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Tag: Surfs Up

Analysis: AdViewGlobal, BizAdSplash In Failure Mode

UPDATE: 4:59 P.M. EST (U.S.A.) The Surf’s Up Forum now says the government has seized or frozen two bank accounts of ASD members. It did not provide the source, and it encouraged members not to identify the owners of the accounts. Here, below, our earlier post . . .

EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s getting harder and harder to write about the levels of absurdity surrounding the AdSurfDaily case. Along those lines, it’s getting harder and harder to track all the conspiracy theories. The madness of all things ASD is on full display for all the world to see, and there’s no sense trying to sugarcoat it. It is what it is. Make sure you read the caption under the second screen shot below.

Here, below, our main post . . .

Let’s start with some autosurf news — or, more precisely, the lack of autosurf news.

Yesterday a poster at the Pro-AdSurfDaily “Surf’s Up” forum said the government was in the process of seizing bank accounts from individual ASD participants. Surf’s Up, at first, appeared to confirm the reports — and then a Mod quickly deleted the post. The issue was re-posted, and was deleted again. It got posted a third time as an entry in a separate thread, and Surf’s Up then said it was checking on the reports because it didn’t want to spread a panic by publishing unverifiable information. It then got posted again as a separate thread, and again was deleted.

Our longtime readers might want to laugh out loud or perhaps even hurl right now at the thought that Surf’s Up didn’t want to publish unverifiable information. It’s enough to make you want to call Letterman or Leno, considering that Surf’s Up routinely publishes unverifiable information, accepts paid advertising from unverifiable surf programs, and openly promotes AdViewGlobal (AVG), which is desperately trying to keep its ownership structure a secret.

AdViewGlobal says Quincy is its home.

It’s already too late for AVG should the government wish to make an example of it. The surf exposed itself out of the gate because greedy racketeers are in charge and because people who admire greedy racketeers are doing their bidding. AVG couldn’t get this genie back in the bottle if it tried — and it has tried — thus opening itself up to even more civil and criminal charges.

Gary Talbert was an ASD executive and submitted a sworn affidavit in the ASD case. AVG, a surf that came to life in the aftermath of the government's seizure of Andy Bowdoin's assets, identified Talbert as its CEO in a news release earlier this month in which it also made the self-defeating claim to have no ties to ASD. The news release was issued by a former ASD customer-service representative now working in the same capacity for AVG, while also serving as an AVG spokesman. The rep, Chuck Osmin, was a witness for ASD at an evidentiary hearing last fall. He lost money as a result of the government's seizure of ASD's assets. Osmin sent this Blog an email on Jan. 28, prior to the formal launch of AVG, suggesting ASD was OK because it was a "manual" surf, as opposed to an "autosurf." AVG launched a few days later. Osmin then issued a news release on behalf of AVG, identifying Talbert and himself as employees of AVG. The "no ties" claim is demonstrably false. So is any suggestion that ASD or AVG are legal business models because participants have to click on a prompt to get the next ad to load — a "manual" surf. The issue is the sale of unregistered securities via wire in a Ponzi environment. "Manual" surf doesn't get ASD or AVG off the hook for that and is a ridiculous attempt to cloud the issues. On the date of the the AVG launch, we received another email from an ASD supporter who also wanted to educate us on the difference between "manual" surfs and "autosurfs." The sender told us he was asked to contact us.

One thing the owners could do — if they get boxed in by investigators — is to rat out fellow insiders. It is obvious that AVG and ASD have common ties and common management. It’s so right-in-plain-sight obvious that it wouldn’t surprise us at all if the government itself is simply waiting to find the rat of highest value or already is dangling the cheese.

Perhaps by coincidence, Surf’s Up also deleted information a reader had posted from this BlogÂ — a story we had done about the failure of the Premium Ads Club autosurf. Surf’s Up management doesn’t like this Blog and accuses it of bias against ASD.

Our bias is in favor of all the people ASD President Andy Bowdoin ripped off by using a Ponzi scheme model to sell unregistered securities and drafting participants into a conspiracy to commit money-laundering, wire fraud and racketeering — while invoking God to sanitize the “opportunity.”

Surf’s Up is doing the same thing. It’s basically just Bowdoin’s alter ego, perhaps with a degree of separation, but not one that will save the Mods from prosecution should the government decide to reduce the surf “industry”Â — man, how it pains us to use the word “industry” to describe this criminal business — to its constituent electrons.

In any event, we were unable to confirm the reports that the government was seizing additional bank accounts from ASD members. Given that Surf’s Up at first appeared to confirm the reports and then shifted gears, it is possible that something like this is going on behind the scenes.

It would make sense for the government to do that — and, in January, the government filed reams of additional paperwork in the e-Gold case. Prosecutors appear to be in the process of liquidating ill-gotten gains linked to e-Gold though HYIPs and autosurfs. NineÂ separate e-Gold actions were filed on Jan. 8 and Jan. 9. They were the prosecutorial equivalent of a clawback.

ASD once used used e-Gold, which was indicted and convicted of facilitating money-laundering — by the very same prosecution team involved in the ASD case, along with other prosecutors. A Secret Service agent in the ASD case is playing a prominent role in the clawback cases and has demonstrated exceptional investigative skills. He clearly knows how to follow the money and has help from people equally skilled in reverse-engineering financial schemes.

“Shortly after publicity surrounding the government’s investigation into e-Gold appeared, ASD discontinued using the e-Gold system as a means for receiving member funds,” prosecutors said in the August forfeiture complaint against assets tied to ASD.

AVG is toast. It will fail even if the government doesn’t take it down. At a minimum, it is conducting customer service for an illegal enterprise from the United States. Wires that run through the United States are being employed to conduct business, and the business model itself is illegal. The only question is when the failure will occur. AVG is running a promotion right now in a bid to collect cash to sustain itself, but it is at the precipice.

