PatrickPretty.com

Tag: Surf’s Up forum

  • STATEMENT: Another Unusual Event At PP Blog

    Yesterday, beginning at approximately 11:09 p.m., the PP Blog’s operations were affected by a swarm of sudden visitors. The swarm caused an outage that lasted for approximately 30 minutes.

    The vast majority of the visitors displayed non-U.S. IPs, and sought to pull a range of “old” stories or archived files. It is believed the event was engineered robotically. Logs suggest that almost all of the visitors never previously had appeared at the Blog.

    Last night’s event was the most recent in a series of unusual events in which international IPs swarmed the Blog. The PP Blog is published in the United States. Most of its traffic originates in the United States.

    On March 27 — a Sunday — the Blog recorded a brief unusual event. In Sunday’s event, a small number of IPs sent unusually long command strings to the Blog’s server. One such string included 3,283 characters. Normal command strings are far, far smaller. Other visitors also sought to send exceptionally lengthy commands. The 3,283-character string appears to have been a bid to summon the same “old” story multiple times simultaneously. The story referenced the AdSurfDaily case and the now-defunct pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum.

    The events of Sunday and yesterday followed on the heels of unusual events that occurred on March 9 and March 22. The unusual event that occurred on March 9 also featured a bid to send exceptionally lengthy command strings to the server. In the March 9 incident, multiple visitors with international IPs sought to pull simultaneously a story about the MPB Today “grocery” MLM and an unrelated story about a Ponzi scheme in New Jersey.

    Like last night’s event, the unusual event of March 22 featured the sudden appearance of dozens and dozens of international IPs simultaneously. An early analysis of last night’s event suggests the sudden swarm delivered traffic at a rate of more than 63 times the Blog’s ordinary volume.

    A sudden swarm of visitors with international IPs appeared at the PP Blog, beginning at approximately 11:09 p.m. (EDT) on March 28, 2011.

  • THE DAY ‘WINK-NOD’ DIED: Use Of ‘Money Magnet’ Line, ‘Rallies,’ ‘Ad Packages’ And ‘Rebates’ Backfires On Bowdoin; Grand Jury Uses Terms Repeatedly In Indictment; Prosecution Has Damning ASD Correspondence

    Thomas A. "Andy" Bowdoin

    History was made yesterday. “Wink-nod” marketing deceptions  — the use of disingenuous language supplemented by willful blindness in the cancerous autosurf and HYIP trades to create plausible deniability — were pronounced dead by a grand jury sitting in the District of Columbia.

    Members of the insidious trade can thank ASD President Andy Bowdoin for the much-anticipated pronouncement.

    The grand jury, which began meeting in May 2009 and returned an indictment against Bowdoin that was unsealed yesterday, repeatedly referred to Bowdoin’s alleged wink-nod wordplay and incongruous claims to hide his massive international Ponzi scheme.

    Want to position yourself as a man of God from a stage in Las Vegas (or in any city or home office) and tell your audience that you are a “money magnet” — and then plant the seed that audience members can become “money magnets” just like you if they turn over their cash to you?

    It’s time for autosurf purveyors to anticipate that a grand jury just might have something to say about it on a time and date uncertain. Bowdoin’s grand jury handed him back his “money-magnet” line repeatedly. Federal agents arrested Bowdoin yesterday in Florida. His booking and bail status still are unclear hours after his arrest. The government previously argued that Bowdoin was a flight risk who had moved money offshore and now says he faces up to 125 years in federal prison.

    And what if you’re an autosurf aficionado and want to use wordplay to tell the troops that they’re not purchasing an investment in the form of an unregistered security — but instead are purchasing “advertising” in the form of “ad packages” (or a similar phrase) you’ve concocted to mask the nature of your “program?”

    Well, the grand jury had an answer for that one, too: Charge the fraudster with felonies.

    Want to tell the troops that your “program” has passed muster with the SEC and does not need to concern itself with registering when the claims are untrue? The grand jury had an answer for that one, too: Charge the fraudster with felonies.

    Among the grand jury’s conclusions was that Bowdoin, who’d previously been charged twice with securities offenses and modeled ASD after the 12DailyPro securities, fraud and Ponzi scheme, was blowing smoke to tens of thousands of people at a time.

    KABOOM! “Wink-nod” was blown to bits yesterday.

    Want to create an incongruous condition in which people are standing in line for hours at “rallies” to purchase “ad packages” that pay “rebates” of up to 150 percent and an “instant bonus” on top of the “rebates” just for signing up?

    The grand jury had an answer for that one, too: Charge the fraudster with felonies.

    Want to counsel members on how they should refer to the “program” and what words to avoid when presenting the “program” to others? Want to be like Bowdoin and send an email that says, “[L]et’s don’t (sic) use the words investment and returns. Instead, lets (sic) use ad sales and surfing commissions. The Attorney Generals in the U.S. don’t like for us to use these words in our program?”

    The grand jury had an answer for that one, too: Charge the fraudster with felonies.

    KABOOM! “Wink-nod” was blown to bits yesterday.

