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Tag: Sharon Jeannette Henningsen

  • Judge Says Evidence Shows That AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Kenneth Wayne Leaming Filed $225 Billion Bogus Lien And Was ‘Helping’ ASD Members Unhappy With Ponzi Prosecution

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming
    Kenneth Wayne Leaming

    UPDATED 12:46 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The evidence against AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming was “overwhelming” and led to the purported “sovereign citizen’s” conviction on three counts of retaliating against a federal official by filing false claims, one count of concealing a person from arrest and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, a federal judge wrote in court filings.

    While making a veiled reference to the ASD Ponzi case brought by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008 in the District of Columbia, U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton of the Western District of Washington wrote in an order dated March 14 that evidence showed Leaming “admitted to filing liens against a group of federal officials for absurd sums, $225 billion in one case.”

    “The only link any of these officials had to each other was their participation in the prosecution of a Ponzi scheme on the east coast,” Leighton wrote. “The evidence demonstrated that Defendant was ‘helping,’ as he put it, certain individuals who were aggrieved by the prosecution of the Ponzi scheme.”

    Leighton’s order did not identify the individuals Leaming was said to he helping. The order was issued in response to a bid by Leaming, 57, to be acquitted post-verdict amid assertions the evidence against him was insufficient to sustain the convictions.

    But Leaming, according to the order, “admitted on the stand that he knowingly possessed the firearms in question because he wanted to challenge the law at the Supreme Court.”

    And, Leighton wrote, the evidence “overwhelmingly supported Defendant’s conviction of concealing a person from arrest. The Government established that Defendant knew certain individuals were sought in relation to a postal-scam, that Defendant allowed them to stay in his home, helped them trade cars, and otherwise supported them.”

    Those individuals have been identified in court filings as onetime fugitives Timothy Shawn Donavan and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen of Arkansas. They were found with Leaming in Washington state in November 2011. Donavan and Henningsen later were convicted of mail fraud in a home-business caper that gathered more than $2 million, prosecutors said.

    ASD was a $119 million Ponzi scheme opearting from Florida over the Internet. ASD’s business model was similar to the model of the Zeek Rewards “program,” which the SEC described in August 2012 as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme operating from North Carolina.

    ASD and Zeek are known to have had members in common. Some ASD members said that Leaming was providing them counsel, despite the fact he is not an attorney.

    The PP Blog reported in November 2010 that Cornell University Law School, Justia.com and Oyez.org removed online profiles of Leaming. The sites previously had listed Leaming as an attorney who practiced law and advertised a fee structure of up to $250 an hour from Spanaway, Wash.

    Leaming was arrested by an FBI terrorism task force a year later in Spanaway.

    Also see Nov. 13, 2010, PP Blog report on a disturbing email some ASD members received that asserted they could be sued for filing a remissions claim in the ASD Ponzi case.

    In October 2011, the PP Blog reported than some ASD members had received an email that encouraged them to file documents at the “county” level and “name” federal officials as “thieves.”

    Court filings suggest that Leaming already was under investigation by the FBI when some ASD members were trumpeting him as the answer to their problems.

  • UPDATE: Leaming — Again: After Earlier Claiming He’d Been Targeted For ‘DEATH,’ AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Now Claims’ He’s Been Subjected To ‘POISON’ And ‘TORTURE’

    AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming now claims he's been subjected to "POISON" and "TORTURE."
    AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming now claims he’s been subjected to “POISON” and “TORTURE.”

    In 2009, AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming claimed a city in Washington state targeted him for “DEATH” and threatened to kill him by “HUNTING” him down “in screaming packs and mobs” and using “several armed street gangs” that served as police, according to records.

    Leaming, now 57, further claimed the Pierce County city of Puyallup engaged in terrorism by controlling “multiple electronic broadcast media” and employing police who used “chemical and biological weapons,” “machine guns” and “explosives.”

    In November 2011, prosecutors said Leaming was found in Spanaway, Wash., with two federal fugitives from Arkansas. Those fugitives now have been convicted of mail fraud for a multimillion-dollar, home-based business caper. Court filings by Timothy Shawn Donavan, 64, and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen, 68, suggest they also were sovereign citizens.

