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Tag: Sovereign

  • SPECIAL REPORT: Convicted ‘3 Hebrew Boys’ Ponzi Figure Declares He Is ‘Sovereign’; Joseph Brunson Says Prosecutors Have No Authority Over Him

    Defining himself as “One,” a South Carolina man convicted Friday of operating an $82 million Ponzi scheme with two colleagues has filed a series of pleadings declaring himself “sovereign” and accusing a federal prosecutor of committing treason against the United States.

    The convicted schemer, Joseph B. Brunson of Hopkins, appears to trying to bolster his claim he is sovereign by constructing an argument that he is immune from prosecution because the United States is insolvent and has no jurisdiction over him. The pleadings were filed on the same day a jury found him guilty of mail fraud, money-laundering and transporting stolen goods and issued a special verdict for forfeiture of $82 million — the proceeds of the Ponzi scheme.

    Brunson is one of the so-called “3 Hebrew Boys” who operated a website with the same name. The name is taken from a biblical tale of believers who escaped a furnace by relying on their faith.

    Bond Revoked

    Upon the jury verdicts, prosecutors moved to revoke the bond of Brunson and co-defendants Tim McQueen and Tony Pough, asking a federal judge to jail them immediately, pending sentencing.

    Judge Margaret B. Seymour granted the request, pointing to a Brunson pleading that accused U.S. Attorney Walt Wilkins of treason.

    Screen shot: Joseph Brunson declares that U.S. Attorney is guility of treason, insurrection and conspiracy to overthow the U.S. government in his efforts to prosecute Brunson.
    Screen shot: Joseph Brunson declares that U.S. Attorney Walt Wilkens is guilty of treason, insurrection and conspiracy to overthow the U.S. government in his efforts to prosecute Brunson.

    ‘Pembina’ Tie

    Web references connect Brunson to The Little Shell Pembina Band of North America, a reputed splinter group of a legitimate tribe of Native Americans in Montana. WIS News 10, the news arm of a TV station in South Carolina, reported in 2007 that Brunson was stopped by police for driving with illegal tribal license plates while out on bond after being charged by state authorities in the “3 Hewbrew Boys” case.

    The splinter group is listed by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as an “active anti-government extremist group.”

    “Members of the group claim that they belong to a ‘sovereign’ Native American tribe and therefore are not subject to laws and regulations,” ADL reports.

    Activities of the splinter group range from “driving with bogus license plates to perpetrating insurance fraud schemes [and] tax evasion,” ADL reports.

    ADL notes that the Little Shell Band of Montana is a legitimate tribe, but is not recognized by the federal government. It has no connection to extremism or to the Little Shell Pembina Band of North America, according to ADL.

    Bizarre Filings In Securities Cases

    Brunson’s filings in the South Carolina case are similar to pro se pleadings in the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme case in the District of Columbia. Filings in both cases have included wild arguments, using words directed at prosecutors or judges such as “treason” and “conspiracy” in bids to short-circuit the government’s efforts to prosecute Ponzi and securities cases.

    Screen shot: Joseph Brunson asserts his purpurted sovereignty in the '3 Hebrew Boys' Ponzi scheme case.
    Screen shot: Joseph Brunson asserts his purpurted sovereignty in the '3 Hebrew Boys' Ponzi scheme case.

    Curtis Richmond, a mainstay pro se litigant in the ASD case, has been associated in court filings with a version of the Pembina tribal name and the name of a separate Utah tribe a federal judge ruled a “complete sham.” The purported Utah tribe filed enormous financial judgments against prosecutors and members of law-enforcement, and was successfully sued under federal racketeering and mail-fraud statutes.

    Richmond was among a group of litigants ordered to pay more than $108,000 in damages and costs for their roles in harassing members of the Utah law-enforcement community with vexatious legal filings. In a separate case, Richmond was found guilty in California of contempt of court for harassing federal judges.

    Despite the RICO ruling that went against him and his contempt conviction, members of the AdSurfDaily autosurf and a closely associated surf known as AdViewGlobal hailed Richmond a “hero.”

    ASD is implicated in an alleged $100 million Ponzi scheme. Federal prosecutors are attempting to force the forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars in the case, which includes two other autosurfs: Golden Panda Ad Builder and LaFuenteDinero. “LaFuenteDinero” means the “fountain of money,” and the surf was the purported Spanish arm of ASD. Golden Panda was the purported Chinese arm.