    Will autosurf forum life ever be the same? Not a chance, except among a core group of serial criminals. The grand jury signed off on a document that neatly exposes “wink-nod.” The next time a forum “expert” cautions posters not to call a surf program an investment, autosurf critics can point out that Bowdoin said the same thing — and that his words got him indicted.

    At the very same Saturday “rally” in Las Vegas at which Bowdoin called himself a “money magnet” and encouraged others to become “money magnets” by giving him their cash, Bowdoin implored members not to miss a fabulous opportunity to hand him a virtually unlimited sum in the final hours before the company would enforce a $50,000 “cap” beginning on Monday, according to the grand jury.

    Handing him any more than $50,000 beyond Monday might bring out the regulators, Bowdoin ventured, pointing out that “there are so many people that want to come in now and want to purchase two hundred thousand, three hundred thousand, half a million and a million dollars . . .”

    The grand jury pointed out that Bowdoin, incongruously, was selling advertising to people who did not even own businesses to advertise in the ASD “rotator.”

    After observing any number of incongruities associated with ASD and its use of wordplay to skirt securities laws, the grand jury had a message for the whole of the autosurf and HYIP worlds: Charge the fraudsters will felonies.

    It was the beginning of the end for wink-nod promoters — and it occurred in no small measure due to the efforts of the U.S. Secret Service, an agency Bowdoin and his apologists compared to “Nazis” and “Satan” after telling a Las Vegas crowd to plunk down unlimited sums on Saturday because he was lowering the limit to $50,000 on Monday.

    Bowdoin’s theory behind enforcing a cap was that $50,000 might be a low enough sum to keep ASD under the radar, according to the grand jury.

    Only in the incongruous world of the autosurf could someone sell himself on the notion that limiting purchases to $50,000 on Monday somehow created a safety buffer for others who plunked down higher sums two days earlier. Only in the incongruous world of the autosurf could someone instruct members to “act fast” and plunk down more than $50,000 on Saturday because the safety buffer would be enforced two days later.

    And wink-nod also began its race to the Internet graveyard in no small measure due to the efforts of William Cowden, now in private practice — but once a federal prosecutor and the chief of the Asset Forfeiture Division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia.

    Cowden was the man some ASD members loved to hate. They called him “Gomer Pyle” on the pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum. They called him a “goon.” They called him “Crowden.” They called him “Cow-dung.” They called for a “militia” to storm Washington. They said Cowden should be placed in a torture rack. They “prayed” for God to strike Cowden and other federal prosecutors dead.

    And then they called themselves Christians.

    In the months that followed, the Secret Service, Cowden and others at the Justice Department set the stage for the complicated nature of autosurfs and HYIPs to be both understood and rejected by a grand jury that assessed ASD’s wordplay and the sea of incongruities and decided that felonious self-indulgence needed to be dealt with by returning felony indictments and destroying wink-nod.

    Indeed, history was made yesterday. It was the day “wink-nod” died, the day the music died for  “money magnets” and autosurf scammers on stage and in home offices and online forums everywhere.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: ANDY BOWDOIN INDICTED: AdSurfDaily President Arrested In Florida

    BULLETIN: UPDATED 4:40 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin has been arrested by federal agents in Florida after an indictment was unsealed earlier today that charged him with five counts of wire fraud, one count of securities fraud and one count of unlawful sale of unregistered securities.

    Bowdoin, 76, was arrested in Englewood, Fla. Details on bail were not immediately available. It is believed the U.S. Secret Service made the arrest. If convicted on all counts, Bowdoin faces a maximum prison sentence of 125 years and a maximum fine of $6.26 million.

    ASD was raided by the Secret Service in August 2008. The case began as a civil-forfeiture action with the filing of a forfeiture complaint that month and the filing of a second complaint in December 2008, as the investigation proceeded.

    With the unsealing of the indictment that alleges a massive Ponzi scheme, Bowdoin now faces serious criminal charges  — and yet-another forfeiture action, this one in criminal court. Today’s forfeiture allegation was included in the indictment and called for a judgment of $110 million to be entered against Bowdoin.

    Prosecutors charged today for the first time that Bowdoin actively discouraged ASD members from contacting law enforcement prior to the Secret Service raid in August 2008. Meanwhile, prosecutors revealed for the first time that a financial analyst had been assigned to the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia.

    U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. of the District of Columbia praised the Secret Service, which had been derided by Bowdoin as “Satan,” for its work on the case. Machen also praised William Cowden, the former federal prosecutor who brought the forfeiture actions.

    Cowden was derided as “Gomer Pyle” by members of the pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum, one of whom opined that he should be placed in a medieval torture rack while ASD members drew straws to determine who got to tighten the wheel.

    Bowdoin, according to the 18-page indictment, used ASD members’ money to make a donation to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). The allegation marked the first time the government had charged that Bowdoin used Ponzi proceeds to make the donation. Bowdoin was specifically accused of permitting members to make false claims about a “Medal of Distinction” he received from NRCC.

    Members claimed the award was an important award from the President of the United States. In reality, according to the indictment, the award was for campaign donations — and Bowdoin did not correct the record.

    Meanwhile, the indictment accused Bowdoin of not correcting the record when a purported ASD “compliance officer” said the Bowdoin’s only run-in with law enforcement had been as the recipient of a speeding ticket.