So is BizAdSplash, which is no more legal and makes up new rules whenever it sees fit. Like AVG, it fundamentally is drafting customers into a conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money-laundering and racketeering.

The operators underestimated the level of anger non-crackpot members of ASD have at Bowdoin. And they made their market even more narrow by peddling their non-product to the antigovernment crowd, which is a small crowd despite the noise it makes.

Indeed, the ASD case never was about the abuse of government power or politics. Claims to the contrary are smokescreens by people who need to find a scapegoat other than Andy Bowdoin or themselves.

Very few members of the public have any tolerance for Ponzi schemes in these post-Madoff days, and potential participants are seeing themselves on the evening newscast, perhaps wearing handcuffs or being chased by reporters and camera crews. It’s harder to sell Ponzis in this environment. Besides, people are angry at Bowdoin for using God to sanitize theft on a grand scale.

The new surfs can’t collect the type of money Bowdoin collected in this environment, and they can’t prevent panic among members. Panic leads to a run on the bank. The new surfs are trolling for cash in particular odious ways, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the operators are going to take their cut before they worry about sustainability issues.

They’ll do just what Andy Bowdoin did — and what Surf’s Up wants you to do. At this very moment Surf’s Up is trying to rally the troops by telling them to “Expect The Unexpected!”

When Surf’s Up says things such as that, you can bet that something criminally stupid is certain to follow or that ASD will declare an impossibly tortured victory of some sort.

Feb 25, 2009
DISCUSSION THREAD: CEP Judgments, Ponzis And The Deaf, Noobing, Andy Bowdoin, Surf’s Up, BizAdSplash Surf, More
UPDATE 2:49 P.M. EST (U.S.A.) At a gathering of creditors today, Irving Picard, the trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, said he could find no evidence that Madoff even purchased securities for customers in the past 13 years. Cash came in — and immediately went out — to sustain the Ponzi, Picard said. We’ve added a Madoff Discussion Topic at the bottom of this post.

Here, below, our earlier post . . .

This is a discussion thread for readers to share their views on developments in the autosurf world. Offer your opinions on any of the discussion topics below — or even all of them.

First, however, some news:

The bankruptcy judge in the CEP Ponzi scheme case has ordered some large judgments against “winners” who were sued in adversarial proceedings by William Perkins, the CEP receiver.

Judge James E. Massey even ordered interest be paid on the judgment amounts. “Winners” who are now losers include:
- Chris Barany: $225,702.90
- Earl Reed: $146,677.50
- Ginger Phillips Reed: $103,339.70
- Jessica Phillips: $44,821.85
As a side note, our research suggests that AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin was a participant in the CEP Ponzi scheme. ASD once advertised it accepted payments from CEP Trust, the failed payment processor owned by the operators of the CEP Ponzi scheme.

DISCUSSION TOPIC: If you’ve been following the ASD case, you’ve read that ASD was an exciting, new business model and Andy Bowdoin a genius. But how could that be true if ASD was a member of other autosurf Ponzi schemes?

Ponzis And The Deaf

As reported on PonziNews, the SEC has taken action against a Hawaii-based firm that allegedly ran a Ponzi scheme targeting the hearing-impaired communities of the United States and Japan.

Investigators say Billion Coupons Inc., run by Marvin Cooper, made affinity fraud part of a $4.4 million Ponzi scheme.

â€œA Ponzi scheme targeting members of the Deaf community is particularly reprehensible,â€ said Rosalind R. Tyson, director of the SECâ€™s Los Angeles Regional Office.

This week, a surf came under fire in forums for slashing payouts to customers. The surf, known as Noobing, targeted the deaf at Deaf Expo events in 2008 and in YouTube videos.

DISCUSSION TOPIC: Given customers’ claims of “bait and switch,” the fact Noobing launched after the government seized ASD’s assets, Noobing’s statement that people should be angry at the government — not Noobing — for its decision to slash payouts, and the targeting of deaf people, is an investigation warranted?

Andy Bowdoin

Two months have passed since prosecutors filed a second forfeiture complaint against assets tied to ASD. The complaint alleged that ASD funds were used to fuel big spending by Bowdoin family members. It further alleged that $1 million purportedly was stolen from ASD by “Russian” hackers and that Bowdoin didn’t file a police report. Meanwhile, it also alleged that money in addition to what “Russian” hackers took also was stolen — and that Bowdoin didn’t file a police report about those thefts, either.

ASD said it had more than $1 million on deposit in Antigua, which this week became the center of an international financial scandal involving billionaire Allen Stanford, the biggest banker on the Caribbean island. Customers flooded banks in the tiny nation to withdraw money, and the government of Antigua appealed for calm.

Last summer, Bowdoin told a federal judge that ASD needed money to operate and asked her to free up seized funds. But Bowdoin didn’t tell the judge about the money in Antigua until after prosecutors pointed it out. After prosecutors revealed the presence of the Antigua money, Bowdoin explained in a conference call that the cash — at least $500,000 of it — was a deposit so ASD could process credit-card orders.

But the account was in a name other than ASD.

DISCUSSION TOPIC: Did Andy Bowdoin get the money out of Antigua before the onset of the banking crisis? Why was the money in a name other than ASD’s if it was used to process credit cards for ASD? Why didn’t Bowdoin repatriate the money and use it to pay ASD employees and restart the company?

Surf’s Up

On Nov. 27, ASD offered the Surf’s Up forum its official endorsement. This was several days after ASD lost the evidentiary hearing and several days before major prelaunch buzz for AdViewGlobal (AVG) began.

