in Sarasota Herald Tribune.

    See Bolze story from WATE.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Bowdoin Family Knew About December Forfeiture Complaint A Month Prior To Launch Of AdViewGlobal; AdSurfDaily-Connected Assets Seized In December ’08 Case Prepped For Sale

    Even though Andy Bowdoin and his family knew in January 2009 that the government intended to seize the Tallahassee home of his stepson George Harris and an $800,000 building purchased with cash in ASD’s home city of Quincy, Fla., the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf proceeded with its launch in February 2009, according to an analysis of web records and new court filings.

    Although a “Proof of Service” filed by federal prosecutors yesterday did not mention AVG, other records say that Bowdoin was given “direct notice” of a second forfeiture complaint that had been filed in December 2008 against ASD-connected assets. The initial forfeiture complaint against ASD was filed in August 2008.

    Yesterday’s filing by the prosecution showed that the Harris home and ASD building in

    Andy Bowdoin
    Andy Bowdoin

    Quincy were publicly posted for forfeiture on Jan. 8, 2009. AVG launched less than a month later, triggering a virtually relentless series of 200-percent, matching bonus offers to generate cash and events that ultimately led to its collapse after the Harrises were identified by AVG as the owners of the company.

    A Nov. 6 filing by the prosecution states that Bowdoin was given “direct notice” of the December 2008 seizure in January 2009, as were “all known potential claimants.” Prosecutors noted in the Nov. 6 filing that they had “signed receipts” from Bowdoin and others.

    Other records clearly show that AVG’s launch proceeded in February 2009, pushed by former members of ASD despite the filing of two forfeiture complaints against the firm and a racketeering lawsuit.

    Cash and property seized by the U.S. Secret Service in the December 2008 forfeiture complaint against assets tied to Bowdoin, his wife, stepson and Golden Panda Ad Builder are being prepared for liquidation, according to yesterday’s filing in the December case.

    The property includes $634,266.13 in cash seized from a Golden Panda bank account. It is being held in a U.S. Customs Suspense account in Indianapolis.

    The $800,000 building ASD paid for in cash also is being prepared for liquidation. The building is located in Quincy, Fla. It was promoted by Bowdoin as the site to which the company intended to move to accommodate employees and customers, owing to ASD’s rapid expansion.

    ASD’s growth was fueled by both video and written lies that its business was legal, the Secret Service said.

    In only months last year, ASD morphed from a company that earlier said it could not afford to pay members because of a malfunctioning computer script that purportedly had overpaid members and an accompanying  $1 million theft at the purported hands of “Russian” hackers  to a purported cash turbine was was going to buy an interest in an “international bank” and a “call center” in South America, the Secret Service said.

    In August 2008 — in the first forfeiture case filed against ASD’s assets — prosecutors told a federal judge that they believed Bowdoin was preparing to flee the United States. After reviewing a 37-page affidavit filed by the Secret Service and an additional 57 pages of evidence, including surveillance photos taken in Quincy prior to the filing of the application for seizure, a federal magistrate judge ordered Bank of America to freeze 13 bank accounts linked to ASD or Golden Panda and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to seize the money.

    Prosecutors later seized two additional Golden Panda accounts at Bank of America, as part of the August complaint, bringing the total of accounts seized in the August matter to 15 — 10 from ASD, and five from Golden Panda. Those accounts, after reconciliations, contained more than $79.88 million, according to court filings.

    As the investigation continued, prosecutors established more links to ASD-connected assets. In December 2008, they filed a second forfeiture complaint, naming an additional Golden Panda account maintained by Bartow County Bank, rather than Bank of America. The Bartow County account is the one that contained the $634,266.13 now being held in Indianapolis.

    Prosecutors also seized the Tallahassee home of George and Judy Harris in the December complaint, saying its mortgage of more than $157,000 had been paid off with illegal proceeds from ASD. Records show the mortgage  was paid off about three weeks after a May 31, 2008, ASD rally in Las Vegas had concluded.

    George Harris is the son of Bowdoin’s wife, Edna Faye Bowdoin. Judy Harris is the wife of George Harris. The AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf, which came to life four months after the August seizure of tens of millions of dollars from Bowdoin’s bank accounts and approximately one month after a key court ruling went against ASD in November 2008, later identified George and Judy Harris as its owners.

    Bowdoin invoked God at the May 2008 Las Vegas rally, imploring members to imagine themselves wealthy and thanking God for providing him tremendous wealth.

    “And I always say, ‘Thank you, God, for developing me into a money magnet,’” Bowdoin said at the rally. “And I see myself as a money magnet in attracting money and, I say, attracting large sums of money.”

    Within days of the conclusion of the rally, according to court filings, ASD money was used by Edna Faye Bowdoin and George Harris to open a bank account into which more than $177,000 of illegal proceeds were deposited. More then $157,000 of the opening deposit was used to pay off the Harris home, which was seized in the December complaint.

    Neither George nor Judy Harris filed a claim to the home, prosecutors said. In September 2009, prosecutors made a veiled reference to the AVG autosurf in court filings.

    “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,” prosecutors said.

    AVG purportedly was headquartered in the South American country of Uruguay. Servers of the purported “advertsing” firm that operated in largely the same form as ASD resolved to Panama.

    Also seized in the December complaint were three automobiles: a 2009 Lincoln luxury sedan that had been acquired in July 2008 for nearly $50,000; a 2008 Honda CRV registered to George and Judy Harris acquired in June 2008 for nearly $30,000 after the Las Vegas rally; and a 2009 Acura TXS registered to former ASD figure Hays Amos for nearly $34,000.