    In truth, prosecutors said, Bowdoin had been charged in two two securities cases in Alabama during the 1990s, pleading guilty in one case and entering a plea of “best interest” in another that required him to pay restitution to victims.

    Read the indictment against Bowdoin.

  • REMEMBER PRAEBIUS? Penny-Stock Firm ASD Claimed Would Pump $200 Million Into Its Coffers Was Flogged By California Man In ‘Fraudulent Touting’ Scheme During Month ASD Announced ‘Joint Advertising Venture,’ Records Show

    On Oct. 29, 2008, Andy Bowdoin's AdSurfDaily Inc. announced a purported $200 million joint venture with Praebius Communications. During that same month, Praebius' penny stock was part of a "Fraudulent Touting" scheme operated by Songkram Roy Sahachaisere of Huntington Beach, Calif., the SEC says.

    A California man and his company have been accused by the SEC of running a “Fraudulent Touting” scheme that pumped the penny stock of Praebius Communications, a company the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme once claimed would generate $200 million for its coffers through a joint “advertising” venture.

    Charged by the SEC with fraud were Songkram Roy Sahachaisere and InvestSource Inc. of Huntington Beach. The Praebius stock was pumped by Sahachaisere as part of what the SEC described as a “massive” email and newsletter scam.

    “Between January 1, 2008 and March 31, 2009, InvestSource sent nearly 450 email messages to over 24 million recipients,” the SEC charged.

    Praebius was one of seven InvestSource clients whose stock was pumped and dumped to generate illegal profits of more than $276,000, the SEC charged.

    The timing of the alleged touting scheme, according to records, coincided with dates in October 2008 in which ASD, an autosurf company, was announcing a purportedly lucrative  joint venture with Praebius. ASD announced the prospective deal on Oct. 29, 2008. During the same time period, ASD was awaiting a key court ruling on whether it had demonstrated at an evidentiary hearing earlier in October that it was operating lawfully. Using a headline of “ASD-Praebius Venture” on its now-defunct Breaking News website while awaiting the ruling, ASD said it expected to garner revenues of about $200 million “over the first several years” from Praebius.

    Announcement of prospective $200 million deal with Praebius Communications on ASD’s Breaking News website. The announcement was removed after some members questioned it.

    The SEC now says Sahachaisere and InvestSource were pitching Praebius stock during the same month, declaring their business practices to be “Fraudulent Touting” because they “failed to disclose that they were selling the very securities they were recommending investors buy.”

    Sahachaisere and InvestSource received 4.1 million shares of Praebius stock between Oct. 2, 2008, and Nov. 25, 2008, the SEC charged.

    The scheme involving Praebius netted $49,215 for Sahachaisere and InvestSource, the SEC said.

    Five of the seven stocks — including Praebius — experienced “significant increases in trading volume during InvestSource’s promotions,” the SEC said.

    ASD’s name is not referenced in the SEC complaint, and Praebius was not listed as a defendant in the case. Praebius is referenced in the case as a client that paid InvestSource and Sahachaisere in stock “to provide investor relations services.”

    One of the issues in the ASD Ponzi case was whether the company had revenue streams adequate enough to pay “rebates” to members of 1 percent a day or 365 percent a year for viewing “advertising.” During the evidentiary hearing, ASD never produced audited, certified financial statements to prove it could sustain the rebates. Prosecutors described the company as catastrophically insolvent and reliant on revenue from new members to pay “rebates” to older members in classic Ponzi scheme fashion.

    Less than a month after an evidentiary hearing concluded on Oct. 1, 2008, ASD announced the purported joint venture with Praebius. Critics immediately questioned both the $200 million figure quoted by ASD and the timing of the announcement because Praebius did not publish verifiable financial data and ASD was described by federal prosecutors in the Ponzi scheme case as hopelessly under water.

    Although ASD purported to be a professional communications firm, its announcement of the purported $200 million deal did not quote executives of either ASD or Praebius. The announcement led to questions about why Praebius would knowingly associate its name with a company suspected of operating a massive, international Ponzi scheme while it allegedly also engaged in wire fraud and money-laundering while selling unregistered securities.

    Some ASD critics saw the announcement as a cynical means of instilling hope in ASD members that all was not lost while signaling to a federal judge that ASD had a major, new client that single-handedly could wipe away the firm’s alleged insolvency. Even as critics were voicing concerns that ASD was advancing yet-another story that was too good to be true, members of the now-defunct Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum were cheerleading ASD’s purported revenue infusion from Praebius.

    Some ASD members sprinted to forums to announce the news, but the information could not be verified. ASD later removed the announcement from its website.

    According to the SEC’s complaint against Sahachaisere and InvestSource, nearly 4.5 million shares of Praebius traded hands between Oct. 7, 2008, and Jan. 27, 2009, generating less than $50,000 in revenue.

    ASD never explained how Praebius, which did not publish verifiable financial data, could generate the $200 million ASD cited in the announcement.