With ASD’s endorsement in hand, some of the Surf’s Up Mods and members started a new site on ning.com to promote AVG. For its part, AVG says it has no ties to ASD, even though the two companies share a common executive, a common customer-service representative, and AVG’s graphics once appeared on a webroom operated by ASD — and AVG listed its street address as ASD’s street address in Quincy.

DISCUSSION TOPIC: Should Surf’s Up have accepted the endorsement? Does it make sense to promote yet-another surf, especially when the surf has clear ties to ASD?

BizAdSplash

Despite all the upheaval in the financial world — and despite the fact the Feds are working harder than ever to expose Ponzi schemes — BizAdSplash says things are going just fine. Yesterday it announced a new promotion: 100 percent matching bonuses for customers and sponsors.

Here is the announcement:

Over the past week we have had a number of you contact us about your initial deposit and that you only purchased a small amount of Ad Packages just to test the system. Now you are ready to make a larger purchase. Your question is can we get the 100% match or discount on the cost of a larger Ad Package. Biz Ad Splash has agreed to open a small window for this 100% additional match. Any new purchases made from outside the system will be given the same benefit as your initial purchase and will be given the 100% match along with the sponsor match. This is only on purchases made on February 23 through February 28. This is a tremendous opportunity for all our Biz Ad Splash advertisers.

Thank you for your patience while we are in our beta launch. We value your participation in Biz Ad Splash and we look forward to exceeding your expectations.

The Biz Ad Splash Team

DISCUSSION TOPIC: Is BizAdSplash, which launched only a short time ago, already hurting? Is it desperately trying to collect cash to survive? How can it possibly fund payouts for customers and sponsors when the 100 percent matching bonuses create so much extra liability?

Will the surf hide behind “rebates aren’t guaranteed” if things go South? If that happens, will surf participants still think “offshore” surfing is the ticket to prosperity?

And how can any of the new surfs — BizAdSplash, AdviewGlobal, AdGateWorld — expect to thrive when they are fundamentally competing for the same business in a world in which many governments are going after Ponzi schemes with exceptional vigor?

Bernard Madoff

Trustee Irving Piccard now says that Bernard Madoff didn’t even purchase securities for customers in the past 13 years, instead taking incoming money to pay off older investors in a virtually pure Ponzi scheme.

DISCUSSION TOPIC: Given that Madoff escaped detection for years — and given that Allen Stanford appears to have escaped detection for years — are you worried that other Ponzi shoes may drop?
Feb 20, 2009
Surf’s Up Deletion Raises Quid Pro Quo Questions

Andy Bowdoin. Surf's Up quid pro quo?

UPDATED 1:22 P.M. EST (U.S.A.) Earlier this month a photo of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps holding a bong sparked a firestorm, which ultimately led to a public apology from the celebrated gold medalist. Phelps subsequently was fired by Kellogg Co. because it cherished its brand and didn’t want the cereal- and snack-eating children of America to believe it endorsed smoking marijuana.

Phelps is one of the most important athletes in the world. He can help companies sell products by the truckload and further instill their brands in the consciousness of buyers. Despite Phelps’ extraordinary accomplishments (eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympics), his apology, his youth (he’s 23) and his magnetic drawing power, Kellogg’s said goodbye, issuing a special statement to do so.

A photo of an Olympian smoking pot is “not consistent with the image of Kellogg,” the company said.

Phelps was not charged with a crime and will not be. USA Swimming, the governing body for the sport in the United States, however, suspended him for three months.

“This is not a situation where any anti-doping rule was violated, but we decided to send a strong message to Michael because he disappointed so many people, particularly the hundreds of thousands of USA Swimming member kids who look up to him as a role model and a hero,” the organization said. “Michael has voluntarily accepted this reprimand and has committed to earn back our trust.”

Some Phelps’ sponsors stood by his side, while not marginalizing his conduct or making excuses for it.Â No company will risk its reputation by running interference for Phelps.

A Study In Contrast

Now, compare the actions of USA Swimming and Kellogg’s to the actions of the Pro-AdSurfDaily “Surf’s Up” forum. (It may seem like a stretch, but it’s not: The Surf’s Up forum says it is comprised of professional business people with professional advertising needs, and ASD says is is a professional advertising company.)

In August, ASD was accused of operating a wire-fraud and money-laundering operation whose central component was a $100 million Ponzi scheme that had money on deposit in at least three countries. Surf’s Up’s raison d’Ãªtre — it’s reason for being — was to advocate for ASD and ASD President Andy Bowdoin, a convicted felon. Indeed, the site’s formal name is the ASD Member Advocates forum.

Rarely in U.S. business does a professional entity make unrestrained cheerleading for a convicted felon involved in possible new felonies its signature calling. Most entities would be afraid of the stain spilling over or perhaps being drawn into a criminal investigation themselves. As a practical matter, there is little upside for an entity that associates itself with felons.

Since its inception, Surf’s Up has been famous for deleting posts that painted ASD in an unflattering light. It also is famous for heckling and even banning posters who asked tough questions.

But the site’s strangest act to date was to accept ASD’s official endorsement, which the embattled company issued publicly Nov. 27 on its Breaking News site. While most entities on earth would repudiateÂ the endorsement of a felon who has other felony charges possibly waiting in the wings, Surf’s Up embraced it. The endorsement came only days after a federal judge ruled that ASD had not demonstrated at an evidentiary hearing last fall that it was a legal business and not a Ponzi scheme.

Unlike Kellogg’s and USA Swimming — both of which issued special statements to distance themselves from a bong — Surf’s Up issued no such statement to distance itself from an alleged $100 million Ponzi scheme.

Within a couple of weeks of the endorsement, some of the Surf’s Up Mods were promoting AdViewGlobal (AVG), a new surf that shares an executive with ASD and a customer-service employee who testified for ASD at the Sept. 30-Oct. 1 evidentiary hearing.