    After Leaming’s arrest with Donavan and Henningsen, federal prosecutors in the Western District of Washington said an FBI terrorism Task Force found evidence that Leaming had filed false liens against at least five public officials involved in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case filed by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008.

    Leaming allegedly also filed bogus liens or assisted in filing liens against a former cabinet official in the administration of President George W. Bush, the head of a credit union and at least two U.S. prison officials. In 2012, while detained, Leaming sued President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, advancing a Birther conspiracy theory.

    A federal judge tossed that lawsuit. Court filings by Leaming now suggest he intends to sue Holder anew, this time in the District of Columbia as opposed to the Western District of Washington.

    But Leaming also has another active lawsuit against Holder and others in the Western District of Washington. A complaint by Leaming dated yesterday asserts he has been subjected to “POISON” and “TORTURE” during his ongoing detention at the SeaTac federal detention center near Seattle.

    In October 2012, federal prosecutors alleged that Leaming “was instrumental in founding the ‘County Rangers,’ the sovereign group’s armed enforcement wing. Members of the County Rangers were issued realistic-looking badges and credentials were required to possess firearms as part of their duties, and held themselves out as law enforcement agents.”

    Leaming already is a convicted felon from a case that alleged he had no license and yet piloted an aircraft. When he was arrested in November 2011 in the company of Donavan and Henningsen, several firearms were found in Leaming’s residence, including an “AK-47 style assault rifle with a bayonet,” prosecutors said.

    He later was charged with unlawful possession of firearms as a convicted felon.

    When agents executed a search warrant, they found “numerous boxes of correspondence and legal paperwork documenting other apparent fraud schemes,” prosecutors said.

  • BULLETIN: AdSurfDaily Figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming Was Founder Of ‘Sovereign Group’s Armed Enforcement Wing’ And Had ‘Assault Rifle’ With Bayonet At Time Of Arrest, Prosecutors Say; Probe Was Part Of Deeper Investigation Into ‘Sovereign Citizens’ Operating Nationally Through Washington State

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming

    BULLETIN: The November 2011 arrest by the FBI of Kenneth Wayne Leaming was part of a deeper probe into the activities of a “national” group of “sovereign citizens”  operating in the Pacific Northwest, new court filings by federal prosecutors in the Western District of Washington reveal.

    “Local jurisdictions alerted federal law enforcement that they had received a significant number of threats from members of this group,” prosecutors said.

    Leaming, prosecutors said, was “a long-time constitutionalist/sovereign citizen, who had a
    documented history of holding himself out as a law enforcement officer and/or a lawyer . . . He also was instrumental in founding the ‘County Rangers,’ the sovereign group’s armed enforcement wing. Members of the County Rangers were issued realistic-looking badges and credentials were required to possess firearms as part of their duties, and held themselves out as law enforcement agents.”

    Leaming, 56, of Spanaway, Wash., is a figure in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme story. Some ASD members have claimed Leaming was performing legal work for them, and his name appears on the ASD court docket as the filer of a purported “Notice of Final Determination and Judgment.”

    Such filings have been associated with the “sovereign citizens” movement.

    As first reported on the PP Blog last year, Leaming, 56 and a convicted felon for piloting an aircraft without a license, was found with two federal fugitives from Arkansas at the time of his arrest.

    Both of those fugitives — Timothy Shawn Donavan and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen — now have been convicted of multiple counts of mail fraud in a home-based business caper in Arkansas, according to court files.

    The new filings by prosecutors came in response to a bid by Leaming to challenge the search warrant in the case and to suppress evidence against him.

    Leaming was indicted on charges of filing false liens, harboring fugitives, possessing firearms as a convicted felon and uttering a bogus “Bonded Promissory Note” with a face value of $1 million and depositing it in U.S. Bank.

    The bank “briefly credited Leaming’s account in the amount of $31,350, before realizing the amount was wholly fictitious and reversing the credit,” prosecutors said.

