Saturday, March 15, 2008

Woodies CCI Club and a very sad day...very sad.


When anonymous posted 5 updates within 40 minutes, it didn't hit me until I checked all the emails that came in on Friday and all I have to say is HOLY CRAP BATMAN. I thought, don't tell me something happened to Gary (gb007). A very quiet and thoughtful man who had retired from the business and became involved with Woodie back in the very early days...Other then TonyUK, gb007 was one of the last one standing by his man. It didn't seem what was said, it didn't matter on what people thought he was there trying his best to help others. Why, because like myself and hundreds of others, he believed in people helping others as we saw with his personal support of the Rolling Hills Progress Center. Believe me, when I say, we checked his support out and it was just what he said it was...and that is measure of a man.

Woodie for his part, again like in the past, only said 9 words about a long time friend that worked endless to promote him and the Woodies CCI Club, worked with newbies, did special presentations about money management, spoke at conferences, you name it Gary was there helping the best he could. Like so many of us, Traders helping Traders. But, just 9 words....just 9...a total of 33 letters and nothing more....other then just 9 words.....and then it was on to defend himself on the advise of the lawyers I guess. Why does he needs lawyers, at this point? Not a lawyer but lawyers, is there something going on??? That would require you to have a team of lawyers?

As I checked my emails today from yesterday, seems several people took a snapshot of a post from gb007 himself. Gary like some many of us, was involved in the Woodies CCI Club at some level during the past 7 years. We were there for a number of reason, but I believe in talking to those who have left, it was about this idea of being part of something bigger then us. Traders helping Traders and Lighting someone elses candle doesn't take away from yours.....having the candle things at the end of a trade-a-long, workshop or conference, great slogans and we believed.

But there came a point, like with Hoot after Chicago in 2004, Barbara after Monteray Bay in 2004, DrBob after New Jersey in 2005, Susan helping with the trade-a-longs before Peregrine Charities took over and on and on....moderators seem to leave for no reason. Well there was a reason, that caused Gio and JeanYus to leave, for BobCathy to leave and whole list of just plain folks...that decided something just wasn't right.

On December 21,2004 at 7:06pm, James Gabinski, from the DePage County Coroner office pronounced Firouz Amirparvis dead, we knew him as Dr. Famir. I first met the doctor during CB's first trade-a-long in Chicago back in the summer of 2002. He and his wife Cheryl sat in the third row on the right. Now, why would I remember him, well, he was the only guy wearing a suit. As a client of CB, when CB was in Chicago, a bunch of us would get together for a loose trading thing and then have dinner somewhere, he did have a great sense of humor and a warm heart. When a fellow in the chat room had heart problems, Famir made calls and got things done and we all know the stories. He was another person who spoke at the conferences, trade-a-longs and even hosted parties at his house in Oak Brook for those who lived nearby and were members of the Woodies CCI Club, another person who worked endless to promote Woodie because he believed in the big picture.....not just the greed.

Famir believed in the CCI so much that he gave it all, every nickel and dime, every dollar he could borrow and then the day came. The day when "they" showed up at the door with some paperwork. And by then, like so many others, there wasn't anything left, it was all gone, 50 years of work, a lifetime of savings, all gone. Famir was severly depressed and was having suicidal thoughts for a month before that evening. He had attempted to hang himself three times in the closet before he.......

As Detective King was proforming his duties, [Famir daughter was running around the house and seemed very upset at the court documents that came. I never got her name, but all she kept doing was running up to me saying, "HE killed my dad, He killed my dad. How could he do this to my dad?"]

So Gary has now decided that enough is enough and by staying around it would only make him look like something he couldn't live with either.
TD Boone, Clint_TX, Dan_PDX mPlay have also decided that enough is enough.....

Is there more to the Famir story......you betcha this is only the tip of the iceberg.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

For starters I salute Gary (GB007) for standing up for what’s right and exposing what’s wrong. Our world would be a much better place if there were more who were like Gary.

I hope it is now crystal clear why Ken Wood keeps his room FREE.

“TO STAY OUT OF THE REACH OF THE LAW HE HAS TO”

Logic follows that if he charged for his conference room, traders would have grounds to hold this creep accountable. By not charging money, Ken Wood adds a layer of protection from lawsuits from families like those of the late Dr. Famir.