One of AVG’s first formal acts was to claim it had no ties to ASD, despite the executive it shared with ASD and despite the shared customer-service rep, who also doubled as a spokesman for AVG.

AdViewGlobal says Quincy is its home.

And AVG made the “no ties” claim despite the appearance of AVG graphics on an ASD-controlled webroom, including a graphic that listed AVG’s address as 13 S Calhoun Street, Quincy, FL 32351, which also happens to be the street address for ASD.

Most entities shy away even from the appearance of impropriety. Surf’s Up didn’t even do that. In fact, it cheered anew for another controversial surf: AVG.

Could ASD’s endorsement of Surf’s Up been quid pro quo for its months-long loyal cheerleading and a reward for helping build a customer base for AVG?

It sure looks that way, especially when Surf’s Up embraced the endorsement instead of repudiating it. And it really looks that way, considering the fact that some Surf’s Up Mods and members created a site to cheerlead for AVG shortly after receiving ASD’s endorsement.

But it especially looks that way when Surf’s Up deletes posts such as this one (below) that appeared yesterday. The post was on the topic of a second forfeiture complaint that had been filed against assets tied to ASD (December) and Bowdoin’s decision (January) to give up his fight for assets seized in the first complaint in August (italics added):

Anyone else think the “kids” Barb believes Andy may have been nobly protecting when he gave the members money to the government refers to the adult son and daughter-in-law of Faye Bowdoin? The government “went after” the property (homes and cars) of Mrs. Bowdoin’s adult son and daughter-in-law because the Harris’ home mortgage was paid off, and a car and boat were purchased, with ASD funds and funds withdrawn from AdSurfDaily’s Bank of America accounts and deposited into newly established accounts at Capital City National Bank in the name of a business named Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises. Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises was incorporated in Florida in June of 2008.

Just in case Barb’s right, and she seems to have a close connection to the Bowdoin’s, if Andy was motivated to give up all claims to the members funds in order to protect George and Judy Harris, let’s see what the kids were up to, that caught the eye of the government:

June l0, 2008
George Harris and Faye Bowdoin opened a Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises bank account at Capital City National Bank (CCNB) using $l77,900.l2 withdrawn from AdSurfDailyâ€™s Bank of America accounts.

June ll, 2008
Judy and George Harris purchase new car for $28,607.67 with funds in an ASD bank account at BOA; the vehicle owners are the Harrisâ€™s.

June 23, 2008
George Harris transferred $l57,2l6.79 from CCNB account to Citi Mortgage, to pay off the mortgage on the home he and Judy were buying.

“Kids” George and Judy took money that had been “paid to the order of AdSurfDaily” by the members and used it as if it was their own. They didn’t have to use what was left of their personal income after they paid federal income taxes and FICA, like you and I would have to do.

Andy may have been worried about those kids, but I’m saving my sympathy for the kids whose college funds were raided, or whose homes were foreclosed on.

None of these actions — the establishment of an ASD cheerleading site, the acceptance of ASD’s endorsement, the establishment of a cheerleading site for AVG — is consistent with the actions of a professional business entity.

All of the actions, however, are consistent with a pattern of misinforming and deceiving — of running interference for a criminal enterprise.

It is beyond loathsome, but it’s business-as-usual at Surf’s Up.

Feb 19, 2009
Is The ‘Noobing’ Autosurf Beginning To Tank?

UPDATED 12:37 P.M. EST (U.S.A.) Members of an autosurf named “Noobing” are beginning to complain about “low” rates of return. Is the surf trying to horde cash?

Noobing members are complaining publicly about “bait and switch.” They were attracted to the program by suggestions of returns of up to 3 percent a day, but the returns now are generating a fraction of 1 percent.

Members also are miffed that Noobing introduced a “prize” program funded by members. The prizes are paid out of the same fund used to pay what Noobing calls “incentives” for “reviewing” other websites, which means even less money is available for paying “incentives.”

Noobing has the same problem as all autosurfs: It can’t control how members promote the company, which means it faces liability issues for excessive claims made by members. At the same time, it doesn’t really know if its “advertisers” are promoting legitimate businesses. One forum poster acknowledged in public that he didn’t have a business to advertise, so just threw up a page.

This triggered a sarcastic reprimand from a Noobing staffer.

“You joined an advertising network and didn’t have a site to advertise? Why?” the staffer blared. “Wanting to break even without sales from a website? Really? REALLY? Wow!”

The same Noobing staffer now is blaming the government for the surf’s need to reduce incentive payments. He also is asserting that Noobing learned from the ASD case that “it became clear that any system that is not SEC registered as an investment that returns more than 100% risks getting shut down and everyone loses everything.”

What he did not explain is why Noobing chose even to operate in the post-ASD environment. And he also didn’t explain why only surfs that advertised more than a 100 percent return would fall under the purview of the SEC or other regulatory bodies/investigative agencies.

Any advertised rate of return — even amounts below 100 percent — can trigger an investigation by federal and state regulators and law-enforcement agencies.

The issue in virtually all autosurf prosecutions to date has been the sale of unregistered securities and the Ponzi nature of such operations. Any firm that engages in the sale of securities is subject to policing by state and federal authorities. The argument that an investment program can be dressed up as an “advertising” program to skirt securities laws is well known by the government — and it’s a dog that won’t hunt.

Assertions by many autosurf purveyors that the government doesn’t understand the new technology of the Web and should be attacked for destroying small business and the entrepreneurial spirit are just plain absurd.

More ‘Surf’s Up’ Theater

As Noobing reports were circulating around the Web, for a brief time yesterday at least one member of AdGateWorld raised a similar concern about the surf’s ability to pay. The AdGateWorld concern was raised on the Surf’s Up Pro-ASD forum, and was quickly deleted.