    At least four of Leaming’s “sovereign” associates — David Russell Myrland, Timothy Garrison, Raymond Leo Jarlik-Bell and David Carroll Stephenson  — already have been charged or convicted in various schemes, prosecutors said.

    Bogus liens linked to Leaming were found during a search of Jarlik-Bell’s residence, prosecutors said, making a veiled reference to the ASD case as a “a large wire fraud case” in the District of Columbia.

    Whether Jarlik-Bell has any ASD ties is unclear.

    The liens had been filed with the Pierce County Auditor [in Washington state] against a “federal District Judge, an AUSA, and other federal agents and employees, ” prosecutors said.

    Other records show that each of the alleged lien targets had ties to the ASD case, including U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer of the District of Columbia. Collyer presided over the ASD case.

    Prosecutors now assert that agents conducted a search of Leaming’s Spanaway residence and found an “AK-47 style assault rifle with a bayonet; several handguns (one of which was in a drawer of the desk Leaming was sitting at as entry was made); two other rifles; and a shotgun.”

    From the prosecution filing (italics added):

    “Immediately after execution of the search warrant, but before Leaming was transported from the scene, agents asked Leaming questions about the presence of firearms for officer safety purposes. Leaming admitted that a number of firearms were present in the home.”

    Meanwhile, agents found a “box of ‘County Ranger’ badges and other false law enforcement credentials,” prosecutors said.

    At the same time, agents found “numerous boxes of correspondence and legal paperwork documenting other apparent fraud schemes,” prosecutors said.

    Leaming is contending that the alleged liens aren’t really liens and, even if they were, “he had some constitutional right to file them,” prosecutors said.

    He also contends that he has a Constitutional right to possess firearms as a convicted felon and that the government is not permitted to regulate firearms ownership, prosecutors said.

    As the investigation continued more bogus liens were discovered against other government officials, prosecutors said.

    Those liens have been linked to Leaming and Stephenson, a jailed former business colleague of Leaming’s. They were filed in Pierce County “against the Warden” of the Federal Correctional Institution in Phoenix and the “direct[or] of the Bureau of Prisons,” prosecutors said.

    From the prosecution’s filing (italics added):

    ” . . . during the investigation agents also discovered that Leaming was preparing and using false and fictitious financial instruments. These instruments were typically called “Bonded Promissory Notes,” and purported to be issued by the Federal Reserve or the United States Treasury.”

    As to the firearms allegations, Leaming “advanced some type of nonsensical, quasi-legalistic explanation as to why they were not, in fact, firearms,” prosecutors said.

    Leaming has been jailed since his November 2011 arrest. Since that time, he has sued President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and a county sheriff in Arkansas, according to court filings.

    ASD operator Andy Bowdoin was sentenced in August to 78 months in federal prison. He admitted in May that ASD was a Ponzi scheme. Prosecutors said the scheme gathered at least $119 million.

  • BULLETIN: 2 Fugitives Found With AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Kenneth Wayne Leaming Convicted Of Mail Fraud In Multimillion-Dollar Arkansas Caper

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming

    BULLETIN: Timothy Shawn Donavan and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen — the two fugitives arrested in November in Washington state with AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming — have been found guilty of mail fraud and conspiracy in Arkansas in a multimillion-dollar home business caper involving envelope-stuffing.

    Donavan, 63, and Henningsen, 67, potentially face decades in prison after a jury returned guilty verdicts on 18 counts of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy. KATV.com is reporting there were more than 21,000 victims in the case.

    On May 31, the PP Blog learned that Leaming had been subpoenaed as a witness in the case and was transported from a federal detention facility near Seattle. Leaming, 56, is believed to be on his way back to Washington state. His trial is set for September on charges of filing false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD Ponzi case. He also is accused of harboring fugitives, being in possession of firearms as a convicted felon and uttering a bogus promissory note.

    Court records in Arkansas show that Donavan and Henningsen sought to represent themselves pro se but ignored orders by a federal judge to stop filing extraneous and off-topic pleadings. The judge ultimately ordered counsel to take over for the former fugitives because Donavan and Henningsen’s “persistence in refusing to obey Court directions and in injecting extraneous and irrelevant material into the record.”