The unknowing public needs to understand that a wrongful death lawsuit against Ken Wood would bring his tax returns into the spotlight. This is something this con-man desperately wants to avoid as the truth would reveal Ken Wood is not the man he poses to be and in-fact does not trade the futures the way he has misrepresented himself.

I challenge this crook Wood to exonerate himself through a neutral third party like the Arizona Attorney General Office. But don’t hold your breath because this would bring the I.R.S. into the mix uncovering a host of other problems, something Wood and the slime brokers at PFG will avoid at all cost. It does not take a rocket scientist to see why former sponsoring brokers dropped this crook like hot potato.

The old timers who have know this crook will readily confirm Ken Wood does not trade. He entices others to walk down a dangerous path that he himself can not and will not do. This false misrepresentation has cost traders “Around the Word” hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Not watching price is just an egocentric fools-gold trick to entice the unknowing to come onboard. Ken Wood led Dr. Famir down a very dark path and instead of just being honest and telling Dr. Famir the truth about his own short comings; he sat and watch this man (Dr. Famir) lose it all.

Ken Wood you lied to us on a daily basis about Dr. Famirs death telling us he died of a heart attack. Then you have the audacity to use the man’s name to make yourself look good. You are a sick, sick man.

Ken Wood you are a bastard.

Anonymous said...

Wow, Everytime I turn around I hear more and more bad news about Ken Wood. It looks like the CCI club is nothing but a big fraud.

Anonymous said...

Well our hats are off to GB007 for having a conscience. We are curious about the others who remain with the Woodie?

Robert Bigliano aka Biggs
Clint Sawyer aka Clint_TX
Gunter
Josey Wales aka Joe Weil
Jwormy
IQ aka Kevin Amundson
Keith FL
Lotus
Martin_FL
Norma Jenner aka Nicker
TCBoone aka Dan Allen

How bad does this have to get before you draw the line? How many have to suffer the deceptions of Ken Wood before you say enough is enough? By allowing Ken Wood to use you, you are hurting others. Is the thirst to feed your ego as unquenchable as Ken Woods?

We have not listed Susan Drummond nor Tony Holden as we feel they are part of the problem.

Friends of the late Dr. Famir

Anonymous said...

I am not surprised. The room is nothing like it was in the PalTalk days. GB hit the nail on the head.

I did have a couple of questions reading those MAW letters. The last two Peregrine donations end in zeros, while all their other donations are to the penny. Sort of odd. And there are no letters or documentation of those two donations either.

Truly sad that Dr. Famir did not get the help he needed. That is just awful.

Anonymous said...

I was surprised that Gary stayed in Woodie's room as long as he did, but that probably speaks more to his loyalty as a friend and desire to help others than anything else.

I saw the very clear writing on the wall a couple of years ago when, as a mod, I was pressured to switch brokers. Wasn't hard to see that hanging around was no longer in my best interest--someone for some reason felt entitled to my account.

Had I not really wanted to believe the bullshit in the first place, I would have seen all earlier. The marketing pressure, insulting of others and cultish isolation was hard to miss, but I kept trying to reconcile that with what I wished to believe.

There came the day when it was all just too undeniable.

Quite frankly though, I wasn't seeing it for more than stealth marketing. The accusations you've made here are much more serious than that and, sadly, quite feasible given the body of evidence and patterns of behavior.

Thanks for pursuing the matter. At worst, you've alerted some newcomers to the potential for anyone to succumb to the dictates of greed if they've got a big enough audience. At best, you've exposed something much worse.

Anonymous said...

Im in shock over this latest post. I've been around the club on and off now for 6 yrs. For Dr Famir, his trading style was his own and I guess discipline was not part of it. With that being said, do the patterns work or dont they? I've lost money and I've made money. The one thing I've learned over the years and taken from experienced traders, in the room and elsewhere, was to constantly re-learn, re-tool because things do change in this business.

Anonymous said...

Woodie renamed the shamu trade in honor of Doctor Famir the Famir.If Woodie knew the cause of the doctors death this was done in bad taste.

Anonymous said...

"This false misrepresentation has cost traders “Around the Word” hundreds of thousands of dollars"

But you would think that a former heart surgeon, saving/long-term investment money through decades, must have lost MILLIONS of $$$ ALONE, if he were going into total bankruptcy like that.

