MOULTRIE — The president and CEO of a company accused of operating an illegal pyramid scheme has a criminal history that includes fraud and selling illegal securities, according to a civil complaint filed by federal authorities.

Thomas Andrew Bowdoin Jr., who heads AdSurfDaily, often referred to as ASD, also has a record of Florida businesses dissolved due to the failure to update company information. No criminal charges have been filed in the case.

A number of Colquitt County residents put money into AdSurfDaily and other Internet sites that promised payouts to customers for viewing advertising material on the Internet. There are unconfirmed reports of hundreds of thousands of dollars being invested by Colquitt County citizens. Several local people, however, have told The Observer that they bought into the sales pitch. There also were reports that a local resident’s computers may have been confiscated in relation to this investigation, but The Observer could not confirm this as of Thursday evening.

The advertisements on the site largely consisted of ads for the company itself as well as Web sites promoting other multi-level marketing products, according to the federal complaint filed Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia.

According to the lawsuit, the 74-year-old Bowdoin, who serves as president and CEO of AdSurfDaily, in October 2007 entered a pre-trial diversion that included three years of probation and paying $15,000 in restitution in a case resolved in Montgomery County, Ala.

The Alabama case was related to the promotion of a company called Mobile International Inc., which was touted as a cheaper alternative to cellular telephone systems.

“That venture collapsed and Bowdoin and his co-defendants were charged with having sold unregistered securities to investors and with failing to state material facts to the investors that would have impacted the victims’ decisions to invest. In particular, Alabama officials asserted that Bowdoin instigated a scheme by which he took money from some victims to pay off prior investors.”

Bowdoin later pleaded guilty in January 1999 in Wilcox County, Ala., to one count of sale of unregistered securities and was sentenced to one year in prison, which was suspended, and to three years of probation and to pay $75,000 in restitution, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit also said that Bowdoin was listed as registered agent, president, CEO or director of 12 companies between November 1983 and September 2007.

“On the Internet, ASD promotes him as an astute businessman with a long and remarkable record of success in numerous business ventures, but such successes are remarkably absent from his true work history,” the lawsuit said. “It does not appear that any of these corporations operates today. It also appears that Bowdoin earned no significant income from legal employment in the 20 years prior to his commencement of ASD’s operations.

“But, no information about Bowdoin’s record of business failures and fraud accusations is contained on ASD’s website. Nor was Bowdoin’s true past mentioned to perspective members during the ASD rally at which he spoke or during the conference calls that he, or others promoting ASD on his behalf, participated in during ASD’s operations.”

Prospective investors were told by company operators and promoters that Bowdoin was awarded a “medal of distinction” for a lifetime of business success by “the president of the United States,” which is false, the lawsuit said.

When a Moultrie Observer reporter called AdSurfDaily offices Thursday afternoon, a man on a recorded message who identified himself as “Andy” -- a name used by Bowdoin -- said that the company was not answering the telephone or responding to questions pending the outcome of the legal case.

The recording said that investors would be given an e-mail update on Monday.

The Internet sites of Golden Panda Ad Builder and ASD both said that no money can be moved in or out of accounts up direction of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office seized $53 million in company assets and homes in Florida and South Carolina on Tuesday. And the Florida Attorney General’s office filed suit Wesnesday to try to recoup victims’ money.

Jay Kassees, of the Florida Secretary of State’s Division of Corporations, said that the record of dissolved businesses indicate that the companies did not file an annual filing report listing the registered agent, officers and directors.

Each business entity is required to file the annual report each year, and if they do not do, they are considered administratively dissolved, although they can petition to be reinstated at a later time, he said. Filing the annual report costs $150, and the initial registration of a business in the state curently costs $70.

“From our perspective once they’re administratively dissolved they need to wind down their affairs,” Kassees said.

The criminal investigation likely will not affect AdSurfDaily’s status with the office immediately, he said. If there is a successful criminal or civil action taken against it, a judge can, as part of a court order, order a business to cease operations.

“In cases like this, what normally happens is there will be a disposition (and) part of the disposition is what will happen to this organization as a business entity.”

As of Thursday the Secretary of State’s Web site listed AdSurfDaily Inc. in Quincy, Fla., as active, with Bowdoin listed as the registered agent. It was registered as a foreign profit corporation May 23, and had no annual reports on file.