The deletion at Surf’s Up was just one of many deletions. Threads — and even members — are routinely deleted for asking tough questions. The forum is accepting paid advertising for AdGateWorld. “Surf’s Up” is only shorthand for the site; its official name is the ASD Member Advocates forum, and it was given the stamp of approval by ASD itself on Nov. 27.

Surf’s Up also is associated with a surf named AdViewGlobal (AVG), which has management, members and promoters in common with ASD. Despite this, AVG has made the Clintonian assertion that it is not affiliated with ASD.

It all comes down to the meaning of the word “affiliated.”

We think a jury won’t be swayed by an argument that AVG and ASD aren’t affiliated. The chief executive officer of AVG, Gary Talbert, is a former ASD executive. Meantime, Chuck Osmin, who has served as a spokesman for AVG, was employed by ASD and testified on its behalf at a Sept. 30-Oct. 1 evidentiary hearing.

As it awaited a court ruling on Oct. 20, ASD disclaimed AdGateWorld — again by using a form of the word “affiliate” — but did not mention the surf by name.

“It has come to our attention that there is a new internet company out of Panama City, Panama that is similar to ASD,” the ASD Breaking News site said. “In their web page announcements they are using verbiage that is similar to ASDâ€™s and even going so far as to mention names of people that you may know.

“Please be assured that this is not an ASD Company or Affiliate Company,” the Breaking News site said. The announcement was signed, “Thank You ASD Management Team.”

The issue at the time was that AdGateWorld had posted its Terms of Service. The acronym “ASD,” which stands for “AdSurfDaily,” was used in the AdGateWord terms.

On Nov. 6, still awaiting a court ruling, the ASD Breaking News site sought to bat down reports that ASD’s database had been sold.

“There have been rumors that suggest that our database has been sold. These rumors are unequivocally not true,” the Breaking News site said. “In factÂ the ASD corporate office has not had access to the database since the government seizure occurred on August 5, when the government shut down our offices.Â The government itself is in possession of our database.”

The problem with the assertion, however, was that it conflicted with what ASD President Andy Bowdoin had said in a previous conference call. During the call, Bowdoin raised the issue of the database, suggesting that government tricksters had erased it.

But Bowdoin went on to tell listeners that ASD kept a copy of the database in a secret location. Why Bowdoin even raised the question of the database is unclear. But his words — and ASD’s subsequent actions on the Breaking News site — have the quality of preemption: planting a cover story in case tough questions get asked later.

In any event, we believe there is a high probability of trouble at AVG and AdGateWorld, and that this trouble will be due to what purveyors awkwardly are trying to sell as a sort of nonaffiliation affiliation with ASD.

See this previous post.

And this one.

We also believe it highly likely that the government and private lawyers know precisely what is going on with respect to the ties among the autosurf firms.

Feb 15, 2009
EDITORIAL: Cancel Their Ponzi Ticket, Sen. Leahy

Sen. Leahy, in online chat with eighth-graders.

Four more U.S. banks failed yesterday. Three failed on the previous Friday. Thirteen have failed year-to-date. To say this is unsettling is to grossly understate the severity of the banking problem and the drag on the U.S. and world economies.

Stories about Ponzi schemes and mortgage fraud are in the news daily. The obvious fear among regulators is that more Bernard Madoffs and Arthur Nadels will emerge. The situation is ripe for Ponzi schemes to be exposed because people need cash and actually fear Ponzi fraud now, meaning they’re predisposed to request redemptions just in case. Ponzi operators won’t be able to fund the redemptions, and the fraud will be exposed at the revulsion of the world.

And yet some members of the Surf’s Up forum, which is associated with the AdSurfDaily Ponzi operation, are writing incredibly brazen letters to Sen. Patrick Leahy. These letters are a bid to get the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate the prosecutors who prevented the ASD Ponzi from mushrooming. Sen. Leahy is committee chairman.

Make no mistake about it, Sen. Leahy: ASD is a $100 million Ponzi scheme and every bit as dangerous as the Madoff and Nadel schemes. ASD thrived for months and collected tens of millions of dollars — now subject to forfeiture because of quick action by the U.S. Secret Service, the IRS and the Justice Department — and tried to cover its tracks by drafting investors into a contract that provided no consumer protections at all. The contract was nothing more than an inartful, cynical bid to legalize Ponzi schemes and skirt securities laws by calling an investment program an “advertising” program.

Members of the Judiciary Committee should pay close attention to the ASD contract, which appears starting on P. 68 of this document, an Aug. 5 forfeiture complaint against assets tied to ASD. The Justice Department filed a second forfeiture complaint on Dec. 19, outlining even more ASD abuses and highlighted by a claim that “Russian” hackers stole $1 million from ASD.

ASD President Andy Bowdoin did not even file a police report, which raises even more questions — questions such as “Why not?” and “Did a theft actually even occur?”

Members of the Judiciary Committee also should know that Bowdoin already has surrendered claims to money and property seized in the August forfeiture complaint.

At the same time, members of the committee should seek to determine if the Robert Garner mentioned beginning on P. 160 of this Senate document pertaining to a 2001 money-laundering investigation is the same Robert Garner mentioned in the ASD forfeiture complaint.

The Surf’s Up members’ bid to misinform the Judiciary Committee and sanitize Ponzi schemes is reprehensible, an insult to hard-working and underfunded law-enforcement agencies, the highly capable men and women who staff the agencies, and dedicated prosecutors at all levels of government.

And it is a slap in the face to hard-working Americans who are living through lean times, struggling to make ends meet and are stunned beyond words at the devastation wrought by the Ponzi economy.

