An attorney who represented AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin in state court in Florida has been nominated by President Obama to become the new U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
If confirmed by the Senate, Pamela Cothran Marsh would replace Thomas F. Kirwin as the top federal prosecutor in the region, which encompasses 23 counties.
Marsh, who holds the title of “of counsel” at the Akerman Senterfitt law firm, was among a number of attorneys employed by Bowdoin to contest civil charges that he had operated a pyramid scheme from a former floral shop in Quincy, Fla.
Bowdoin went on to fire an unclear number of attorneys representing him in state or federal court in ASD-related litigation. It was not immediately clear if Bowdoin had fired Marsh, whose name appears in Leon County Court records as one of Bowdoin’s lawyers.
There has been no docketed action in the Florida case since Jan. 20.
At least three Bowdoin attorneys have been subpoenaed to appear in a separate case involving ASD that was filed under seal in federal court. The PP Blog has tentatively identified the subpoenaed attorneys but is withholding publication of their names pending verification.
Marsh and members of her firm who formerly represented Bowdoin are not among the attorneys who have been subpoenaed. Bowdoin contested the subpoenas in a federal appeals court, but the court dismissed the appeal Friday for lack of jurisdiction, according to records.
How the case will proceed is unclear.
Bowdoin is known to have fired at least two attorneys without notice, acted as his own attorney briefly, and then hired at least two new attorneys, according to court filings.
Marsh received Obama’s endorsement to replace Kirwin on April 14, according to the White House. She is a former assistant U.S. Attorney currently in private practice.
The pyramid case against Bowdoin was filed in August 2008 by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. Assets connected to ASD — including more than $80 million seized from bank accounts — are part of Ponzi scheme litigation brought by federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia just prior to McCollum’s filing of the pyramid allegations.
Like the federal prosecution against ASD’s assets, Florida’s prosecution of Bowdoin has been marked by strange developments. During a conference call, Bowdoin told ASD members that Ponzi allegations had been dropped against ASD in Florida, a claim that prompted some members to race to forums to announce the good news.
McCollum’s office responded to Bowdoin’s claims by saying that, not only had Ponzi allegations not been dropped in Florida, they had not been brought to begin with. Earlier, some ASD members participated in campaign to have McCollum charged with Deceptive Trade Practices for holding the view ASD had broken the law. The members also campaigned to have a Florida television station charged with the same offense for broadcasting news they deemed unflattering to ASD.
Bowdoin’s forays into federal court in the Ponzi litigation have been equally strange. Documents he has filed frequently have been at odds with themselves.
Read some information on Marsh as submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Among other things, she was lauded during her tenure as assistant U.S. Attorney for her work prosecuting narcotics cases, including cases known as “Operation Bahama Breeze” and “Operation Panama Express.”
Operation Panama Express resulted in the seizure of hundreds of tons of cocaine, according to Marsh’s Senate file.