Finally, I wish to address the topic of Duane Howe, a man who has been
persistent in his attempts to blackmail me. He has threatened to defame
me
if I don't give him money. What money is it that Duane wants from me?
Why
the money HE LOST trading! How did he lose it? By trading from a daily
teaching fax whose express purpose was to teach, not to be in any way,
manner, shape, or form an advisory. Those who subscribed to the fax all,
without exception, had to sign a disclaimer expressly stating that they
knew the fax was for teaching purposes only. Every single issue of the
fax
loudly proclaimed, THIS FAX IS FOR PAPER TRADING PURPOSES ONLY. THE
TRADES
CONTAINED HEREIN ARE NOT REAL. THEY ARE SUBMITTED PURELY FOR YOUR
CONSIDERATION IN LEARNING HOW TO TRADE!
I still retain Duane Howe's signed statement to the effect that he read
and
agreed to the disclaimer. However, Howe decided to go ahead and take the
trades "anyhowe." Sorry but I couldn't resist the pun. Duane proceeded
to
lose $25,000. Somehowe (there I go again) he decided to allow Bernie
Goggins of Ross Trading to manage his money. This, after he had already
lost money following the trades in the fax. Strange, to say the least.
He spoke with Bernie Goggins, our in-house trader and fax preparer.
(Goggins was the one who prepared the daily fax.) Bernie was also one of
only two in our office who could have legally traded his money. The
other
person has since retired from trading and is now otherwise occupied. I
am
not a CTA, have never been a CTA, don't want to be a CTA, and never
traded
a single dime of Duane Howe's money. I never represented to him that I
would trade his money. He himself stated, "I think there was too much
Bernie and not enough Joe."
That Duane knew that Bernie was trading the account is clear from his
letter dated June 28, 1994. I quote:
"Perhaps you are not aware of the magnitude of the losses and the
bungling
that occurred on my account last September and October when Bernie was
apparently trading it in your absence."
That he knew that the trading was strictly Bernie's is also apparent
from
this same letter:
"Something is wrong here. That is not your style of trading according to
your books, faxes, newsletters, etc."
I do not know what conversations transpired between Howe and Goggins. I
do
know that Goggins was trading a number of managed accounts, and that he
lost a considerable amount of money besides Howe's. To the best of my
knowledge, Howe lost $46,000: $25,000 all by himself, and the rest was
lost through Goggins. Most of the money was actually lost while I was
not
even present in Texas, where our offices were located.
None of the others who lost money ever complained. They were mature men
and women who had entrusted their money to a CTA for trading. They lost
at
least half of their money, but they knew the risks, and the disclaimers
on
that sort of thing are rampant. THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT PAST
PERFORMANCE IS ANY INDICATION OF FUTURE PROFITS. In the case of Goggins,
he was a brand new CTA with virtually no experience at all in trading
other
than on paper. Certainly, he did not trade according to my teachings, as
acknowledged by Howe in his letter. Bernie was an independent individual
and he trading according to his own methods and style. He never offered
a
trading record to anyone, because he had no trading record.
Howe then went on a blackmail campaign which continues to this day. He
threatened to expose me. He entered an article in the Club 3000 News
offering to sell his trading statements to anyone who would send him
money
for them. (These trading statements were clearly doctored, as you will
see
at the end of this letter.) When only a handful responded, he tried
blackmail once again. Howe's reasoning is that because I did not sue him
or Babcock, that all the accusations must be true. This is a strange
type
of logic, but Howe has worked himself into a lather over the whole
affair
and his imagination has stretched to the incredulous.
Obviously there is no reason for me to waste my time and money with
lawyers
to allay these meaningless false accusations. Those who know me know
that
I am both too busy and too Christian to run to the courts for revenge.
In June 1997, Duane Howe made his second attempt at blackmail. This
prompted a letter to him from my wife.
The pertinent contents of the letter follow:
Dear Duane,
"I find it a sad commentary that you have spent the last three years
wrapped up in bitterness and a thirst for revenge, looking for reasons
to
justify your feelings of being betrayed. You were not the only one to
have
incurred losses at that time, but you are the only one we know of who
did
not pick up the pieces, learn whatever lessons they could, and go on
with
their lives. Such an approach to life can lead only to physical, mental,
emotional, and spiritual illness, with no gain to you whatsoever.
"...Much of what you are suffering is due to wrong premises. You assume
successful traders do not lose money, when the fact is many of the most
successful have incurred great losses, from which they were able to
recover
so that overall their gains were greater than their losses.
"As for Bruce Babcock's "research" into the trading life of Joe Ross,
that
too is based on some wrong premises. The first and most obvious error is
caused by not knowing that Joe Ross' name was not Joe Ross most of his
life. His surname was one we did not like, and as a gift to our children
and ourselves, we changed it. Another premise is that he would hold his
accounts in his own name, whatever it was at the time. Also false. For
the last 30-35 years we have always operated any business in which we
engaged as a Corporation. You would never find a Joe Ross account.
"I believe Bruce also doubted Joe's history of his family's trading.
Again, he was looking for a Ross family history. Actually, even if he
had
known Joe's father's family name, he would not have found the history
because it was his mother's family who were the successful traders.
"We never bothered correcting Bruce on this because we just don't care
to
take the time to confront someone who has nothing better to do than tear
others down.
"...Actually, I'm not even sure why I'm bothering to tell you all this,
except that I do feel sorry for you that you have spent all this time
and
energy and effort just to prove yourself right, justified, victimized,
and
whatever else. All you have done is wasted time that would have been
much
better utilized by finding other ways to recoup your losses. Since
trading
did not seem to be your talent, you need to be looking to where your
talents are and cash in on them somehow.
persistent in his attempts to blackmail me. He has threatened to defame
me
if I don't give him money. What money is it that Duane wants from me?