We call on Sen. Leahy, a former prosecutor, and the Judiciary Committee to fully investigate so-called “autosurf” Ponzi fraud and propose legislation that will help federal and state prosecutors combat it. A law that specifically codifies the crime and spells out penalties would be a good first step.

We suggest that Sen. Leahy and members of the Judiciary Committee work closely with Attorney General Holder and SEC Chairman Schapiro in crafting legislation that specifically addresses autosurf and HYIP Ponzi fraud.

This insidious business is sucking wealth out of the economy and creating an environment in which criminals and even terrorists can thrive. Mini-Madoffs exist far and wide across the autosurf landscape. They are engaging in the sale of unregistered securities, wire fraud, money-laundering, mail fraud and racketeering, and they are being aided by people who are doing everything in their power to change the subject and sanitize what amounts to organized theft on a global scale.

Cancel their Ponzi ticket, Sen. Leahy.

Feb 14, 2009
Genesis Of The Utah ‘Indian’ Cases And Why They Could Spell Bad News For ASD Members Who Are Seeking Refunds

Meet Curtis Richmond and the so-called “Arby’s Indians.”

This stupefying drama actually started almost a decade before the fabled meeting inside an Arby’s restaurant in Provo, Utah, on April 18, 2003. The birth of Wampanoag Nation, Tribe of Grayhead, Wolf Band — a sham Utah “Indian” tribe not to be confused with a legitimate Massachusetts tribe with a similar name — dates back to the “Sovereign Citizen Movement” and “Patriot” eras of the 1990s in which Timothy McVeigh was making headlines for blowing up the federal building in Oklahoma City and killing 168 people.

“Mr. [Dale] Stevens . . . had actually started the organization . . . some nine years before that meeting in Provo,” said U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot, in findings of fact and conclusions of law. “Curtis Richmond was admitted to the tribe, because, in the words of Mr. Stevens, he is a believer in fighting for liberty, not because of any heritage as a member of the Wampanoag Nation.”

Friot ruled the tribe a “complete sham.” Richmond now is a central figure in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi litigation.

The Arby’s meeting in April 2003 was important, though, because it established a date from which a bizarre conspiracy evolved that rattled nerves, subjected public officials, attorneys, investigators and bankers to monumental inconvenience and, ultimately, created the stage from which Curtis Richmond introduced himselfÂ to a wider audience than just the folks back home in California. He has been a thorn in the side of the judiciary there, too, and was convicted in 2007 of criminal contempt of court for threatening federal judges.

Richmond invokes authority of sham tribal "Supreme Court."

Richmond has never been linked to violence. But he has a deep and storied history of threatening federal judges in court filings. And he has drawn the attention — and ire — of banks in courts from coast to coast. Richmond, who is not an attorney and yet holds the unique distinction of having been banned from the practice of law in Colorado, became a player in a scheme in which he advised people who were being sued by banks for defaulting on credit-card debt to “assign” the debts to him.

This was done by fiat, without the banks’ approval, and was designed to cripple their ability to collect on legitimate debts.Â Richmond became embroiled in litigation, and turned to a sham arbitration panel and sham “Supreme Court”Â set up by the sham “Indian” tribe to gum up the mix.

Because the “tribe” itself also was embroiled in litigation — mostly against public servants in Utah — the state became the staging ground for litigation that only can be described as bizarre.

In one case, for example, the “tribe” divined itself the authority to issue license plates. When a member was stopped by a deputy sheriff for having an illegal tag, litigation ensued that ultimately threatened the sanctity of the state and federal court systems and the government’s ability to prosecute criminals and provide public services.

Not even the Utah Division of Child and Family Services was immune from tribal interference and harassment. Indeed, the tribe even divined itself the authority to intervene in family matters.

“A good example of this pattern of racketeering activity would be Wampanoager [Name Deleted To Protect Privacy Of Children,]” victims in the case said. “[Name Deleted] applied for membership in the Wampanoag Nation on October 20, 2002.Â His ‘application’ was received into evidence at trial as Exhibit 29. It reflects that Dale Stevens is the Tribal Chief, Thomas Smith is the Chief of Ministry of Justice and Terry Campbell is the Chief Minister of Law Enforcement.

“[Name Deleted] later became embroiled in litigation with the Utah Division of Child and Family Services regarding his minor children. [Name Deleted] served Mr. Michael Atkin, aÂ representative of the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, by certified mail, with a demand for payment of $300,000.00, allegedly for breach of contract. This demand, termed a ‘Statement of Account[,]’ advises Atkin that he will be subject to binding arbitration to collect that debt.”

Curtis Richmond, who is being called a “hero” on the Pro-ASD “Surf’s Up” forum, served as the “arbitrator” and approved the fraudulent $300,000 award.

Curtis Richmond's signature as "arbitrator" for $300,000 award in family matter involving minor children.

Justice Perverted

“Insisting that their status as tribal members exempts them from state and local laws, Stevens and the other Wampanoagers engaged in a pattern of racketeering activities involving sham arbitrations before an entity known as the Western Arbitration Council,” said victims of the scheme, in court filings.

“The Western Arbitration Council is a dba for a Utah corporation called the Order of White Light,” the victims continued. “The Order of White Light, in turn, claims to be a private ‘ecclesiastical corporation sole’ of which Thomas Smith is the ‘presiding patriarch.’

“Stevens and the Wampanoagers obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent arbitration awards against local governmental officials, judges and prosecutors and then

Richmond uses sham 'Indian Supreme Court' to overturn legitimate court rulings and threaten federal judges.

recorded those ‘awards’ as liens against the officialsâ€™ property, including the property of Uintah County, Utah, Uintah County Attorney Joan Stringham, former Uintah County Sheriff Hawkins and Uintah County Deputy Sheriff Laursen. The Wampanoagers did this in order to frustrate, harass, interfere with and obstruct local law enforcement so as to continue their respective commercial activities free of governmental regulation,” the victims said.

