John Curley and KIRO get taken in by con-man

Faithful readers are the backbone of this blog, and sometimes, one of them is kind enough to send stories our way. Just such a story ended up in the inbox late last night. (hat tip to SBW)

Read this from " Anatomy of a Tragedy-Ponzi schemes and faith. " 

by Joynt D. Case

People I’d like to talk with…

The public records in this case raise more questions than they answer.  But they certainly raise some interesting questions. If somebody granted me access to a few of the people in the public record, and gave me the right to ask them just a couple of questions each, there are a few tempting places to spend those questions. 

There’s John Curley, a Seattle talk show host who hosted Dan Gaub [ a foreign currency exchange trader]  on his show in the spring of 2011. Part of their exchange carries deep irony, because they invite listeners to contact Dan if they want to be among his students who quit their job and become financially independent. 

Dan: It would be an honor to have somebody come from this listening audience, whether it’s via the Internet or live in the Seattle area, and say “I heard you on the show with John. I want to be one of those guys. How cool would that be a year from now?

John Curley: That would be very cool. Then they would be able to say, “I listen to John Curley and he made me a millionaire.” 

The irony comes from the date of the interview. It was May 3, 2011 when they looked down the road one year with the casual patter of making somebody in the audience a millionaire.

Dan Gaub died May 4, 2012.

I’d like to ask Mr. Curley whether he’s heard from any listeners who decided to get in touch with Dan Gaub in May, 2011. What was their experience a year later, in May 2012?  I’d also like to ask him whether he saw or heard any red flags when Dan claimed on the show that he made $8 million in April of 2011 and had made even more - $10 million – another month. For anybody who remotely follows business, those claims should have raised all sorts of flags.  

(Come to think of it, I’d like to ask KIRO Radio whether anybody has contacted them about being sucked into a Ponzi scheme by one of their talk shows.)

This comment from an angry investor:

"Dan Gaub (pictured at left) has been running a fraud and scam in the Yakima Valley for years! Unsuspecting Church members have been victims of his. He has taken millions and millions of dollars and all the reports are not good. I lost hundreds of thousands myself! Some people have given him half million, MILLION dollars and then he killed himself like the coward he was! I have read articles about him on places like FraudandScam.com and VictimAdvocates.net. I mean check this all out yourself if you doubt it! Dan pretended he was a Christian. He was a servant of the devil and ripped off everyone he knew and even his own family and friends. "

Another investor had this to say : "Dan Gaub claimed to be a Christian and a helper to those who wanted a return on invested funds. I knew him. I knew his family. I knew his friends. He seemed to be genuine and true. He ended up killing himself when his ponzi scheme caved in.. He left his wife and family as well as hundreds of investors with nothing". Just like Bernie Madoff!. Now we find that his family are pulling more crooked deals,. My trust of man kind has gone down the drain!. It is not the money I lost that is the problem|. It is trusting those who claim to be one thing while they are living an absolute lie when they think no one can see what is going on!. He took the coward's way out.. That much is as evident as a train wreck."

And from a site called "Ripoffrepairs" "Forex robot scams can be found all over the internet. In fact, once you get on the “right” mailing list you will receive daily emails about the latest Forex Robot. Unfortunately,these robots will lose you thousands of dollars! If you want to be a day trading professional, you need to learn how to trade! There are no holy grails or magic systems. Trading is like any other business. Knowledge and experience is how you become successful. Many system vendors prey on those with a “Get Rich Quick” or “Gambling Mentality”.  Dan Gaub preyed on trusting victims.  Dan Gaub will leave a legacy as the worlds biggest forex scammer!  Word is out that this man scammed so many people its beyond words.  All under the statement of “its my mission to help people”.   If you have been a victim get a hold of either fraudandscam.com or victimadvocates.net and let them know.

Another person I’d like to talk with is his brother Nathan, who claims he was involved in starting the business called Gaubfx. His LinkedIn profile can be seen here.

After Dan’s death, Nathab  told the Yakima-Herald Republic he was not involved in Dan’s business. You can read the exact quote and all of the details surrounding Dan's death here.

Amazingly – at least to me - just a few weeks after Dan’s death, Nathan then reserved a domain name that suggests he plans to continue with a business that looks a lot like the one he claims he started with Dan. The new name is  4xmentoring.com. You can see the domain registration information here.

I’d like to ask this man to explain to me – to all of us who see this entire story as tragic – exactly what his seemingly contradictory statements and actions mean. There may be an innocent explanation that makes perfect sense, but it eludes me. To me, it looks like the line between FOREX “mentoring”  (and its companion, FOREX robot software) and the Ponzi scheme that it fed is too fine for any reasonable person to try to walk away from it. "

I guess what I really want to ask him is, “What do you think Dan would tell you…now… about this idea?”

Editor's note:The author has gone on to explain more about this at People I’d like to talk with…Part II .

Comments

[sparky]

Wow..I hope Tommy reads this. If he ever gets involved with something like this, he will never be able to afford a bigger pool.

[KS]

What say you about this, Hedge Fund Hal ?

[Mentor]

Thanks for making us aware of this.

[T-S]

I wonder if Curley and Gaub are from the South

People have been scammed forever. It's become the national pastime since the eighties.

[Curley's Hall of Shame./Hedge Fund Hal]

Forx trading is a bunch of horsecrap, at least this hting they ar pitching to smalltime investors. 8 million a month? bwahaahahahahaa if Curley had ank kind of perceptive powers all he needed to do was peer into the dudes eyes and know he wasn't smart and cunning enough to ever mke that kind of moolah. Thats the incpme of a billionaire , not a millionaire. Another black room in Curley's Hall of Shame.

[KS]

Are you sure you weren't Tommy008 ? Another name change - following in the footsteps of T-S (?)