Poor guy. Famir must have completely deceived his family and couldn't live with that level of shame. He must have been doing some grossly over-leveraged trading near the end in a last-ditch effort to try and get back to some semblance of breakeven.

And Gary (gb007), what the heck were you doing hanging around that crook for so long??? That lag-time you're talking about goes WAY beyond friendship loyalties.

I mean, we ALL saw in all of 2004 how things changed drastically after Woodie went from touting the cheapie Sierra Charts to going commercial in his pitches. Gary, you're supposed to be a smart market operator. Why didn't that skillset which you took decades to master help you to see the common sense of the entire situation???

The list goes on and on. EVERYONE who had 2 good brain cells to rub together was bugging out of that room left and right in 2004. You could SMELL the greed from what he was doing it was so bad.

I think Dennis (I think it was you) nailed it on the head when he offered the theory up that Woodie's wife must have laid down the law in 2004 that he had better start making money on what he was doing or else. NOTHING added up. Woodie's wife was still working at her advanced age in the corporate world when Woodie, a self-proclaimed "master of the CCI", could supposedly take money at will from the markets with all that umpteen years of trading experience???

Yeah, right...Give..me..a..F..B!!!

But Gary, thanks for coming forward though. Better late than never.

Just goes to show you that ALL OF USE are vulnerable to all kinds of nasty things in this world at any time unless we trust in our own personal values above all others.

Dennis Bolze said...

Woodie knew about how Firouz within a few days, and the reason I believe this is that, if I knew about it, then the whole world knew.

I always had a problem with the idea that a man who was the leading heart specialist in the world and knew all the signs, had access to the best technology, and would have kept up with this health all of a sudden fell over dead from a heart attack, of all things....that just never made any sense to me.

Then I found out about the inquest and got a copy of it for myself and read all the way thru it and was just dumb founded......

You folks wonder why I have had a bug up my ass for 4 years now about this guy, this is just one of the reasons, another is the Make-a-wish and taking advantage of kids that have their own medical problems...

Mixing clever words and slogans and having people send in donations in his name all the while promising to give the net proceeds to MAW from those TAL.

The money from those TAL, after expenses ended up going overseas to England and you can guess who helped with that.

Anonymous said...

If you want to get some teeth into a concerted effort to put this whole Woodie mess to an end, PFG should be your focus.

When Neil, the IB (introducing broker) for PFG, got his foot in the CCI club door, it started the beginning of the “legitimization” of the scam. By having a major financial organization taking over the trade-a longs and putting full page advertisements in it’s wholly owned monthly publication, SFO, the appearance of substance has duped new generation after new generation of newbies into the devil’s lair. After a period of time witnessing all the smoke and mirrors, some leave, some stay on hoping and thinking that the problem must be themselves as others are doing so well, and sadly some may end like possibly Dr. Famir did.

The highest levels of PFG management need to be brought up to speed on the developments outlined here as a result of this onion being peeled back.

It doesn’t matter now whether the donations to Make a Wish or other charities are documented and legitimate or not. These funds came as a result of offering a circus show and charging an admission fee, where all the performers expenses to put on the show were paid, and maybe a little extra kicked in for incidental “expenses”. How could a legitimate financial firm affiliate themselves with such a parade of characters? The information offered and the opinions expressed can cause financial ruin and even worse.

PFG needs to pull their support and association with Woodies CCI Club immediately. This is a stain on their reputation and good name. I personally throw SFO in the garbage every time I see that CCI TAL advertisement. Perhaps putting together a synopsis of the issues regarding the Woodie CCI Club in a succinct document and sending it to all the PAYING advertisers in SFO would be a good start at getting PFG’s attention. Maybe a few of these folks would express their displeasure to the PFG management, pull their ads and someone would take note.

If this is true regarding Dr. Famir and Woodie knew it and afterwards he had the balls to go ahead and honor this man at his funeral and even went so far to name a silly cci thing after him …I am shocked! They even made a testimonial tribute video to him that played at the Anaheim TAL.

Dr. Famir had trading screens in his kitchen and was active in the CCI room right up until his demise. If this is true regarding the circumstances of his passing, possibly the final act in his life that caused him to end it was a CCI trade gone terribly wrong. One in a very long chain I am sure.