Why
the money HE LOST trading! How did he lose it? By trading from a daily
teaching fax whose express purpose was to teach, not to be in any way,
manner, shape, or form an advisory. Those who subscribed to the fax all,
without exception, had to sign a disclaimer expressly stating that they
knew the fax was for teaching purposes only. Every single issue of the
fax
loudly proclaimed, THIS FAX IS FOR PAPER TRADING PURPOSES ONLY. THE
TRADES
CONTAINED HEREIN ARE NOT REAL. THEY ARE SUBMITTED PURELY FOR YOUR
CONSIDERATION IN LEARNING HOW TO TRADE!
I still retain Duane Howe's signed statement to the effect that he read
and
agreed to the disclaimer. However, Howe decided to go ahead and take the
trades "anyhowe." Sorry but I couldn't resist the pun. Duane proceeded
to
lose $25,000. Somehowe (there I go again) he decided to allow Bernie
Goggins of Ross Trading to manage his money. This, after he had already
lost money following the trades in the fax. Strange, to say the least.
He spoke with Bernie Goggins, our in-house trader and fax preparer.
(Goggins was the one who prepared the daily fax.) Bernie was also one of
only two in our office who could have legally traded his money. The
other
person has since retired from trading and is now otherwise occupied. I
am
not a CTA, have never been a CTA, don't want to be a CTA, and never
traded
a single dime of Duane Howe's money. I never represented to him that I
would trade his money. He himself stated, "I think there was too much
Bernie and not enough Joe."
That Duane knew that Bernie was trading the account is clear from his
letter dated June 28, 1994. I quote:
"Perhaps you are not aware of the magnitude of the losses and the
bungling
that occurred on my account last September and October when Bernie was
apparently trading it in your absence."
That he knew that the trading was strictly Bernie's is also apparent
from
this same letter:
"Something is wrong here. That is not your style of trading according to
your books, faxes, newsletters, etc."
I do not know what conversations transpired between Howe and Goggins. I
do
know that Goggins was trading a number of managed accounts, and that he
lost a considerable amount of money besides Howe's. To the best of my
knowledge, Howe lost $46,000: $25,000 all by himself, and the rest was
lost through Goggins. Most of the money was actually lost while I was
not
even present in Texas, where our offices were located.
None of the others who lost money ever complained. They were mature men
and women who had entrusted their money to a CTA for trading. They lost
at
least half of their money, but they knew the risks, and the disclaimers
on
that sort of thing are rampant. THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT PAST
PERFORMANCE IS ANY INDICATION OF FUTURE PROFITS. In the case of Goggins,
he was a brand new CTA with virtually no experience at all in trading
other
than on paper. Certainly, he did not trade according to my teachings, as
acknowledged by Howe in his letter. Bernie was an independent individual
and he trading according to his own methods and style. He never offered
a
trading record to anyone, because he had no trading record.
Howe then went on a blackmail campaign which continues to this day. He
threatened to expose me. He entered an article in the Club 3000 News
offering to sell his trading statements to anyone who would send him
money
for them. (These trading statements were clearly doctored, as you will
see
at the end of this letter.) When only a handful responded, he tried
blackmail once again. Howe's reasoning is that because I did not sue him
or Babcock, that all the accusations must be true. This is a strange
type
of logic, but Howe has worked himself into a lather over the whole
affair
and his imagination has stretched to the incredulous.
Obviously there is no reason for me to waste my time and money with
lawyers
to allay these meaningless false accusations. Those who know me know
that
I am both too busy and too Christian to run to the courts for revenge.
In June 1997, Duane Howe made his second attempt at blackmail. This
prompted a letter to him from my wife.
The pertinent contents of the letter follow:
Dear Duane,
"I find it a sad commentary that you have spent the last three years
wrapped up in bitterness and a thirst for revenge, looking for reasons
to
justify your feelings of being betrayed. You were not the only one to
have
incurred losses at that time, but you are the only one we know of who
did
not pick up the pieces, learn whatever lessons they could, and go on
with
their lives. Such an approach to life can lead only to physical, mental,
emotional, and spiritual illness, with no gain to you whatsoever.
"...Much of what you are suffering is due to wrong premises. You assume
successful traders do not lose money, when the fact is many of the most
successful have incurred great losses, from which they were able to
recover
so that overall their gains were greater than their losses.
"As for Bruce Babcock's "research" into the trading life of Joe Ross,
that
too is based on some wrong premises. The first and most obvious error is
caused by not knowing that Joe Ross' name was not Joe Ross most of his
life. His surname was one we did not like, and as a gift to our children
and ourselves, we changed it. Another premise is that he would hold his
accounts in his own name, whatever it was at the time. Also false. For
the last 30-35 years we have always operated any business in which we
engaged as a Corporation. You would never find a Joe Ross account.
"I believe Bruce also doubted Joe's history of his family's trading.
Again, he was looking for a Ross family history. Actually, even if he
had
known Joe's father's family name, he would not have found the history
because it was his mother's family who were the successful traders.
"We never bothered correcting Bruce on this because we just don't care
to
take the time to confront someone who has nothing better to do than tear
others down.
"...Actually, I'm not even sure why I'm bothering to tell you all this,
except that I do feel sorry for you that you have spent all this time
and
energy and effort just to prove yourself right, justified, victimized,
and
whatever else. All you have done is wasted time that would have been
much
better utilized by finding other ways to recoup your losses. Since
trading
did not seem to be your talent, you need to be looking to where your
talents are and cash in on them somehow.