All of this potentially spells bad news for ASD members.

For scale, consider that the first filing in one of the Utah cases involving Richmond was entered on Aug. 11, 2004 — four and a half years ago. The most recent filing is dated Jan. 14, 2009, and the case file includes 321 separate entries, not taking entries that don’t qualify as formal filings into account.

By comparision, the ASD case has 42 entries since it was opened in August 2008 — and was nearly litigated to conclusion before Richmond entered the fray. If the case drags on interminably — and if people expecting to petition the government for a refund from seized funds have to wait even longer — they can blame it on Curtis Richmond, “Professor” Patrick Moriarty and some of the members of the “Surf’s Up” forum who advocated a scorched-earth campaign against the government.

A linchpin of the stragegy is to send demand letters to litigation opponents, judges and officers of the court by certified mail. The letters demand a specific course of conduct and include a compressed time frame in which the demand must be met. If the demand is not met or if the recipient ignores the letters, the practitioners claim a contract violation has occurred and seek astronomical judgments against the targets of the letters.

If any of this sounds unreasonable and dangerous to you, consider you’re not alone in your concern. In one of the Utah cases, the recipients sued under federal racketeering and mail-fraud statutes — and won. On the eve of an “Indian” trial in Utah, Richmond tried to force Friot to recuse himself from the case, claiming that Friot couldn’t be fair because he “owes Curtis Richmond $30 million in Damages for Violating Curtis Richmond’s Sovereign & Constitutional Rights.”

And Richmond piled on threats: “The Judge Disqualifies Himself Or He Will Face Criminal Charges,” he demanded.

Friot refused to step down. He found that the “tribe” had engaged in racketeering and mail fraud, ordering more than $108,000 in damages to the victims.

Feb 7, 2009
BREAKING NEWS: Richmond’s Utah ‘Indian’ Appeal Dismissed; Victims Say He Sought $30 Million Judgment Against Federal Judge Hearing The Case On Eve Of Trial

UPDATED 1:21 A.M. EST (FEB. 7, U.S.A.) The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit (Denver) has dismissed Curtis Richmond’s appeal in the sham Utah “Indian Tribe” case, saying Richmond “failed to comply with the court’s order of December 17, 2008 directing [him] to pay the appellate filing fee in full by January 7, 2009.”

Documents filed as part of the appeal raise new questions about some of the claims Richmond made in filings earlier this week in the ASD case.

Richmond, who said in filings in the ASD case that the government’s actions in seizing money from ASD cost his organization tens of thousands of dollars, claimed in his “Indian” appeal that he was a pauper. The motion by Richmond to file in forma pauperis in the “Indian” appeal was filed June 4, 2008.

But on Aug. 1, 2008, according to Richmond’s filings in the ASD case, Pacific Ministry of Giving International, of which Richmond is chairman, had $41,000 at stake in AdSurfDaily, “counting the Upgrade Bonuses promised between July 14th and Aug. 1, 2008.”

Meanwhile, victims in the Utah “Indian” cases — including a county prosecutor who was subjected to a $250 million fraudulent judgment handed down by a bogus tribal arbitration panel upon which Richmond served — said Richmond attempted to derail the case on the eve of trial by preparing a fraudulent judgment for $30 million against the presiding federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot did not recuse himself from the case despite Richmond’s last-minute maneuver and ordered Richmond and co-defendants to pay more than $108,000 in damages and costs to the injured parties for engaging in racketeering and mail fraud.

“[Sham ‘Indian Chief’ Dale] Stevens contends that the Honorable Stephen P. Friot was biased and should have disqualified himself,” the victims said in an appeal brief. “Stevens makes this claim based upon a $30 million judgment co-conspirator Richmond supposedly obtained against Judge Friot shortly before the trial commenced.”

In filings in the ASD case, Richmond referenced $30 million as the amount an ASD member sought to collect from each of four public officials involved in the case. He is being hailed a “hero” on the Surf’s Up Pro-ASD forum and on a forum for AdViewGlobal set up by some of the Surf’s Up Mods.

Injured parties in the Utah cases, however, see things differently.

“Rather than respond to Uintah County Appelleeâ€™s Counterclaim, Richmond moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction,” the injured parties said.Â “That Motion was denied. Uintah County Appelleeâ€™s requested an entry of default against Richmond for failure to respond to the Counterclaim.

Richmond claim against Judge Stephen Friot.

“In denying Uintah County Appelleeâ€™s Motion, the Court ordered Richmond to file a responsive pleading,” the injured parties said.Â “Rather than answer Uintah County Appelleeâ€™s Counterclaim, Richmond moved to disqualify Judge Friot based upon a fraudulent $30 million award he had allegedly obtained against Judge Friot in much the same manner as the arbitration awards entered by the Wampanoagers [sham tribe] by Uintah County Appellees. Judge Friot denied the Motion to Disqualify and entered a Default Judgment against Richmond for failure to appear at trial.”

30 Million Things In Common

An ASD member named Alana Holsted was stymied in efforts to collect on an “Entry of Default Affidavit for $30 million for each Defendant,â€ Richmond said in filings in the ASD case.

$30 million claim also cited in ASD case.

And $30 million was a notable figure in the “Indian” case as well, which included a flurry of certified mail. A certified-mail campaign also is part of the ASD case.

Injured parties in the “Indian” case said Richmond deliberately tried to scuttle the proceedings.

“Shortly before the trial commenced, Richmond embarked on the same course of conduct to obtain a fraudulent judgment/award against the Honorable Stephen P. Friot,” the injured parties said in an appeal brief.