  • UPDATE: Government Has Produced At Least 2,742 Pages Of Discovery In Kenneth Wayne Leaming Case; Trial For AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Scheduled To Begin Sept. 17, One Week Before ASD President Andy Bowdoin Goes On Trial

    “The Government has provided over 2742 pages of discovery consisting of: liens, police reports, [Bureau of Prisons] records, pictures, surveillance photos, internet search records, audio subpoenas and over 1000 pages of documents seized.” — From March 5 court order in false-liens case involving accused AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming and former Leaming business associate David Carroll Stephenson

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming

    If the scheduling holds, accused AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming will go on trial in the Western District of Washington on Sept. 17 with his former business colleague David Carroll Stephenson, one week before ASD President Andy Bowdoin is set to go on trial in the District of Columbia in a Ponzi scheme case involving at least $110 million.

    Leaming, 56, of Spanaway, Wash., is accused of filing false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD case, including a federal judge, three federal prosecutors and a special agent of the U.S. Secret Service. In addition, he is charged with being a participant with 56-year-old Stephenson, a federal inmate in a fraud case, in a scheme to file false liens against at least two federal prison officials.

    At the same time, Leaming is charged with concealing two federal fugitives involved in an Arkansas-based, home-business fraud scheme involving millions of dollars, being a felon in possession of firearms and uttering a false “Bonded Promissory Note” with a purported face value of $1 million.

    The docket of U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton of the Western District of Washington now shows a trial date of Sept. 17 for both Leaming and Stephenson.

    Leaming, who has a 2005 felony conviction for piloting an aircraft without a valid pilot’s certificate, originally was scheduled to go on trial March 20. That trial date was rescheduled for April 2 after a superseding indictment was returned against Leaming after his initial arrest on a criminal complaint in November 2011 — and now has been moved to September to give Leaming and Stephenson more time to prepare, according to court filings.

    Bowdoin, 77, was indicted in 2010 on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities. In August 2008, the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars from 10 of his personal bank accounts, amid allegations that Bowdoin was presiding over an international Ponzi scheme operating over the Internet.

    Both of the Arkansas fugitives allegedly found with Leaming in Washingston state also are purported “sovereign citizens.” They were identified as Timothy Shawn Donavan, 64, and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen, 67. Donavan currently is detained in Oklahoma, and Henningsen is detained in Texas, according to records.

    Leaming and Stephenson both are detained near Seattle.

    As was the case with the original court filings in the 2008 civil action that led to the criminal prosecution of Bowdoin, investigators have produced surveillance photos pertaining to the Leaming and Stephenson prosecutions.

    Records suggest that Leaming came under surveillance in Washington state by an FBI Terrorism Task Force by at least August 2011.

    In addition to the surveillance photos, the government also has produced, liens, police records, unspecified “pictures,” prison records, Internet search records, “audio subpoenas”  and “over 1000 pages of documents seized,” according to court filings.

    All in all, according to the filings, the government has produced at least 2,742 pages of discovery in the Leaming and Stephenson cases.

    It is unclear from court filings whether the government seized any evidence of correspondence Leaming may have conducted with ASD members. Some ASD members are known to have have quoted Leaming in individual emails dating back at least to November 2010.

    Leaming has asserted he is proceeding to trial under “duress.”

    In March 2009  — while the ASD Ponzi case was still a civil matter — Bowdoin claimed a January 2009 decision he made to submit to the forfeiture and stop pressing claims for the money seized from his bank accounts was made under “severe duress.”

    He made the claim while acting as his own attorney, and further claimed that his decision to relitigate the case after earlier abandoning his claims was “legally accomplished as a matter of law” simply because he had filed papers saying so.

    A month later — in April 2009 — federal prosecutors made a bombshell announcement in court that, prior to submitting to the forfeiture and dropping his claims to the seized cash, Bowdoin had signed a proffer letter and acknowledged the government’s material allegations were all true.

    In September 2009, prosecutors said Bowdoin was telling ASD members one story — while telling a federal judge another.

    Final orders of forfeiture were entered in the ASD civil case in January 2010. Bowdoin appealed, but lost in March 2011.