    Less than a month after ASD issued the Praebius announcement, a federal judge ruled ASD had not demonstrated at the evidentiary hearing that it was operating lawfully and was not a Ponzi scheme. By Dec. 19, 2008, federal prosecutors had filed a second forfeiture case against ASD-connected assets, again citing Ponzi allegations.

    Even as prosecutors were filing the second Ponzi complaint, Surf’s Up members were claiming that the government secretly had admitted ASD was not a Ponzi scheme.

    From the SEC "Fraudulent Touting" court case against Songkram Roy Sahachaisere and InvestSource Inc. The highlight in red shows the alleged illegal touting of Praebius stock.

  • BREAKING NEWS: AVG Loses Banking Privileges

    UPDATED 5:09 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) AdViewGlobal (AVG), a surf site with close ties to AdSurfDaily, reportedly has lost its banking privileges.

    The event occurred as AVG was running a 200-percent, matching-bonus program. The news is not posted on AVG’s main webpage. It is posted on a forum some of the Mods and members of the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum set up to promote AVG.

    AVG’s early explanation was that its bank account had been “suspended.” The development may signal that the bank, whose name was not disclosed, suspects it is being used to launder money or for another criminal purpose.

    It also may signal that AVG, which purported to be operating offshore, actually is operating from inside the United States. Promoters had been flogging the AVG 200 percent bonus program for days when news about the account suspension was announced.

    Matching-bonus programs can result in huge cash infusions for autosurfs — but also create enormous downstream liabilities.

    In a news release on Aug. 18, 2008, the U.S. Secret Service cited bank cooperation with law enforcement as one of the elements that made the seizure of tens of millions of dollars from ASD possible.

    “Cooperation among investigators, including the private sector partners who brought this case to our attention, allows us to combine not only our resources, but also our expertise in order to more effectively address evolving criminal methods, such as these online schemes,” said Michael Merritt, assistant director of investigations.

    Federal prosecutors said the ASD seizure prevented a Ponzi scheme from mushrooming.

    Banks outside of the United States also have ramped up efforts to detect money-laundering in the wake of the Allen Stanford Ponzi scheme in Antigua. The scheme had a ripple effect on banking from Antigua in the Caribbean to Central America and South America.

    Here is the AVG announcement (italics added). Notably, the message was not signed by an individual executive of AVG. Rather, it was signed “The AVG Management Team.”

    Due to people bank wiring too many transactions over $9500.00 each, the bank we were using for Bank Wires and ACHs suspended our account. We will get this resolved as soon as possible but in the meantime we will have to postpone bank wires and ACHs until we secure a bank that will accept them without a problem. Until we find the right bank, sales and cash outs must be done through Strict Pay and Solid Trust Pay. We will soon be able to pay cash outs on our debit card.

    If you have requested a cash out through a bank wire or an ACH, the transaction will be voided and your funds will be returned to eWallet. You can then request your cash out through Solid Trust or Strict Pay.

    Sorry for the inconvenience, but we were eliminating all wire transfers and ACHs with the new site because of the U.S. banking system and their resistance to a lot of large bank wires. We want to abide by all banking laws and keep AVG a safe place for people to advertise.

    The AVG Management Team

    George Harris, the stepson of ASD President Andy Bowdoin, is listed as an AVG trustee. Gary Talbert, a former ASD executive who filed sworn documents in the ASD civil-forfeiture case, at one time served as AVG’s chief executive officer. Only days ago, Talbert relinquished his AVG title and was said to be working as a U.S.-based accountant for the firm, an AVG promoter told downline members last week.

    The precise date AVG lost its banking privileges was not immediately clear. Ismeal Santiago is AVG’s new chief executive officer and will move to Uruguay because “all officers should live offshore,” according to the promoter.

    Nate Boyd, a former compliance officer at ASD, was listed as “Protector” of the AVG association. Chuck Osmin, a former ASD employee who testified on ASD’s behalf at a Sept. 30-Oct. evidentiary hearing, later identified himself as an AVG employee.

    In November, after a federal judge ruled that ASD had not demonstrated at the hearing that it was a legal business and not a Ponzi scheme, ASD gave its official endorsement to the Surf’s Up site. In December, early promotions for AVG began to appear online, and some of the Surf’s Up Mods and members ultimately created a forum to support AVG.

  • NEWS ANALYSIS: The Problem With Guenther’s ‘Secret’ Code Word (And Other Oddities About The AdSurfDaily Case)

    Bob Guenther has told the Mods and members of the ASD-Biz forum that his previous “Bob Guenther” account had been “compromised.” He announced that he had deleted the “Bob Guenther” account and now would embed a secret code word in posts under his new forum identity, so members would know he was the actual author of posts and not a hacker using his identity to post.

    Under the new forum identity “Robert L,” Guenther said he came to the conclusion that someone had hacked his old account after “in depth investigation” revealed “[s]omeone had accessed my account, had my email and my password.”

    Meanwhile, in an unrelated but equally strange development, a poster at the Surf’s Up forum threatened to beat up ASD President Andy Bowdoin for lying to him.

    “[I]f I ever see you face to face I will knock the f— out of you,” the poster said. “I met you and had breakfast with you and you lied to my face on that Sunday in [M]iami . . .”