    For more than a year — at least since May 2008 — various operators or participants in alleged Ponzi schemes have claimed to be immune from U.S. law because they were “sovereign” beings or members of a “sovereign” Indian tribe.

    Screen shot: Joseph Brunson he is 'One' and that U.S. Attorney Walt Wilkins is engaged in acts of war against 'One.'
    Screen shot: Joseph Brunson he is 'One' and that U.S. Attorney Walt Wilkins is engaged in acts of war against 'One.'

    The arguments have been both bizarre and implausible. Gold Quest International (GQI), an alleged multimillion Ponzi scheme operating out of Las Vegas, claimed Panamanian registration and immunity from U.S. law because it was associated with a North Dakota Indian tribe.

    Despite the claim GQI was immune from the law because of its purported tie to the Pembina tribe, one of the alleged operators the Ponzi scheme, John Jenkins, left a Nevada courtroom to go outside to plug a parking meter to avoid getting a ticket.

    GQI attempted unsuccessfully to sue the SEC for the spectacular sum of $1.7 trillion for bringing the prosecution. The company reportedly relied on the services of a nonattorney as its “attorney general” and a nonnotary as its notary public to certify documents.

    “You are in an imaginary world where you belong to an unrecognized Indian group,” a federal judge advised Robert Neilson Baker, the nonnotary notary.

    In the “3 Hewbrew Boys” case, Brunson filed documents that appear to have been designed to force Wilkens, the U.S. Attorney, to default on a contact to which he never had agreed. The approach sometimes is referred to as “paper terrorism” or “mailbox arbitation.”

    A similar approach was used by litigants in the ASD case.

    Brunson wrote in a court filing he described as a “Bill of Peace” last week that Wilkens had a duty to appear before a notary public and acknowledge Brunson’s assertion of sovereignty in “red ink.” The document demanded that Wilkens use his “Christian name” in his response to Brunson.

    A refusal by Wilkens’ to carry out the demands within three days, Brunson said, would result in a contractual agreement that Wilkens was “an enemy of One and the [U]nited States of America and the people, Constitution, and Government thereof.”

    Read Joseph Brunson’s purported “writ” in the “3 Hebrew Boys” case.

    Read Joseph Brunson’s claim U.S. Attorney Walt Wilkens is committing treason against the United States.

    Read the jury’s special verdict ordering the forfeiture of $82 million in the “3 Hebrew Boys” case.

    Read a statement by acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sloman on Audie Watson, a Florida man found guilty of selling bogus memberships in a “Pembina” tribe for $1,500 to illegal aliens.

  • ASD ALL OVER AGAIN? ‘3 Hebrew Boys’ Accuse U.S. Attorney Of ‘Treason’; Claim Draws Another Parallel To AdSurfDaily

    Three men found guilty in South Carolina last week of operating an $82 million Ponzi scheme accused a federal prosecutor of treason on the same day the jury returned its verdict, the FBI said.

    A treason claim also was made in the federal forfeiture proceeding against assets tied to Florida-based AdSurfDaily, an alleged Ponzi scheme involving $100 million.

    U.S. District Judge Margaret B. Seymour cited the treason claim in the “3 Hebrew Boys” case as a reason to send Joseph Brunson, Tim McQueen and Tony Pough to jail immediately to await sentencing.

    “After the jury’s verdict, Judge Seymour was asked to allow the men to remain free on bond until their sentencing,” the FBI said.  “She denied the request after noting that all three men filed documents [Friday] accusing U.S. Attorney Walt Wilkins of treason and committing acts of war by prosecuting them.”

    Brunson, McQueen and Pough became known as “3 Hebrew Boys” after operating a website with the same name, which is based on a biblical story of believers who escaped a furnace by relying on their faith. The Ponzi scheme operated under the name Capital Consortium Group LLC.

    Wilkens said the scheme targeted people of faith and members of the military.

    U.S. Attorney W. Walter Wilkins
    U.S. Attorney W. Walter Wilkins

    “By calling themselves the Three Hebrew Boys, these con men tried to disguise their Ponzi scheme as a religious, charitable program of debt elimination in order to gain the trust of unsuspecting investors,” Wilkins said. “Unfortunately many people were victimized by these men, including many in our armed forces.”

    In the ASD case, the treason claim was made against U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer. ASD is known to have members who identify with the so-called sovereignty movement.