“First, Richmond sent a notice or demand for administrative proceedings to the Court,” they continued.Â “That notice was followed up by Notices of Dishonor and Nonresponse from Richmond. On April 14, 2008, Richmond filed an Affidavit of Notice of Default. Finally, he filed his Motion to Disqualify based upon a $30 million administrative judgment obtained against Judge Friot.”

Friot, however, refused to step down.

“The administrative proceeding conducted by Richmond against Judge Friot was as much of a sham as the fraudulent arbitration awards,” the injured parties said. “Therefore, not only was there no need for Judge Friot to recuse himself, but had he done so would have been an abuse of discretion because it would encourage other obstreperous litigants to entertain such actions on eve of trial leading to needless delays and added expense in bringing such cases on for trial.”

Appeal ‘Not Taken In Good Faith’

A three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals said Richmond was filing nonsense during the appeals process as well. His motion to file as a pauper was denied, and he was ordered to pay for a transcript of the Utah trial and to pay the full cost of filing the appeal.

“[T]he appeal was not taken in ‘good faith’ because Richmond failed to ‘show the existence of a reasoned, nonfrivolous argument on the law and facts in support of the issues raised on appeal,” the panel said.

“Richmondâ€™s brief complains primarily about the lack of evidence to support the district courtâ€™s judgment,” the panel said.

Here is how Richmond put it:

â€œThe Case was about Arbitration Awards that the Biased Judges ruled were obtained from a Sham Arbitration Council without Any Legal Evidence of the Arbitration being a Sham Arbitration Council. Only the Opinion of an Atty. & Judge were presented.â€

And here is how the court responded:

“What little law he cites is either wrong or taken out of context. The brief is hyperbole.”

Richmond fundamentally is making the same argument in the ASD case — an argument that the prosecutors don’t have “Legal Evidence” and that the judge is in cahoots.

Dale Stevens, chief of the sham tribe, fared no better with the three-judge panel.

“The closest thing to an argument in his two-page invective is the statement that ‘[t]he trial was nothing more [t]h[a]n a Kangaroo Court as Curtis Richmond got a judgment [a]gainst the judge and ask[ed] him to s[te]p a side and he refused, so the ruling must be rever[sed] and the Contracts honored as they are the highest kind of contracts.’ This falls far short of a reasoned, nonfrivolous legal argument,” the panel said.

Like Stevens in his appeals motion, Richmond in his ASD motion made a “Kangaroo Court” claim, saying Judge Rosemary Collyer was running one, as was Chief Judge Royce Lamberth.

Richmond’s motion also included accusations that Collyer was a felon, along with assertions he had the same type of “contract” in the ASD case as Stevens had in the “Indian” case.

Feb 6, 2009
When Words Fail: ‘Stunning’ Can’t Describe ASD Disconnect

The level of disconnect is stunning — and it is accompanied by a level of brazenness that is equally stunning. In fact, stunning understates it; it is more like an unapologetic, myopic commitment to felonious self-indulgence.

But what would you expect from a group whose motto is “ASD — Keep Fighting The Good Fight!”

There is nothing good about the fight by the ASD Member Advocates Forum — “Surf’s Up, Baby!” for short or just plain “Surf’s Up!” — to make the world safe for Ponzi profits delivered by ASD President Andy Bowdoin and others.

Surf's Up and related sites show their affection for Ponzi schemes.

One of the others is AdViewGlobal, which has ASD’s fingerprints all over it (see this, see this, see this) and purports to be operating out of Uruguay. Some of the Surf’s Up Mods have a forum for AdViewGlobal, too. In tune with Valentine’s Day, both forums currently are showcasing their love for Ponzi schemes by using a graphic of a big, beautiful red heart. Like the “Surf’s Up” forum, the AdViewGlobal forum is using the hosting services of ning.com in a bid to portray Ponzi schemes, money-laundering and wire-fraud operations as businesses with intrinsic social value. Never mind that nearly $100 million has been seized in the ASD case, that Bowdoin is a serial scam artist who, quite literally, could name an All-Felony Team from within his own ranks. What’s important, here, according to the serial promoters of ASD and AdViewGlobal, are the fabulous commissions they can earn by fleecing downline members by ignoring facts they deem inconvenient.

“Happy Days Are Here Again!” assures the AdViewGlobal members’ forum. How the promoters will be able to persuade a judge or jury they were acting in good faithÂ if the need arises apparently is a worry for another day. The promoters have ignored the August ASD forfeiture complaint, the December forfeiture complaint, a RICO lawsuit (against Bowdoin and co-conspirators), the recent failures of MegaLido, Frogress, DailyProfitPond, Instant2U and others, and all previous autosurf litigation.

AdViewGlobal sells “ad impressions” as opposed to “ad packs” — window dressing to be sure — but window dressing that shows planning. Another thing that shows planning is the purported Uruguay registration. If the company is named in any future litigation, the words “conspiracy” and “co-conspirator” are apt to be part of the government presentation.

For its part, Surf’s Up has been deleting members for insisting on discussing the truth and the ramifications of all of this. This is perfectly consistent with the forum’s history. It once published a post from a member who said the prosecutor in the ASD case should be placed in a medieval torture “rack” and that members could draw straws to see who got to tighten the wheel.

In a play on the middle name — Rakestraw — of federal prosecutor William Cowden, a Surf’s Up member suggests putting him in a torture “rack” and drawing “straws” to see who gets to tighten the wheel.

If the Feds do move, it will be like shooting fish in a barrel. Regardless, the forum mods in recent days have announced that they’ve “had enough” of people who insist on living in the real world.

So, no, stunning — normally a strong, descriptive word — doesn’t quite do the job.

Feb 3, 2009