    Miami was the site of a July 12 ASD rally — a rally attended by federal agents working undercover.

    Bowdoin was 74 at the time federal agents seized tens of millions of dollars from the firm a few weeks after the Miami rally, in the opening days of August. The poster who threatened Bowdoin also appears to be a senior citizen. Earlier discussion in the forum suggests the man lost $52,000 by trusting Bowdoin.

    The Surf’s Up post, which stood for hours, now has been deleted. The man’s wife, who also appeared to be a senior citizen, was pictured alongside him in a loving pose. Some seniors are none too happy with Andy Bowdoin. The threat, however, was excessive.

    No good can come through violence, suggestions of violence or menacing behavior. The man, who said he lives in California, made no threat to travel to Florida to harm Bowdoin.

    The ‘Secret’ Code

    At roughly the same time Guenther was deleting his old account at the ASD-Biz forum and announcing his secret code, he also was sending an email to this Blog. We deem the email menacing and convoluted.

    Guenther is the de facto head of the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA) Trust, the subject of some recent posts on this Blog and elsewhere on the Web.

    All of Guenther’s old posts at the ASD-Biz forum were wiped away when he deleted his account, including threatening posts and posts that triumphantly announced a slander and libel lawsuit against Florida resident Jack Arons by Dallas-based attorney Larry Friedman, who is the attorney for the Trust.

    Bob Guenther introduced Larry Friedman during an ASDMBA conference call last year while ASDMBA was solicting funds to protect contributors’ interests in the ASD case. Friedman now blames Arons for stirring the pot online and encouraging people to file complaints about his handling of the Trust’s affairs, claiming Arons is a felon and a menace.

    Links to the slander and libel lawsuit were posted in the ASD-Biz forum under the “Bob Guenther” identity, which now is wiped away. Also wiped away were goonish threats from “Bob Guenther” that Friedman would sue other people.

    Here are two questions an investigator might ask if considering recent developments concerning Guenther:

    • Who could derive a benefit from the claim the “Bob Guenther” identity at the ASD-Biz Forum was compromised by a hacker?
    • Who could derive a benefit by deleting the “Bob Guenther” account and thus deleting the posts associated with it?

    Friedman immediately should fire the Trust as a client and disassociate himself from Bob Guenther. He also should report this matter to law enforcement. These acts are disturbing and too unnatural to ignore.

    Some people said they saved copies of the old posts, anticipating that the account might go missing. Some ASDMBA members said they filed complaints with the Texas Bar and the office of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott about the manner in which the Trust’s affairs have been handled.

    Secret code? Guenther could post something inflammatory, not include the secret code — and then claim someone else is the author because the post didn’t include the secret code.

    A secret code is proof of nothing. The notion itself strains credulity at a level that cannot be ignored.

    Along those lines, a claim by Guenther that he was at a volleyball tournament in Dallas “about the time” an unauthorized poster was using his old forum account and claiming to be heading to Mexico also is proof of nothing. A poster in Dallas could claim to be posting from Mexico. So could a poster from Arizona, at a location near the border with Mexico. (As noted in a previous post, in January we captured an Arizona IP address of Guenther’s near the Mexico border.)

    Guenther explained that he hadn’t been to Mexico since 2003 and that “[a]nyone that actually knows me, also knows why.” Again, however, the claim proves nothing . Even a person who claims not to have been in Mexico since 2003 could claim to be posting from Mexico — or anywhere.

    Restraint is not a word we associate with Guenther.  His lack of restraint is what is driving one of the stories associated with the federal probe into the business affairs of AdSurfDaily Inc. (ASD).

    Within hours of establishing a new posting identity at the ASD-Biz forum, Guenther was back to threatening people with lawsuits.

    Guenther is the de facto head of the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA) Trust. As noted above, ASDMBA was formed with member contributions in the aftermath of the government seizure last summer of tens of millions of dollars from ASD. Federal prosecutors say ASD was selling unregistered securities, operating a Ponzi scheme and engaging in wire fraud and money-laundering.

    ASDMBA’s stated goal was to protect the legal interests of ASD members who contributed to the association. People concerned want to know why that hasn’t happened, despite the fact ASDMBA raised more than the $100,000 said to be needed to pay for the retainer of Larry Friedman.

    In our view, Guenther has a duty to explain precisely to ASDMBA members from whom money was collected how the money was spent. If he chooses not to do so, he should have no expectation that ASDMBA members will stop asking questions.

    Something this basic should not be difficult or painful. In fact, publishing a detailed accounting is the quickest way for Guenther to disarm his critics. Concerned ASDMBA members want sunlight, the best disinfectant. What they’re getting is rudeness, hostility, profanity, tirades, threats and juvenile insults — and now secret codes.

    What they’re not getting is sunlight.

    Friedman should drop the slander and libel lawsuit against  Jack Arons. The filing of the lawsuit was repugnant, especially under these bizarre conditions.

    Arons, on Social Security, is an amateur Web critic with a fly swatter. Friedman met Arons with a Howitzer, suing him in a blitz of paperwork and then trying to force Arons to appear in Dallas for a deposition at Arons’ expense with three days’ notice.