    In the earliest days and weeks after the August 2008 seizure, some ASD members — ignoring the lessons of history — began to promote other schemes that advertised preposterous payouts, claiming they were safe because they were “offshore.”

    One current HYIP scheme is JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, whose advertised daily payout rate is 2 percent — twice that of ASD. Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, identified himself as an ASD pitchman in 2008 web promos three months before the Secret Service raid on ASD headquarters in Quincy, Fla.

    In a Feb. 23, 2012, conference call, Mann declined to say precisely where JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid was operating from. On Feb. 27, the PP Blog reported that a site linked to Mann featured videos of Francis Schaeffer Cox, a purported “sovereign citizen” implicated in an alleged murder plot against public officials in Alaska.

    On Feb. 29, the PP Blog received threatening communications from an individual describing himself as “MoneyMakingBrain.” Among other things, “MoneyMakingBrain” claimed he’d defend Mann “so help me God.”

    On March 12, the PP Blog reported that “MoneyMakingBrain” had asserted the Blog would “go down in flames.”

    On Feb. 18 — at RealScam.com, a forum that educates the public about mass-marketing fraud — “MoneyMakingBrain” published a link to the Mann-associated site that beams the Cox videos. It is unclear if “MoneyMakingBrain” understood that Cox was under arrest on serious criminal charges and is identified with the “sovereign citizen movement.”

    NOTE: The PP Blog believes it is ill-advised to click on any link left by “MoneyMakingBrain” at RealScam.com.

    One of the surveillance photos in the ASD Ponzi case: Source: Court files.

  • UPDATE: Kenneth Wayne Leaming Pleads Not Guilty At Arraignment On New Federal Charges; AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Sent Back To Jail After Proceeding; Trial Date Set Next Month

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming

    AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming has pleaded not guilty to all six felony counts contained in a grand-jury indictment returned Jan. 26.

    U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen L. Strombom presided over Leaming’s arraignment at 1:30 p.m. PT in Tacoma, Wash.

    Leaming, 56, of Spanaway, Wash., remained in federal custody after the proceeding. His trial date on three counts of Retaliating Against a Federal Judge or Law Enforcement Office by False Claim and single counts of Concealing a Person from Arrest , Felon in Possession of a Firearm and False and Fictitious Instruments was set for March 20.

    Leaming has been detained near Seattle since his initial arrest in November 2011. Prosecutors said he was found with two federal fugitives from Arkansas and at least six weapons. The fugitives — Timothy Shawn Donavan, 63, and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen, 67 — now are listed as federal inmates at facilities in Texas.

    Donavan and Henningsen initially were freed on bond several days after their arrests with Leaming in Washingston state. After returning to Arkansas, trouble soon followed, and they were ordered back into federal custody for violating bond conditions.

    Leaming, who has a 2005 felony conviction for piloting an aircraft without a valid pilot’s certificate, is accused of filing false liens against several public officials, including at least five officials involved in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case.

    He initially was detained in November on the false-liens charges. A grand jury later added the firearms charge, the concealment charge related to Donavan and Henningsen and the charge of false and fictitious instruments. That charge stemmed from the alleged issuance by Leaming of a bogus “bonded promissory note” with a purported face value of $1 million, according to the indictment.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: AdSurfDaily Figure and Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Kenneth Wayne Leaming Facing New Federal Felony Charges

    Leaming

    UPDATED 1:33 P.M. ET WITH LINK TO INDICTMENT: AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming is facing new federal-felony charges.

    Leaming, 56, originally was arrested in November 2011 by an FBI terrorism task force on charges of filing false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD Ponzi scheme case.

    Prosecutors now say he faces charges in addition to the ones originally filed and will be arraigned on the charges tomorrow in Tacoma, Wash.

    Among the new charges are concealing a person from arrest, being a felon in possession of a firearm and using a false and fictitious instrument, the office of U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan of the Western District of Washington said.

    Leaming is among at least six purported “sovereign citizens” recently charged or convicted of crimes in the western section of the state.

