Victims of massive Internet Ponzi scheme sue Bank of America

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The victims of a massive Internet Ponzi scheme have sued Bank of America (BofA) for helping the fraud occur by continuing to do business with the alleged perpetrators despite numerous signs of illegal activity.

In a suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia earlier this month, fraud victims claimed that BofA's role as the financial institution of the company behind the alleged Ponzi scheme lent the operation an air of misplaced legitimacy. The bank's failure to follow industry standards for compliance with money laundering laws and banking regulations, "aided and abetted" those behind the scheme, the lawsuit claimed.

Steven Berk, a lawyer at Chavez & Gertler LLP, the Washington-based law firm that filed the lawsuit, said today that the Ponzi scheme would not have succeeded to the extent it did without a "serious bank behind it. I have talked to ... victims who all said the fact they could make deposits (into the scheme) with Bank of America made them feel it was legitimate," he said. "That puts [the bank] squarely in the middle.

"It was not as if they were a tangential player in any of this," Berk said. He argued that the existence of multiple accounts in the company's name, numerous small deposits and the fact that the company was not selling any tangible product or service should have raised questions at the bank.

Named in the lawsuit along with BofA are the owners and operators of AdSurfDaily, AdSurfDaily Cash Generator, Golden Panda Ad Builder and La Fuente Dinero. All of the entities are alleged to have sold online "ad packages" that conferred membership in a program under which individuals were promised 150% of what they paid in return for viewing specified Web sites and advertisements. About 140,000 people signed up for the program.

Last August, the Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum's office filed a lawsuit against AdSurfDaily, charging it with running a "huge pyramid scheme." The complaint noted that the firm had collected millions of dollars from individuals by falsely promising them huge returns. That lawsuit came on the heels of a raid by the U.S. Secret Service on the company's headquarters in Quincy, Fla.

After the raid, the Department of Justice seized $53 million owned by Thomas Bowdoin Jr., owner of AdSurfDaily, which operates AdSurfDaily.com, ASDcashgenerator.com, Lafuentedinero.com and Goldenpandaadbuilder.com.

AdSurfDaily's program was widely advertised online, including on YouTube, and at well-attended conventions and rallies across the country. Participants were promised large returns simply by spending between seven and 15 minutes viewing a total of 24 Web sites that AdSurfDaily would rotate through their browsers. Prices for the ad packages ranged from $10 to $50,000 -- the larger the ad package, the larger the return that was promised.

McCollum's office estimated that two events in Florida netted the company about $100 million.

BofA officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. No one from AdSurfDaily could be reached for comment either.