I was one of the chosen at one time, later banished from the flock for acts against the kingdom. Thankfully myself and others who I know from that era have moved on and have survived. Money is one thing, people’s lives is another.

Let’s put this thing to rest.

Anonymous said...

I thank gb for exited the room. Anyone who stays is supporting the lies and hurting innocent, trusting people.

Dennis, I also thank you again for continuing to expose everything about the CCI room to help people see the truth.

Folls

Anonymous said...

The club was never registered as an NpO, therefore it didn't have to give squat to charity. Woodie did report that he did give a "portion" of proceeds to charity. that being a dollar or a penny...is irrelevant.Through back testing, did his system prove profitable? No. tehre Were a lot of people dumb enough to throw various amounts of money at it and try it? Yes. So would profitability for most traders.. bother traders that this organization was misrepresented as a non-profit? No, prob not. For people that were tricked by this club, not everyone can be smart or quick to learn that this was a deceptive club. For the element of legality of the club, there seems to be nothing wrong. Sometimes it is survival of the least ignorant
to win in life. I am sorry for dr. famir. He could not trade and died on his own terms. May woodie quit misrepresenting or utilize deceptive claims so that the mass majority of people arent sucked in.

Anonymous said...

I sit here in disbelief reading first the blog and then the comments. Although I haven't traded in Woodies room for several years, I always thought maybe, just maybe it couldn't be... at least not some of the more heinous accusations.

I always like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but after reading all this I come to the realization that once again I am a lousy judge of character.

I first stumbled onto Woodies room in a chat that I don't even remember anymore. Seems like MIRC, PalTalk or some such. I spent many enjoyable days with GB, Gio, BobCathy, Angela... and many more. Eventually the overwhelming pack mentality became so nauseating and restrictive I moved on. However, it always made me wonder ... these people don't know anything about trading or Woodie, but they seem willing to throw themselves under the bus. Ah well, to each his own I would think. It turns out that feeling of being carried along on the band wagon was justified.

I remember very well the suddenness of Dr. Famirs death. It seemed out of character with his persona in the room and what others had to say. That being said, why did Woodie have to lie? Very disappointing.

Eman_CA

Anonymous said...

Ken Woodie is a f*ing bastard - that why we all left.

Gary, why did you stay so long? Many others left a very long time ago and told you about this stuff. Why did you stay? Why are you leaving now after 4+ more years of the same?

Sport, can you post the inquest report. for us on some website somewhere else so we can read it. We need to get to the bottom of this please.

Ken Woodie never told us this. He lied directly to out faces about this. Why? Why did you do this Ken?

Please post the report.

Start a new site called:

ken-wood-woodie-cci-and-famir

Spell it exactly like it is there with the dashes to the search engines start picking it up and everyone will see the report. Put a blog in it and that is all we need.

Can someone please do this for heavens sake. P.L.E.A.S.E

PLEASE someone please go create this ad godaddy.com now for $10 and lets get this done.

P L E A S E. We need your help.

Anonymous said...

Ken Woodie is a f*ing bastard - that why we all left.

Gary, why did you stay so long? Many others left a very long time ago and told you about this stuff. Why did you stay? Why are you leaving now after 4+ more years of the same?

Sport, can you post the inquest report. for us on some website somewhere else so we can read it. We need to get to the bottom of this please.

Ken Woodie never told us this. He lied directly to out faces about this. Why? Why did you do this Ken?

Please post the report.

Start a new site called:

ken-wood-woodie-cci-and-famir

Spell it exactly like it is there with the dashes to the search engines start picking it up and everyone will see the report. Put a blog in it and that is all we need.

Can someone please do this for heavens sake. P.L.E.A.S.E

PLEASE someone please go create this ad godaddy.com now for $10 and lets get this done.

P L E A S E. We need your help.

Anonymous said...

Dennis,

I think this might be the answer to why money went to overseas to England .......there was little "fund" before PFG/Pergrine stepped in and handled the finances for the Trade Alongs Susan and Tony both confided that tidbit to me on multiple occasions and at the time I didn't think anything was wrong because they needed to have deposit money to rent conference rooms at hotels. Hmmm.