    Timothy Garrison, 60, of Mount Vernon, Wash., was sentenced yesterday to 42 months in federal prison for a tax scam that cost the U.S. government more than $2.5 million.

    Like Leaming, Garrison’s activities included filing false liens. He also made “threats to ‘arrest’ law enforcement officers,” prosecutors said.

    “No one is above the law,” Durkan said. “[Garrison’s] scheme now creates a hardship for those who put their trust in Mr. Garrison – they have big tax bills to pay. His further abuse of the legal system with fraudulent liens and so-called ‘arrest warrants,’ is a dangerous mix for our law enforcement officers who are trying to keep our communities safe.”

    A convicted felon prior to the charges for which he was sentenced yesterday, Garrison assisted in the filing of more than 50 returns with false or fraudulent information, prosecutors said.

    When Leaming was arrested in November, he was found with two federal fugitives from Arkansas, along with firearms, prosecutors said.

    UPDATE AT 1:33 P.M. ET. Here is a link to the indictment, which also names alleged Leaming associate David Carroll Stephenson in a count of retaliating against a federal judge or federal law-enforcement officer. Stephenson currently is serving time in an Arizona federal prison in an earlier case, and prosecutors said he’ll be brought to Washington state on the new retaliation charge against him.  He is referenced in this November 2010 PP Blog story on a Leaming email sent to ASD members. Stephenson also is referenced in this November 2011 Leaming story about certain communications allegedly directed at U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts at the behest of Stephenson.

    The indictment describes the weapons allegedly found with Leaming and describes the fugitives by their initials. The PP Blog previously confirmed that the fugitives were Timothy Shawn Donavan and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen, who were wanted in an alleged mail-fraud caper involving envelope stuffing in Arkansas.

  • BULLETIN: Fugitive Found With AdSurfDaily Figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming Back In Jail After Judge Revokes Bond; Timothy Shawn Donavan Refused To Be Sworn As Witness At Pretrial Hearing In Arkansas Mail-Fraud Case; Leaming’s Firm Listed As Registered Agent For 2 Companies Implicated In Alleged Multimillion-Dollar Envelope-Stuffing Fraud

    BULLETIN: Timothy Shawn Donavan, one of two federal fugitives from Arkansas found in Washington state Nov. 22 with AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming, is back in jail.

    Separately, records show that Leaming’s Washington state firm was the registered agent for two defunct companies linked to the alleged Donavan mail-fraud scheme and that Leaming himself — using the name “Kenneth Wayne” and dropping his surname — was an officer in the companies.

    U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III revoked Donavan’s bond after Donavan, 63, refused to be sworn at a court proceeding in Arkansas earlier this month in violation of a bond condition that required him to cooperate at pretrial hearings in the mail-fraud case filed against Donavan in February 2011.

    Meanwhile, Donavan’s co-defendant in the mail-fraud case, Sharon Jeannette Henningsen, also is listed as back in federal custody. The circumstances surrounding her renewed detention were not immediately clear.

    Henningsen, 67, also was found with Leaming in the Pacific Northwest, federal prosecutors said in November. Donavan and Henningsen were participants in an Arkansas-based fraud involving envelope-stuffing, according to an indictment filed in February 2011.

    Donavan and Henningsen were freed on conditional bond several days after their arrests in Washington state. They returned to Arkansas, and trouble begun anew in very short order, according to court records.

    In the order revoking Donavan’s bond, Holmes said that Donavan “continues to insist, as he has in past proceedings, on repeating incomprehensible legal jargon in response to any question the Court posits, instead of cooperating with Court proceedings and responding appropriately to questions asked. Donavan ultimately refused to either swear or affirm to tell the truth during the proceedings.”

    The judge warned Donavan that he’d be taken into custody by U.S. Marshals if he refused to cooperate, according to the order revoking bond.

    On Jan. 23, Holmes ordered Donavan to be transported to a Bureau of Prisons medical facility in Texas, according to records.

    On Dec. 28, Donavan and Henningsen filed a strange pleading styled “NOTICE of Tender for Setoff and a Request Regarding a Statement of Account by Sharon Jeannette Henningsen and Timothy Shawn Donavan.”