    California resident Curtis Richmond, a pro se litigant in the ASD case, identified himself in court documents in a separate case as a “sovereign” being who enjoyed diplomatic immunity from prosecution and answered only to Jesus Christ.

    Richmond is associated with a Utah “Indian” tribe ruled a “complete sham” last year by U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot. On the eve of a civil RICO trial last year, Richmond attempted to have Friot removed from the case by claiming he owed Richmond $30 million.

    Friot refused to step down in Utah, as did Collyer in the District of Columbia. Richmond accused Collyer earlier this year of operating a “Kangaroo Court” and violating her judicial oath. Collyer is presiding over the ASD civil-forfeiture case. Other filings in the ASD case suggested Collyer was guilty of as many as 60 felonies, and that an effort had been made by at least one ASD member to start a process to collect $120 million from Collyer, two federal prosecutors and a court clerk for “Interference With Commerce.”

    Screen shot: Section of a pro se filing in the ASD case.
    Screen shot: Section of a pro se filing in the ASD case.

    Such bizarre claims have been popping up more and more in litigation involving securities.

    Gold Quest International (GQI), a company accused by the SEC last year of operating a Ponzi scheme from Las Vegas, claimed it was part of a North Dakota Indian tribe and was immune from U.S. law.

    After the SEC brought the charges against GQI in May 2008, Michael Howard Reed, the purported “attorney general” of the tribe, tried to sue the SEC for $1.7 trillion. The sought-after amount would have exceeded the total of federal income tax paid by individual U.S. filers last year by about $575 billion.

    U.S. District Judge Kent J. Dawson struck a series of pleadings by Reed from the record.

    Meanwhile, Dawson jailed John Jenkins, one of the defendants implicated in the Ponzi scheme, for contempt. Dawson also dispatched the U.S. Marshals Service to arrest David Greene, also known as “Lord David Greene,” in part for violating orders to repatriate money offshore to the United States.

    Despite Richmond’s behavior, he was labeled a hero on the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum. Over the weekend, Surf’s Up reinforced an earlier announcement that it would not permit discussion about the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf.

    “[P]lease don’t expect any information that concerns AVGA,” a forum Mod said Saturday. “[I]t doesn’t belong on this forum.”

    Another Mod reinforced the ban on AVG discussion today.

    “In the beginning days of AVG we made it clear this is not an AVG forum and it still will not be,” the Mod said.

    Surf’s Up members repeatedly have said they wanted to discuss AVG, which has close connections to ASD. Their requests have been consistently rebuffed. Some of the Surf’s Up Mods were among the founding members of the AVG surf, which came to life after a major court ruling went against ASD last year.

    AVG purported to be a “private association” that operated offshore. Members used the “offshore” angle as a key selling point, saying the surf’s purported country of operation — Uruguay — insulated it from prosecution.

    Like the “3 Hebrew Boys” operation, AVG sought to prevent members from discussing the company outside the confines of areas it controlled. AVG members were scolded for sharing information and calling the autosurf an “investment” program.

    As AVG was in failure mode in May and June, members were threatened with copyright-infringement lawsuits. Critics were told AVG would contact their ISPs to file abuse reports and suspend service.

  • Our Surprise Visit From ‘The White Nationalist Community’

    Given that people hawking private medical associations that enable unlicensed members to practice medicine are playing an increasingly vocal role in the AdSurfDaily case — and that  “Sovereigns” and conspiracy theorists are, too — it shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of our visitors yesterday arrived at the Blog from a hate site.

    But it did come as a surprise.

    Perhaps it was just someone doing research and trying to establish links among the vocal ASD factions. We can only hope.

    We hadn’t heard of Stormfront.org before seeing its URL in our logs. We visited the site, and an instant chill swept over us.  The site invited visitors to listen to “Dr. David Duke” on the radio. Posts included attacks on white people stupid enough to vote for President Obama, attacks on Jews, attacks on the government.

    And you could buy a Ku Klux Klan T-shirt for $12 (plus shipping), and even set yourself up with some Nazi mementos. The site’s slogan is “White Pride World Wide.”

    The site is operated by Don Black, owns its own servers, and operates out of West Palm Beach, Fla.

    “Stormfront has published stories aimed at children, and the Stormfront for Kids section of the website hosts a link to ‘White Power Doom,’ a downloadable white power computer game that allows children the opportunity to hunt and kill Jews and black people,” according to Wikipedia.

    Here’s hoping our visitor from Stormfront.org was just a researcher.