    It was disgraceful, the stuff from which lawyer jokes are born. All of it flowed from ASDMBA’s lack of transparency. If anything, Arons owes Friedman an apology — if even that.

    Friedman has considerable stature in the Dallas legal community — and every right to defend his reputation. This lawsuit doesn’t help. Nor does the behavior of the Trust and its de facto head, Bob Guenther.

    Guenther needs people to believe in him now, and he’s doing very little to give them any reason to.

  • Ramping Up The AdSurfDaily Insanity

    UPDATED 11:41 A.M. EDT (March 12, U.S.A.) AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin, acting as his own attorney, acknowledged in court filings yesterday that the company had been operating illegally when the government seized tens of millions of dollars last summer.

    The concession was nuclear. It undermines the work of his previous paid attorneys and puts Bowdoin in the position of having to explain previous representations given the court that are completely at odds with what he is saying now.

    At the same time, it undermines self-filed pleadings Bowdoin entered into the record last week. Meanwhile, it undermines pleadings by others, including four people who told the court that they were permitted to enter into commercial contracts with whomever they pleased and for whatever commercial interest they pleased.

    Bowdoin now has told the court that he was operating an illegal commercial enterprise, thus nuking the argument of Curtis Richmond and three others. Richmond, himself a pro se litigant, is linked to a sham Utah “Indian tribe” known for filing vexatious pleadings that make tortured legal constructions.

    “Professor” Patrick Moriarty, an ASD mainstay, has advanced commercial theories similar to Richmond’s. Moriarty got nuked yesterday, too, only a few days after congratulating Bowdoin in a column for his excellent, pro-se pleadings.

    Andy Bowdoin’s pleadings, though, are jeopardizing the freedom of members of his family, ASD insiders and top promoters, and strategic shills.

    Yesterday, the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum celebrated the filings. The forum Mods appear not to have connected the dots that Bowdoin just nuked them. Some of the Mods and members set up a site to promote AdViewGlobal (AVG), which has close ties to ASD. Bowdoin nuked AVG yesterday, too.

    Today Surf’s Up has banned at least one member for not carrying Bowdoin’s water bucket. The forum even has banned members who post unflattering opinions about Bowdoin or ASD on other forums.

    The Mods can tell you until they’re blue in the face that Bowdoin’s filings were something to celebrate; the announcement, as always, came with exclamation points, both in the thread and in an email Surf’s Up members received.

    But this was nothing to celebrate if you’re a top promoter, an insider or a strategic shill. And it certainly was nothing to celebrate  if you’re a rank-and-file member of ASD: Bowdoin just told you he ripped you off. His excuse was that the government didn’t give him fair notice that he was ripping you off.

    Surf’s Up, which previously postioned Bowdoin as a genius, now is telling you his genius didn’t extend to the recognition of a Ponzi scheme and money-laundering operation. A Mod explained that Andy didn’t know he was ripping people off because the government never told him until after it seized the cash.

    ASD advertised CEP Trust.
    ASD advertised CEP Trust.

    It is a steaming pile. ASD once advertised that it used CEP Trust, the failed payment processor run by the operators of the CEP Ponzi scheme. This Blog published a screen shot of ASD’s CEP pitch months ago, along with a screen shot of an ad that told the audience that ASD deposits were insured by the FDIC.

    Bowdoin’s claims do not pass the giggle test — not that anybody is laughing at this point. There simply is no delight in unmasking these lies.

    Claim that ASD deposits were FDIC-insured.
    Claim that ASD deposits were FDIC-insured.

    This Blog has refrained from calling Surf’s Up the “Loony Bin” as it is known elsewhere, and it has refrained from using the phrase “Kool-Aid drinkers,” except in cases such as quotations. We have used the word “crackpot” to describe “Surf’s Up.” It was the least-objectionable word we could think of to instill a sense of the madness taking place at Surf’s Up.

    Despite everything that happened to ASD last summer, the insiders at AVG implemented a new surf and started collecting money. The operation has ASD’s fingerprints all over it, and the inescapable conclusion is that Bowdoin’s pleadings in the ASD case are setting the stage for the planned defense of AVG.

    The operative word in the previous sentence is “planned.” Bowdoin and insiders got caught again. Now they are desperately trying to wiggle out of a prosecution against AVG by making the no “fair-notice” claim. It is utterly preposterous, and yet the Surf’s Up Mods serve it up daily.

    AVG, by the way, is still online — despite Bowdoin’s concession to a federal judge and the prosecution that ASD was operating illegally.

    They have taken no hints — including the RICO lawsuit filed by other ASD members in which Bowdoin, ASD Attorney Robert Garner and Golden Panda Ad Builder President Clarence Busby were accused of racketeering. None of the principal defendants has filed a single piece of paperwork in the case — not after two months.

    We believe it likely there are sealed criminal indictments in the ASD case. At the same time, we believe it probable that some ASD/AVG insiders know they are targets of a criminal probe.

    And we believe it equally likely that Bowdoin and the insiders have shielded members from this knowledge, while using Surf’s Up to whip up support. If the Mods have insider’s knowledge they are at risk of indictment. Even a whiff of it is enough.