    The Dec. 28 pleading was filed on the heels of other strange pleadings, including one styled,”Notice: Forgive Me Request; Constructive Notice of Conditional Acceptance and Request to Continue Public Proceedings.”

    Although Donavan and Henningsen had been scheduled to go on trial Jan. 19, the trial date has been canceled — and prosecutors have filed a superseding indictment against both defendants that adds at least four mail-fraud-related counts to the 15 originally filed 11 months ago.

    In the new allegations, federal prosecutors referenced two defunct Washington state companies — 1st Incentive Co. and Trail Head Options Inc. — allegedly tied to the Arkansas fraud of Donavan and Henningsen.

    Both firms, according to records in Washington state, listed Leaming’s firm — American International Business Law Inc. — as their registered agent.  Leaming, who sometimes drops his surname and uses simply “Kenneth Wayne,”  is listed as an officer of both companies.

    Prosecutors said the Donavan/Henningsen mail-fraud scheme netted more than $2.2 million.

    Leaming, 56, of Spanaway, Wash., was arrested in November on charges of filing bogus liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD case. The U.S. Secret Service said ASD was a Florida-based Ponzi scheme that gathered at least $110 million.

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin, 77, was charged with wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities in 2010.

    Some ASD members reportedly relied on Leaming for legal advice, even though he is not an attorney. Whether Dovavan and Henningsen did the same thing is unclear. Also unclear is whether they were ASD members.

    Leaming is jailed near Seattle. He is not named a defendant in the Arkansas case, but the indictment refers to at least one “unindicted co-conspirator.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Leaming is being held at the same facility.

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

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

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

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

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

     

  • UPDATE: Judge Ordered Detention Of Kenneth Wayne Leaming To Continue After Initial Hearing; AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Accused Of Filing Bogus Liens Against Bush Cabinet Secretary, Officials Involved In ASD Ponzi Case

    President Bush observes the 2006 swearing-in ceremony of incoming Transportation Secretary Mary Peters. Peters held the cabinet post between October 2006 and January 2009. Source: Wikipedia: White House photo by Paul Morse.

    UPDATED 5:42 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Public officials involved in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case were not the only targets of bogus liens filed by Kenneth Wayne Leaming, according to federal prosecutors in Seattle.

    Leaming, 55, also filed a lien against Mary Peters, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President George W. Bush during his second White House term, prosecutors said.

    In addition, prosecutors said Leaming filed liens against U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer; former U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor; former assistant U.S. Attorney William Cowden; current assistant U.S. Attorney Vasu B. Muthyala; and Roy Dotson, a special agent of the U.S. Secret Service.

    Collyer is presiding over both the civil and criminal prosecutions connected to the ASD Ponzi case in the District of Columbia. The civil case, which led to the successful forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars in the personal bank accounts of ASD President Andy Bowdoin, was brought by Taylor’s office in August 2008.

    Cowden and Muthyala assisted in the prosecution against ASD-related assets, including more than $65.8 million in Bowdoin’s 10 bank accounts and more than $14 million in other bank accounts linked to Golden Panda Ad Builder, a companion autosurf.

    Dotson was a key investigator in the case, which was brought in part through the efforts of a Florida-based Task Force. Bowdoin was arrested in December 2010. He is free awaiting trial in the District of Columbia.

    Taylor was succeeded as U.S. Attorney by Ronald C. Machen Jr. Machen’s office was sued pro se earlier this month by ASD members Todd Disner and Dwight Owen Schweitzer of Miami. Disner, a cofounder of the Quiznos sandwich franchise,  and Schweitzer, a former attorney whose license was suspended in Connecticut,  asserted that prosecutors engaged in “character assassination” against Bowdoin and that the forfeiture case consisted of a “tissue of lies.” They also claimed Dotson’s affidavit that led to the seizure of Bowdoin’s assets was flawed and that 4th Amendment violations had occurred.

    Disner and Schweitzer also named Rust Consulting Inc., the government-approved claims administrator in the Ponzi case, a pro se lawsuit defendant. In September, Machen joined Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer in announcing that the government had returned $55 million to victims of the ASD Ponzi.