And what about that $600 Woodie's Club fiasco where Tony had to give back all the money sent to him on PayPal? He lost about $5000 on that. Is that where the "fund" money went? To pay Tony back for his losses on that?

Hmmm. What do you think of that? Enquiring minds want to know?

Unknown said...

The one and only time I talked to Famir was in November 2003. I called him in response to his offer to help traders. Since what Woodie was saying sounded like BS to me I though he (Famir) could tell me how he successfully trades. I was shocked when he told me he had lost millions trading in his retirement accounts! Holy crap batman! He did not specifically say that he lost all that trying to trade the Woodie CCI. But he was clearly in no position to help anyone.

He told me that he was going to speak at the Vegas TAL that was just a few weeks away and disclose his losses and how they happened. He felt that it was important that he be honest and real about what had happened. I did not press him for details, since he was going to explain it all at the TAL. In retrospect, that was a mistake.

I attended the TAL via the Web to minimize my costs. Famir spoke but no disclosure was made. Hmmm… He changed his mind.

I had no idea how much trouble he was in. Now I realize he had an addiction and needed to attend gamblers anonymous or see a therapist or at least stop trading. Trading is a very risky business and you had better have your head screwed on right or it may cost you your money and your life. You need to set an account loss limit (10% say) and when you hit it, it’s over. Period. Realize that what you are doing is not working. Do something else. If it’s trading (again!) you better have a really good reason why this time is going to be different. Unfortunately, if you are an addict you cannot rely on your judgment.

Anonymous said...

always like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but after reading all this I come to the realization that once again I am a lousy judge of character.

Hate to admit it but I think I was dupped into believing him too. I remember I cried when I viewed the video of the first get together. But for some reason I never followed him to paltalk or beyond as I felt he was getting 'colder' as the club was getting bigger. However I keep recommending newbbie to join his club, BobKathy included. Now it is kind of mix emotion, was I wrong in telling a newbie to look at his website? I guess the best think I can do now is telling a newbie to trust no one ont even an old man that has not much time left to live.

The Insider said...

Sportorama, it looks like Biggs quit, but his face still shows up in the hall of shame, the walk of weasels, the legion of leaches?

http://www.forexpeacearmy.
com/public/review/
www.woodiescciclub.com

Of course this is Demitris site, another scammer but it might be true

The Insider

Anonymous said...

Speaking about millions. If you made them in another profession, say, like being a top heart surgeon, you have to come to this realization:

You have no business trading the futures starting with anything more than a 20K account (or a 50K stock account). If you can't grow that, you don't have the skills to trade with bigger amounts. After you blow that, you have to wait another year to try again with 20K more. You spend your time in-between sim trading, following the markets every day (if you're retired or semi-retired). If you blow out 3 years in a row, you must QUIT because the game is over for you. You're not learning and things will only get worse if you continue.

In this way, it is impossible to destroy you and your family's life on dumping 60K and just wasting your time trying. You gave it a shot and you failed, so move on, enjoy your retirement in a modest way.

You'd think very smart people who come from professions where discipline is crucial to their success would apply that to trading. But I guess the money just flows so quickly, it turns to an addiction and they forget about losing so much, knowing that there are millions more where that came from to try and draw from to eventually win.

Do you know how my parents never lost theirs? They never invested in anything more risky than a municipal bond their whole lives, mainly T-Bills and CDs. Sure, times where much, much better to do this in the 50's, 60's and especially the late 70's. But they never ever touched any stock in their entire lives. And what do they have to show for that???...they're living in great comfort, healthy, loving life and will never ever have financial problems. You don't have to invest in the stock or futures market to have a happy ending in this life.

You don't ever have to take financial risks in this world if you have several millions in retirement of super safe, fixed income and everything you have has long been paid for and you watch your consumption. I don't care if short-term interest rates are 1.5% for awhile, it won't make a bit of difference in your lifestyle.

The ironic part about Famir is that if he had not retired so early in life, he would have kept making money and not had time all that time to think about schemes to make more of it without working for it. I am saddened by all this because I was at that Las Vegas 2003 conference and saw what a kind person he was.

From the last poster, it sounds like even though we all know what a crook Woodie is, Famir's problems were started well before the two had met.

And to that poster who suggested someone start a website, etc. etc. Well, you got 10 bucks? Sure you do! Go knock yourself out and YOU start the website.