    No AVG participant also in ASD, for example, will be able to claim they did not know the possible consequences of their actions as they pertained to AVG. And with George Harris, Bowdoin’s stepson; Gary Talbert, a former ASD executive; and Chuck Osmin, a former ASD employee who testified for ASD at the evidentiary hearing in the AVG lineup, there will be no credible way to claim ignorance. Nate Boyd, listed as the “Protector” of the AVG association, formerly was the head of compliance for ASD, members said.

    Do not be surprised if you see the no “fair notice” argument ported over to AVG.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Read today’s Bowdoin pleadings.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Following Richmond’s Lead, Second Motion To Intervene Filed In AdSurfDaily Forfeiture Case

    UPDATED 11:23 P.M. EST (U.S.A.) Using a blueprint by Curtis Richmond, an Iowa resident has filed a motion to intervene in the AdSurfDaily case.

    As was the case with Richmond’s motion last week, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer added a hand-written note to the cover page of the motion.

    “Let this be filed,” Collyer wrote.

    The motion was filed by Aaron Wilkey, president of Tingley Chiropractic Center and M.H.M. Inc. of Tingley, Iowa. “M.H.M.” stands for “Midwest Healing Ministries.”

    Richmond’s motion last week was filed on behalf of Pacific Ministry of Giving International Inc.

    M.H.M. purchased $73,000 in ASD “ad packs” between May 13 and June 15, 2008 to advertise Vemma, according to documents filed along with the motion. Tingley Chiropractic, which also advertised Vemma, purchased $5,000 in ASD “ad packs” on June 15.

    Vemma calls itself “quite possibly the most powerful liquid antioxidant program in the world!” Vemma is sold MLM-style.

    Wilkey did not explain how the two entities that spent a combined $78,000 to advertise Vemma expected to recapture the expense. But at ASD’s advertised rate of return of 1 percent per day, the firms would have shown a paper return of $780 a day, whether or not they sold a single product as a Vemma affiliate.

    M.H.M. Also Contributed To ASDMBA

    Although Wilkey used the shell of Richmond’s motion to file his motion, he appears also to have had a Plan B.

    M.H.M.’s name is listed as a $100 contributor (Aug. 21, 2008) to the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA) Trust-Legal Fund. Aaron Wilkey also is listed in ASDMBA documents as an individual contributor to the Trust in the amount of $100 (Aug. 14, 2008). The names and amounts appear on Page 9 of an ASDMBA list of contributors. The ASDMBA contributor’s list is dated Dec. 22, 2008.

    ASDMBA was one of at least three entities that collected money from ASD members and announced intentions to enter the litigation. Some ASDMBA members have challenged Bob Guenther, who helped organize ASDMBA, to explain in precise detail how ASDMBA spent the money it collected from ASD members and to explain precisely how the organization intends to proceed. No ASDMBA litigation has been filed, but ASDMBA representatives did meet with federal prosecutors in Washington.

    Wilkey’s Claims

    As was the case with Richmond’s filing, Wilkey’s filing accuses Collyer, Clerk of the Court Nancy Mayer-Whittington, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor and Assistant U.S. Attorney William Cowden of conspiring to deny ASD members justice.

    It also accuses Collyer and the prosecutors of stealing “Most of the $93 million of ASD Member Ownership Interest.” It further accuses the judge and prosecutors of interfering with commerce, and specifically accuses the judge of dozens of felonies.

    The document — as did Richmond’s — also accuses Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of entering into a conspiracy against ASD members. Both Lamberth and Collyer were accused of running a “Kangaroo Court.”

    Actions by Collyer, Whittington and the prosecutors prevented an ASD member named Alana Holsted from collecting $30 million from “defendants,” the motion claimed. Richmond made the same claim in his motion.

    Richmond is associated with a sham Utah Indian tribe that, in the past, has tried to have federal judges imprisoned. The tribe filed huge judgments against prosecutors and litigation opponents in Utah.

    In his motion, Wilkey threatens to charge the judge and prosecutors under federal racketeering statutes if Collyer does not set aside the ASD forfeiture within 30 days.

    Screen shot of excerpt from Wilkey motion.
    Screen shot of excerpt from Wilkey motion.

    “Justice is going to be Served either quickly and painlessly or the Hard and Expensive Way if the Co-Conspirators believe they are Above the Law,” Wilkey threatened.

    Today, members of the Surf’s Up Pro-ASD forum asked members to get involved in a campaign to petition Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to investigate the ASD prosecutors.

    “Professor” Patrick Moriarty, who has spoken warmly of Richmond’s litigation methods, wrote a letter to Leahy yesterday. Today Surf’s Up sent out an email asking members to follow Moriarty’s lead in asking Leahy to get involved.

    Late tonight, reports were circulating that a link on Moriarty’s website leads to the website of a man who claims to own an asteroid. A link on the website of the man who claims to own Eros, the asteroid, carries a story of how he sent NASA a bill for “parking/storage” of a probe on Eros.

    http://www.erosproject.com/010216.html?source=ErosProject

  • Picture Story: Hailed A ‘Hero’ By ‘Surf’s Up’ Advocates’ Site And AdViewGlobal Forum, Will Curtis Richmond Save The Day For Beleaguered AdSurfDaily Inc. And Andy Bowdoin Faithful?