    Collyer ordered the forfeiture of Bowdoin’s assets in January 2010. Her rulings were upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals. Bowdoin, 77, is using Facebook and a website known as “Andy’s Fundraising Army” to raise money for his criminal defense on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities.

    Why Peters allegedly was targeted by Leaming was not immediately clear. But court records suggest the FBI is investigating Leaming ties to a Washington state group of “sovereign citizens” known as the “County Rangers.”

    Leaming was arrested on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Richard Creatura in Tacoma. Creatura ordered Leaming’s detention to continue. The date of Leaming’s next court appearance was not immediately clear.

    Leaming, according to prosecutors, was found Tuesday with two federal fugitives from Arkansas who were indicted in February on federal charges related to an alleged envelope-stuffing scheme. Prosecutors identified the fugitives as Timothy Shawn Donavan and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen.

    Donavan and Henningsen have court histories that include declaring themselves “living breathing free” people to whom laws do not apply, according to records. Like Leaming, they are being held at the Sea Tac Federal Detention Center near Seattle.

    Leaming has been charged with retaliating against a Federal judge or Federal law enforcement officer by false claim or slander of title, an obstruction of justice statute.

    Among the government’s allegations against Bowdoin is that he falsely claimed to have received an important award for business acumen from President Bush in 2008. ASD members used Bush’s name in online promos, according to records.

    In July 2008 — as the Secret Service and the Task Force were investigating ASD — Bowdoin threatened to sue critics, according to court filings. After the seizure of his assets, he claimed the government’s action was the work of “Satan” and compared the seizure to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

    Cowden, whose name was repeatedly misspelled as “Crowden” by pro se litigants in the forfeiture case, was derided as “Gomer Pyle” on the now-defunct, pro-ASD “Surf’s Up” forum. One ASD member opined that Cowden should be placed in a torture rack. Another said a “militia” should storm Washington. Still another issued a “prayer” that called for prosecutors to be struck dead.

    ASD critics were derided as “rats,” “maggots” and “cockroaches.”

    In December 2010, prosecutors linked ASD to E-Bullion, a defunct California payment processor operated by James Fayed. E-Bullion has been linked to several Ponzi schemes.

    Earlier this month, Fayed was formally sentenced to death for arranging the contract slaying of his estranged wife, Pamela Fayed.

    Pamela Fayed was slashed 13 times in a Greater Los Angeles parking garage in July 2008 while James Fayed sat on a bench within earshot of Pamela’s screams, according to records.

    At least one ASD member used E-Bullion to send money to ASD, according to federal court records. That member — former ASD “trainer” Erma Seabaugh of Missouri — was operating a purported “religious” nonprofit in Oregon and using ASD to promote a pyramid scheme, according to records.

     

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: FBI Says Kenneth Wayne Leaming Filed Bogus Liens Against Federal Officials Involved In AdSurfDaily Ponzi Case; Leaming Was Arrested With 2 Fugitives, U.S. Attorney’s Office In Seattle Says

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming

    URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming was arrested Tuesday by the FBI on criminal charges of retaliating against a Federal judge or Federal law enforcement officer by false claim or slander of title, the PP Blog has learned.

    Leaming, 55, of Spanaway, Wash., was arrested at his home, the office of U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan said this evening. When arrested, Leaming was found with two federal fugitives from Arkansas. Both were arrested with Leaming and are detained at the Sea Tac Federal Detention Center near Seattle. Leaming is being held at the same facility.

    Prosecutors identified the fugitives as Timothy Shawn Donavan and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen. Prison records say Donavan is 63; Henningsen is 67. They were accused of mail fraud in an alleged home-based business scheme involving stuffing envelopes.

    Prosecutors in Seattle said Leaming is accused of filing liens against at least five federal employees involved in the ASD case, including a federal judge, a former U.S. attorney, a former assistant U.S. attorney, a current assistant U.S. Attorney and an agent of the U.S. Secret Service.

    Bail details for Leaming and the Arkansas fugitives were not immediately clear.

    More details as they emerge . . .

    See story from earlier today.