Anonymous said...

My posts are not being allowed on the Woodies CCI club forum so I’ll post here.

I have humbly asked Mr. Ken Wood aka Woodie to cooperate with the Arizona Attorney Generals office. They would be willing to act as a neutral third party to help bring closure to the alleged problems of misleading others. I had hoped Mr. Wood would bring closure to concerns raised by those who are asking for simple accountability. However I’m sad to say I have no response.

On a weekly basis Mr. Wood has promoted himself as having character and that all the other educators are shysters and crooks. He has proclaimed how he provides a free conference room while other educators charge money because they can’t trade, yet his room is free because he makes his living at trading. The inference here is that Mr. Wood is passing himself off as a professional guru who has character and can be trusted.

Mr. Wood has publicly stated he does not need to charge for his room and that he makes his living at trading futures. I realize many traders feel this is an outright lie.
There are traders who feel Ken Wood’s unorthodox way of trading is a simple gimmick to lure new trades into PFG’s marketing plan.

The problems come when if in fact Mr. Wood himself can not make his method work and the enticement is simple fraud and is not really a legitimate method. Many traders feel this misleading is not ethical behavior and Mr. Wood is abusing a position of trust. The damage is real and many are looking to seek resolution.

Many of us have visited web sites like Doug Tucker’s at http://tuckerreport.com/articles/magic-indicator/
Mr. Tucker has done an eloquent job of revealing the problems associated with Woodies CCI and Ken Wood. Mr. Tucker is not alone as there is a long list of those who have left and they are not short on bad thing to say about Ken Wood aka Woodie, whether it be his method or the abuse of the position of trust.

If Mr. Wood would just step forward and clear these matters it would bring closure and remove the mistrust. This brings us to a very interesting situation as Mr. Wood’s silence on the matters at hand is raising tons of suspicions. By simply providing one year of trading statements along with his tax returns, this whole saga would be over in any instant. If he is actually the man he says he is he could shut everyone’s mouth in an instant.

If he is telling the truth, why does he allow the CCI club to be dragged through the mud?
His behavior is very selfish as it undermines the thousands of hours of work done by traders to build the CCI club. This is so disheartening especially when the resolution is so simple, simple if he has nothing to hide.

If he really cared about all the money he raise on behalf of MAW why does he allow the cloud of doubt to remain which hinder the efforts of many who felt this was a legit organization? His silence hurts the very children he purported to care about? This is unbelievably insensitive.



Why is this so hard for him and why take such a strong resistance to accountability if you are telling the truth? When did the truth become so unpopular? Ken Wood if you are the man you say you are, you could silence your critics instantly. Mr. Wood your actions are suspect you are giving creditability to those who feel you are untrustworthy.

Ken need to step to the plate and be the man you have led us to believe you are, or pull the plug on the whole thing and shut it down. Richard_AZ

Anonymous said...

I was shocked to read gb’s statement about Dr Famir’s death. I had concluded within a week after his death that it was by his own hand. Suicide is a tragic event for a family to deal with and to hash it out in a chat room serves no useful purpose. The good doctor had been suffering from depression and for gb to infer that his death somehow was caused by financial losses due to trading with the CCI is a real stretch. Gb’s wife is a therapist and he should know better than to come to that erroneous diagnosis. We all have read Jesse Livermore’s interesting story. He also suffered from depression and eventually took his own life. It is always sad when someone who suffers from mental illness does not receive adequate treatment.

Anonymous said...

gb007 politically is a left leaning, anti-religion liberal out of the ‘50s. Many graduates from the University of California, Berkley were influenced by the thinking of Carl Rogers during that period. Woodie repeatly has said that all the profits from the educational CD’s he made would go to non-profit institutions or charities. When Woodie shared that part of the profits went to his and his wife’s parish Catholic Church’s building fund, gb went ballistic. gb recently told esmeralda that he still would have left Woodie but he is sorry that he used false information about Woodie on what to base his decision.

Anonymous said...

I don’t belong to the inner sanctum of the cci club but I have known for quite a while that Dr Famir’s family had asked Woodie not to reveal the cause of death.

Anonymous said...

Nice post there Ken, but the truth is the truth no matter how you try to spin it. This isn't the Fox Network.