[Cueburner]

The fact that this investigation, involving a number of agencies and many more investigators, has kept the lid on leaks is remarkable. Reminds me of what an old time prosecutor once said, leaks are made for a purpose, such as smoking somebody out, and if an investigation is quiet, it usually means they've got the goods on the perps and are just building an iron clad case without scaring them off.
For T.S, it looks like the Gaub's hail from Kentucky.

[Cueburner]

Here is a link to the Curley interview with Gaub...
http://gaubfx.com/kiro-interview

[Puget Sound Blathers]

Are you sure you weren't Tommy008 ? Another name change - following in the footsteps of T-S (?)

Posted by: KS | July 14, 2012 at 05:06 PM

yikes, those footsteps have tromped through so much doggy doo you wouldn't want to be part of that trail of tears. what's it, like 5 names at this point?

[T-S]

Aha! Thought so... Thanks Cueburner. Now we'll have to check out Curley.

Kentucky - isn't that McConnell territory? And sprinkle arsenic in horsefeed country? He looks like he would do that. What a wonderful place to be from.

[Coiler]

Pap was talking about the south and reconstruction after the 'waor of northern aggression" today on Ring of Fire and said the north shouldn't have helped the south. I agree.

[Puget Sound Blathers]

folks from the south make up an oversized number of people

[Puget Sound Blathers]

folks from the south make up an oversized number of people who serve in our military.
without the south, america would be a lesser place.

this knee jerk response slamming the south is getting tiresome.

[Walt]

I don't listen to Curley. Did he ever acknowledge any of this?

[T-S]

As usual, PS can't connect the dots. They are in the military because it is the only way they can earn a living. Dolt. Nothing like southern poverty.

[T-S]

Let me 'splain that to you, PS:

Northern kids are in school or in jobs. Although when the southern politicians get done with us, nobody will be working. And those that are will be working at minimum wage.

Lovely.

[KS]

Your generalizations are overly simplistic as usual, T-S and off-base, unless the south includes South Chicago.

Your disdain for the south shows and you are being south-ist.

Ugly.

[Coiler]

Papintonio was talking about this, a bunch of southern dullards keeping the rest of the nation down, they started the war between the states btw.

[Walt]

PS do you have family in the South? Her description is no worse than what "some" on here say about Obama and progressives. Why the distinction?

[Walt]

And why aren't you or KS commenting on Curley, or the con-man?

[KS]

I don't listen to Curley. The con man seemed like a con man and Curley wasn't very perceptive.

Comparing the south vs. progressives is like apples and oranges. A low percentage of southerners are progressives. and those would be the ones T-S would give a pass to. That being said, T-S is a southist and conservata-phobic.

[T-S]

You don't know who I'd give a pass to. That's your problem, KS, little intelligent posting and lots of unsupported opinion. Read the link to find out what we're talking about before you go off the deep end.

If you can relevantly connect to it, congratulatioins.

[Puget Sound Blathers for Walt]

Walt, acutally i don't have family in the south. but i have spent time in the military (8 years) and spent some of it in Alabama, Georgia, at various military forts, etc.
moreover, within the military family you have a large share who come from the south.
lots and lots of great people there. this writing off an entire region by T-S only displays her ignorance.
same with her view of the employment situation out there. and a very high quality of family life.

[Puget Sound Blathers for Walt]

Walt,
i read the the thread and am waiting for more information as the BW Crew promises.
Taking this away from John Curley, I would like to asks any radio Host in general if they ever had a guest on and realized either during the show or afterwards , 'hey this lady is full of it.' And as a follow up then ask if so, exactly what did they do about it. Do they feel any obligation to their listeners to set the record straight.

[KS]

If you can relevantly connect to it, congratulatioins.

Posted by: T-S | July 14, 2012 at 11:23 PM

You are spinning like a top, T-S. If you are able to support what you say about how you are not anti-south, I can always retract and correct what I said. Don't think people can't see into each others' souls on this here website. Fair enough ?

[ExPattBrit]

Had to post this, don't know the author.

Attributed to jimspy.

"Good morning, Bain Capital."
"Hi, may I speak to the owner?"
"That would be Mr. Romney."
"OK, can you connect me?"
"He doesn't maintain an office here."
"Well, OK, how about the president?"
"That would be Mr. Romney."
"Ok, can you connect me?"
"I'm sorry, he no longer works here."
"Um...OK, who's your Chief Executive Officer?"
"Mr. Romney."
"Fine, I'll talk to him."
"I'm sorry, he's left the company."
"Errr....Chairman of the Board?"
"Mr. Romney."
"I don't suppose..."
"Nope, gone."
"Well, just who runs your company?"
"We have a management committee."
"Ah, good, now we're getting somewhere."
"Mr. Romney is in charge of that."
"OK, put me through!"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Romney no longer works here."
"Lady, I just want to talk to SOMEONE about a hostile takeover idea I have..."
"Putting you through to Mr. Romney now!"”

[T-S]

Yep!

[Chucks]

It does sound as if Dan Gaub was in charge of Social Security for this nation. The only difference that I can see is that the fools that invested in his Ponzi scheme did it voluntarily. The fools that send their money to the Social Security Ponzi scheme are forced to participate by the US government.

[Elitist Liberal]

Or they can just sit on their asses collecting unemployment.

[KS]

Why did Prez BO claim executive privilege for Fast and Furious if he had nothing to hide ? Do you think Bush had something to hide when he claimed Exec privilege ?

(I can predict that I will not get a direct answers to these two questions above, even though Prez BO's actions beg the question, as do many of his other actions)

[Isabelle O'Shanassy]

As for ponzi schemes, they have evolved to be in sophistication wherein constantly yielded by trust factors and vectors that probe them to be as legitimate. Names like Madoff and how he fooled a lot.