(Reblog) My Friend, Mentor, and Business Partner Is a Convicted Criminal

I posted this article on vocal ten months ago, and while some things have changed, the essence of the message abides.

Original post: https://vocal.media/criminal/my-friend-mentor-and-business-partner-is-a-convicted-criminal

It has been two years since my last story, which means I have, once again, broken my promise to keep my writing consistent on all platforms. I do not want to imply that I have stopped writing altogether, only that my hand has been occupied with a project that demanded focus. Since my last post here, I have published a book and come very close to a second volume about an event of great significance in my life – even if I lacked awareness of that significance until recently.

The book will make for a different story in itself, and I might find it acceptable to share its name at the end of this write-up, given that self-promotion also becomes acceptable. What draws me here today is the desire to share an indulgence that many believe should be an apprehension: I count a convicted international criminal as my friend, mentor, and business partner. Several of my acquaintances and friends insist I am mistaken in giving my trust to a man involved in the most significant financial crime of its kind in history.

Kolt Curry, as the media and the financial world know him, was arrested in August of 2013 and subsequently held in a high-security prison for his involvement in a massive market manipulation scheme worth (allegedly) one-hundred-and-forty million dollars. Along with several associates (mutual friends), Kolt resided at MDC Brooklyn through the duration of his court trial, which culminated in his release at the end of 2015. Acquitted on all charges relating to the market manipulation scheme, Kolt was discharged with a sentence of time-served after an almost three-year-long ordeal that could, if appropriately written, fill several four-hundred-page books.

At this point, I will insist that you search his name and read the media’s [mis]representation of his character and the characters of those other friends implicated in the case, and that is also material for another story…

People often ask me why I trust Kolt as much as I do, and my answer is always the same: he has a better-calibrated moral compass than most people I know. His moral code isn’t reliable because he has never done anything wrong; on the contrary, he has broken most laws I know, and he has accepted the lessons of his transgressions and used them to create a better version of himself. Kolt’s new and current investment is in rebuilding himself and others through endeavours that provide value to anyone who encounters them.

We are close to launching a business that now includes his surname as a senior managing partner. This new company’s focus is on helping people and businesses understand and achieve their goals. With the help of my eldest nephew, a talented and disciplined entrepreneur, we are setting forward on a mission to help as many people as we can. And yes, we are doing this work for profit, and it feels fantastic.

There are many more reasons I trust my criminal friend, not the least important of which is the beneficial knowledge he can impart to me as we move forward into this new journey. I have spent my adult life studying persuasion and manipulation methods – my passion has almost always been in understanding communication, primarily how our communication affects our choices. Kolt is a master of that communication, and whilst he might not know precisely the techniques he uses to get into people’s heads, he is, in fact, very good at using them.

Kolt, and my nephew Xander Ellis, who is another reluctant part of the case because his father also resided at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn for the duration of the trial, wield the power of decades of work done in the lab, the streets, and inside the legal systems.

We promise to the knowledge our work has produced to change the world for the better.

PS: The book is titled The 8-13 Project, Book 1 (revised) – It is a semi-fictional account of the events that led us all here – give it a read if you want.

UPDATE: Xander, Kolt, and the rest of the team continue to work together to change the world. Our newest project has introduced us to the emerging world of artificial intelligence and promises to be one of our most significant accomplishments yet. Since this story was published, we have written a different book – an accurate account of Kolt’s life and the case that changed the financial world. The latest book is scheduled for publication on September 2021.

Peyton