    The check to acquire the Acura registered to Amos was signed by ASD Chief Executive Officer Juan Fernandez, prosecutors said.

    Also seized in the December complaint were computer equipment, two jet skis and a hauling trailer that were purchased with $20,506 of ASD money; and a Triton Cabana boat, Mercury motor and trailer purchased with $23,445 of ASD funds, prosecutors said.

    All of the property seized in December now is being prepared for liquidation, pending an order from U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer. Prosecutors said no one made a claim to any of the seized property.

    Based on the lack of claims, it is possible that prosecutors may argue that none of the property was claimed because ASD already had a plan to replace it through AVG.

    ASD’s seized computers are being held at Secret Service headquarters in Orlando, according to to the prosecution court filing. Meanwhile, the Lincoln luxury sedan registered to Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises and the Honda registered to George and Judy Harris are being held at a company in the auto-auction business in Lakeland, Fla.; the Acura registered to Amos is being held at an auto-auction company in Daytona Beach, Fla.; and the marine equipment is being held at auction companies in Fort Lauderdale and Pensacola, Fla.

    The $800,000 building and the Harris home were posted for forfeiture on the same date — Jan. 8, 2009, according to the prosecution filing. Only 5 days later Bowdoin surrendered his claims to the millions of dollars seized in August 2008.

    Regardless, the AVG autosurf proceeded with its formal launch in February 2009 — less than a month after the Harris home in Tallahassee and the ASD building in Quincy were posted for forfeiture.

    By the end of February, Bowdoin attempted to reenter the August case, acting as his own attorney and saying he’d changed his mind about submitting to the August seizure. Coinciding with Bowdoin’s pro se filings was an announcement by the AVG autosurf that it was becoming a “private association” based offshore.

    During the same time period, a poster at the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum told members that the Secret Service had seized the bank accounts of ASD promoters. The poster warned members to remove money from their bank accounts before it could be seized.

    By June 25, 2008, AVG announced that it was suspending cashouts. After initially blaming its inability to pay members on the greed of some members, it later changed its story and said $2.7 million had been stolen from the firm.

    The story was remarkably similar to the story the Secret Service said ASD had told about the purported “Russian” hackers to explain why it couldn’t pay members.

    See the prosecution’s filing yesterday that shows ASD’s Quincy building and the Harris home in Tallahassee were posted prior to the February 2009 launch of the AVG autosurf.

    See the prosecution’s Nov. 6 filing that says Bowdoin and family members had “direct notice” of the December 2008 forfeiture case and that the government had “signed receipts” prior to the launch of AVG, which later was linked to George and Judy Harris.

  • AdSurfDaily: Revisiting Our Early Coverage

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

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

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

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

    ASD Cash Generator Under Scrutiny By U.S. Attorney

    Aug. 2, 2008

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

    At the moment the page loads with this message:

    “Friday, August 1st 2008 afternoon update:

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

    “ASD Management.”

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

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

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

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

    Aug 3, 2008

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Investigation Mystery At ASD Cash Generator Remains

    Aug 4, 2008

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Aug. 4, 2008

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    ASD Cash, Golden Panda Investigations Enter 5th Day

    Aug. 5, 2008

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Aug. 5, 2008

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

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

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

  • EDITORIAL: Westridge Capital Management And AdSurfDaily: Poor North Salem, Poor Quincy

    Andy Bowdoin.
    Andy Bowdoin.

    We feel for the residents of North Salem, N.Y., and the residents of Quincy, Fla. Fate has put them in the media glare. Talk at Westchester County lunch counters is not about how the Mets or Yankees or Red Sox will do this year. It’s about how Paul Greenwood, the town supervisor of North Salem, got arrested for fleecing universities and public-employee pension funds out of perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars.

    Meanwhile, in Gadsden County, the talk in Quincy is less about how Florida State will perform on the football field this fall in nearby Tallahassee and more about how Andy Bowdoin was accused of running a $100 million Ponzi scheme.

    Dozens of people in Quincy are out of work because of Bowdoin. Some of them weren’t even earning wages. They were being paid with what Bowdoin called “ad packs.” Prosecutors called them unregistered securities.

    Greenwood and Bowdoin have embarrassed their communities, putting on a show before their fraud was exposed. Greenwood declined to take a salary for overseeing the town. Bowdoin, for his part, let the local Chamber of Commerce do his bidding — never telling local executives about a previous felony conviction for securities fraud.

    Paul Greenwood.
    Paul Greenwood.

    Local merchants were stunned when prosecutors announced Bowdoin was the head of an international wire-fraud and money-laundering operation disguised as an advertising service. He’d secreted away money on the Caribbean island nation of Antigua — now in the news because of Allen Stanford — while at the same time paying $800,000 cash for the old Masonic Hall in town, prosecutors said.

    Quincy viewed him as a savior; North Salem viewed Greenwood as a leader. Prosecutors now say he spent up to $80,000 on individual Steiff Teddy bears. Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, the Iowa Public Employees Retirement System and pension funds in Sacramento and North Dakota now might have to insist that stuffed animals be sold to be made whole.

    If “whole” is possible, that is.

    Imagine what it’s like to have to rely on the sale of Teddy bears at auction to offset pension-fund losses. Such are the ugly incongruities of the times.