    UPDATE AND EDITOR’S NOTE 8:07 P.M. EST (U.S.A.) The screen shots below are of actual court documents in litigation involving Curtis Richmond and the sham Utah “Indian” tribe.

    If you’d like to view the full PDF of the court filings from which the screen shots were made, please click here. It’s a long but interesting read.

    At the bottom of this post, we’ve included a News Release from federal prosecutors about a Hawaii man who was indicted on income-tax charges and convicted. He employed a sham “arbitration” panel linked to the sham Utah “tribe.” The “arbitration” panel was known as the Western Arbitration Council.

    In addition to the News Release, you also might wish to view this document. It is the unsuccessful appeal of a Kansas man who also used the certified-mail tactics of the sham “Indian” tribe and its sham “arbitration” panel and was convicted of  mail fraud and bankruptcy fraud. The man tried to get a judgment of $500,000 against the bankruptcy trustee, escalating it to a claim of $1.5 million through the “arbitration” panel. When the trustee “defaulted,” the man filed a UCC lien against the Trustee in Kansas and sought to collect by making a claim for more than $500,000 through the trustee’s surety bond. This led to a second charge of mail fraud.

    Here, now, screen shots pertaining to Curtis Richmond’s tribal litigation . . .

    1.

    indianarrestwarrantSome members of AdSurfDaily are heralding the entry of Curtis Richmond into the ASD fray. In this screen shot of a document from federal court files, a “Supreme Court” set up by sham Utah “Indian” tribe  issues an “Arrest Warrant” for two legitimate federal judges and two litigation opponents of Richmond. The “tribe” held a meeting inside an Arby’s restaurant in Provo, Utah, in 2003, which is why members sometimes are referred to as the “Arby’s Indians.” Meanwhile,  the “tribe” listed the address of The Open Hearth Doughnut Shop conference room in Vernal, Utah, as the address of its “Supreme Court.” When issuing documents that purportedy carried the force of law, the “clerk of the court” didn’t bother with the formality of listing a last name or even a formal first name. Documents were signed “Charle” — apparently short for “Charlene.”

    2.

    spiritwalkercourt“Spirit Walker,” sham “chief” of tribal law enforcement, identifies the “defendants,” determines they’re not present in “court,” notes that they “have violated a Court Order,” and begins the process of ordering legitimate federal marshals and legitimate police officers to arrest the legitimate federal judges and Richmond’s litigation opponents.

    3.

    indiansanctionsSham “Supreme Court” sanctions legitimate federal judges for “belligerent violations” with fines of $1,000 a day, and tacks on an “additional” 90 days in jail.

    News Release From U.S. Attorney For Hawaii Outlining Prison Sentence For Man Who Used Sham Utah ‘Indian’ Arbitration Panel To Harass IRS

    December 9, 2008

    KIHEI, MAUI REAL ESTATE AGENT/BROKER SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR TAX OFFENSES

    HONOLULU, HAWAII – BRUCE ROBERT TRAVIS, age 60, was sentenced yesterday by Chief District Judge Helen Gillmor to 24 months in prison for obstructing and impeding the lawful administration of the tax laws by the Internal Revenue Service and filing a false amended federal individual income tax return for the calendar year 2000. TRAVIS, a Kihei, Maui resident, was also ordered to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $14.958.29, as well as costs of prosecution in the amount of $17,828.95, and a fine of $5,000.

    Ed Kubo, the United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, said according to the July 2007 Indictment, TRAVIS, who worked as a real estate agent and broker, conducted his real estate business on Maui through Americorp International Limited, incorporated in the State of Hawaii, for which TRAVIS was the owner, president, treasurer and director before its dissolution around 2004. Also around 2004, TRAVIS became president, partner and manager of Americorp International LLC, through which he continued to conduct his real estate business.

    According to the indictment, TRAVIS signed and filed Form 1040 tax returns for 2003 and 2004 wherein he falsely claimed charitable deductions for payments he made to two entities belonging to or operated by Royal Lamarr Hardy, who was convicted of tax crimes in 2005 in Honolulu.

    According to the plea agreement, TRAVIS, while an IRS audit of him was ongoing, also signed and filed false amended individual income tax returns wherein he improperly claimed itemized deductions equal to the adjusted gross income he previously reported on his original Form 1040 tax returns. As a result, TRAVIS falsely claimed that he owed no income taxes for each of the years under audit; that is, 1996 through 2000.

    According to the plea agreement, beginning around March 2004, TRAVIS sought and obtained a fraudulent arbitration award from the Western Arbitration Council in the amount of $300,000 against both the IRS and the IRS employee who conducted the aforementioned audit. TRAVIS obtained the fraudulent arbitration award in an attempt to hinder IRS collection efforts.

    TRAVIS’ sentence was based on information produced for the court that the tax loss to the United States for the years 1996 through 2004, without any interest or penalties, totaled over $400,000.

    The case resulted from an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, and the prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Clare E. Connors and Department of Justice Tax Division Trial Attorney Michael C. Vasiliadis.