Curtis Faith
Curtis Faith:
Failed Turtle and Controversy
Multiple government documents, a Faith family member, other Turtles, performance records, direct interviews with Faith's former business associates, a former employee and Faith's own words -- show Curtis Faith could be the least successful of the Turtle students. Faith has no public trading track record for the last 20+ years except for his trading firm which imploded. The following two depositions describe how Faith's firm Acceleration Capital melted down: Deposition One and Deposition Two. Curtis Faith's then partner Plyam explains how he and Faith met, what type of trading system they used, the ownership breakdown of Acceleration Capital, Faith's background, the management fees, how much they put up to start Acceleration Capital and Faith's subsequent disappearance. Perhaps most alarming, a male employee was stealing money from Acceleration Capital to buy trips, buy cars, to pay for a gastric bypass surgery, to buy gifts for his boyfriend and to buy barbie dolls on eBay (Many of these files were obtained through the United States government via Freedom of Information Act requests).
Acceleration Capital permanently surrendered registration with the CFTC via settlement in January 2007 for what the CFTC believed were violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (The only objective accounting regarding Curtis Faith is found in "The Complete TurtleTrader").
Curtis Faith: In "The Complete TurtleTrader"
In researching the Turtle story other Turtles stated that Curtis Faith was either using or allowed to use other rules not privy to other Turtles. An excerpt from the book "The Complete TurtleTrader":
However, as long as the risk Faith was taking was within the parameters, this was not considered a big deal. [Jim] DiMaria was quick to correct that view: "No, not within the parameters. That was sort of the standing joke. There were parameters and then there were Curtis parameters...Mike Cavallo, who viewed the allocation process as a meritocracy, did end up having some questions, too. He thought Dennis was partly awarding trading aggressiveness, placing bigger bets with Turtles he thought were trading better, but even Cavallo could not understand Dennis's decision-making logic when it came to Faith. He said, "It seemed like Curt was trading too aggressively and too riskily and yet was getting rewarded for it. He was making the most, although probably not on a risk-adjusted basis. So at the time, it was just sort of puzzling. I'm not particularly a jealous person, so I wasn't too worried about it."...Cavallo thought Faith had exceeded what they were allowed to trade, but he also thought an arguably reckless or "go for the jugular" attitude may have elevated him in Dennis's eyes. It kept coming across loud and clear from assorted Turtles: Faith's trading didn't reflect what they'd been taught. Cavallo, the Harvard MBA, was brutally honest: "It wasn't at all what we were taught. In fact, you could say it was slightly counter to what we were taught."...Cavallo had no ax to grind in talking about Faith. In fact, years later he served on the board of directors of a firm Faith had started. Why was Cavallo concerned about Faith's style of trading? He worried that Faith was risking so much that he could ultimately be ruined (as in mathematical risk of ruin). From that first day of class Eckhardt had pressed home the point of managing risk, but many Turtles saw it almost immediately being ignored by one of their own. DiMaria, who was only eighteen months older than Faith, saw everyone playing by the rules during the program except Faith. He said, "That would go to position sizing, markets traded...he was the special boy wonder. So he could do things that the rest of us couldn't. He probably doesn't realize that. Did he have special rules ahead of the game, or did he change the game and then ask if those new rules were okay?"
Curtis Faith: The Full Truth Car Wash
- The Complete TurtleTrader Afterword (2009).
- Acceleration Capital Details (2006-07).
- Acceleration Capital Investigation; 255 pages (2007).
- Acceleration Capital Investigation; 94 pages (2007).
- Acceleration Capital Investigation; 199 pages (2007).
- SEC investigation of Borealis. Firm founded by Curtis Faith (2002).
- Faith releases video advising Barack Obama (2007).
- Curtis Faith on Cash Issues (2003).
- Story About Meeting Faith (2007).
- Turtles don't trade by their gut.
- Faith on Jehovah's Witness beliefs.
- Curtis Faith comment on solvency: "I am not broke. I have had several periods in the last several years where I was very, very low on cash, but that's not the same thing as being broke. Even if I had been broke, I'm not sure it matters as I'm selling software, not advice on how not to ever go broke."
- Faith claims to be the Chief Investment Officer of something called Galt Capital. Galt Capital refers to itself as "The Most Profitable Community Of Investors In The World." There is no evidence for this statement.
- Other known associates: Anthony Garner, David Bromley.
The only objective accounting regarding Curtis Faith is found in "The Complete TurtleTrader" (Chapter 12 and Afterword of paperback edition).
NOTE: If you want to learn trend following techniques and systems through advanced home study and or seminars for all traders click here. If you want to learn about trend following trading in general there is one definitive text the bestselling classic "Trend Following: Learn to Make Millions in Up or Down Markets" by Michael Covel. If you want to learn about the most famous group of trained trend following traders, the Turtles and their teacher Richard Dennis, "The Complete TurtleTrader" by Michael Covel is the only complete biography (with all of the Turtle rules) available. If you have any questions you can reach us immediately via phone or email.
