Complaint Review: HCW Capital James Hooks - Beverly Hills California

At least he gave you a biz plan and loan docs. He even reached out to you by calling and threatened you with a law suit. I paid for the same services via bank wire. He gave me nothing! No allied partners, no business plan, he just scammed me altogether. He is running! Let's do a class action suit so we can get our $$$.

Hi, I read all your postings and am speaking as someone who actually got funded thanks to hcw capital but still have issues. before I start YES I did meet the owner. like he said He is not 25. His office was in Beverly Hills and we had lunch at the beverly center the day after we first spoke and he paid for it, so i dont think he is not a real person or anything, i met him. I dont know if he was ever in florida or not. But let me explain my concern. We first went into contract on march 10th. i paid $999 for the program. they did my business plan, registration, etc. Everything was fine until we got to the funding stage. Now my understanding is hcw was *not* the originator of any loans, but they acted as a broker. Hooks was speaking to another firm called apex lending or something along those lines who he stated he paid in advance to fund his loans. They fell through then he said he had another group and when he finally got loan papers from allied venture capital it looked good but there were some issues with it. The initial documents were monthly payments not a lump sum loan. They were then modified but asked for 18% fee. I agreed to it and AVC funded the deal a few days later...this was in Late May. I spoke with a George Lawson/Larsen from AVC once prior to the deposit. But when the deposit came it did not come from AVC. The name on the depositor was completely different from AVC !! Soon after the deposit AVC's phone was cut-off and I kept trying to get in touch with them. No luck. Hooks changed from having one full-time receptionist to hiring an outside reception firm, he stopped answering calls half the time and then the asset purchase was announced.....Now I have this money I am going to have to pay obama-taxes on but I have no idea who I am supposed to pay it back to so i cant even use the money To me it looks like based on your guys/girls posts and my experience that either of these scenarios are true: *1...AVC was an illegitimate " investment " group that used separate names/entities to unload a bunch of money or purchase businesses then disappeared once they did whatever they wanted to do. hooks being the "broker" was left holding the bag with AVC's unfulfilled deals and just sold his business so someone else can handle it..this would make sense because it would show why (A) he sold his business, and (B) why ppl got funded but hooks says they feel AVC was illigitimate *2....Hooks or someone related to hooks used outside funds to loan to several businesses and then pulled the plug for whatever reason *3...Hooks is just plain and simply incompetent, hires incompetent ppl & does business w/ incompetent companies (which explains the poor customer service).....so they are not scam artists they just should not be in this business What doesnt make sense is why hooks if he scammed ppl why he is writing on here, why his phone numbers still work, why he says hes willing to show proof in court and why both the hcw and hooks websites are still online. I called earlier asked for him and he picked up but I hung up on him so at least he is still answering his phone. I then sent an email to the legal email he gave and they sent me a non disclosure agreement The money didnt come from nowhere and hooks isnt hiding/disappearing like other scam artists If he was scamming ppl he would have disappeared **completely** so it just doesnt make sense to me [and before you ask no I am not hooks or walkthisway or female :) call me if you like I will give my phone number to you or call you if you want to talk]

I've had some contractual dealings with HCW as well. .. as the above, I've seen ads across CL from people claiming to have good experiences but having questions.. which I find odd.. why would all these people not just get in contact with the company itself instead of putthing all their business out on the web ? and then as my funding date came due .. and I'm calling Hooks to get a status.. found that indeed the 'receptionist' WAS a third party entity.. I asked.. as everytime I called he was never available.. she wouldn't tell me the company she worked for but she DID say she was part of a 'rent-a-receptionist' type setup. and then a few days later I get an email talking about the sell of part of hooks enterprises. all fine and good.. the problem is the customer service.. that is, if this was indeed a legit business. if it was the customer service was horrible. and SOP holdings is turning out to be no better. the balance tilts more concretely everyday that it was a scam although I'm not going to say that outright at the moment. at this point I WILL say the customer service is horrible. if you are selling part of your business while there are people 'in transit' to services contracted, to leave them high and dry, guessing what's to come next is HORRIBLE customer service. To get no phone call, and only an email or 2 ONLY after you've badgered them to no end gives pause for thought on the legitimacy of a company. and then to read and confirm that the ads on CL DID have reference to allied venture capital .. and then to hear them say they are finding out they aren't even a real company.. at the very least makes one think.. why would someone write an ad saying they were funding through a false company.. ? hm. a general individual probably woudn't .. someone trying to promote supposed 'independent' ,indirect, endorsement of the company.. probably would.. which further heaps suspcion on a company. I'm on the 'meat and potatoes' bandwagon as well.. who wrote the loan docs ? but things lean very much in the direction of 'scam-ish-ness'.. and at the very least HORRIBLE customer service.. you can't sell your company and act like 'oh, I didn't know this was going to happen, so you have to wait for us to get back with you..' all that should have been taken care of WELL in advance.. my 2 cents.. oh, and as a point of reference.. no I'm not 'walks like a duck or the female.. someone completely different... :)

Understandable! And apologies for assuming you two were the same person. I see people w/ duplicate accounts a lot on this site. Honestly, my feeling is that two wrongs don't make a right, and the "meat and potatoes" (which I care about as a consumer as well, don't get me wrong!) doesn't really excuse any of the supposedly-fraudulent claims he made in the first post. Even if Steve M was wronged on loan docs (which sounds plausible), he may still be liable for "business disparagement", which is a form of defamation, as well as personal libel, if the things Steve wrote in the first post were not true and there was nothing for him to base those "opinions" on. Even though Steve later wrote they were opinion and opinion is not actionable as defamation, those statements that he made were statements-in-fact, and if he knows or should know them to be false and they injure Hooks in his occupation, regardless of the loan docs, then Hooks may have an actionable claim for defamation as well. My thoughts on this whole matter are that if Steve M felt wronged on the loan docs, he should put Hooks to the wall for that and that alone, or followed up on Hooks' apparently legitimate offer to resolve this matter, and not made possibly outlandish statements about his person and business that Hooks can act on based on verifiable documents. Emotions can often cloud logic, unfortunately, which is something we should never do in business agreements! And it seems you and I are caring more about this than Hooks and Steve M as they both stopped responding already LOL :-)

Outsider I am NOT Steve M. First of all - I am a female, second of all, I spoke with Mr. Hooks and he informed me of some of his trials and tribulations and said he would get back to me. He never did. I agree 100% a court of law should be able to sort this out. I for one would love to know who generated the loan docs Steve M received. I understand they came via email from Hooks w/ Allied Venture Capital as the funding source. The info provided does not relate to a verifiable company and that is the heart of the problem. I could care less how old Hooks is and where he "could" have previously operated his business. What I care about as a consumer is whether or not these loan docs were fraudulently created or not. No one seems to want to answer the question of where they came from and/or how others got "funded" through a non-existent company. If we want to have a civilized discussion here, lets get to the "meat and potatoes" here.

In a court of law, all Hooks needs to do is show his date of birth, residence, lease agreement for his current office, all contracts between him & Steve M (and whoever else), and get the property owner of the Fort Walton Beach property to show any lease agreements to the court that may or may not link Hooks to Florida, and all of this pretty much will be proven true or false. If in a court of law Hooks can prove all the above then where does that leave Steve M? And why is Hooks stating in a public forum he is willing to share these documents with people and has given weblinks and contact info, while Steve M/Walks Like A Duck (same guy) are just making allegations based on a single website link that may or may not be accurate without any proof whatsoever? Not taking sides here, just looking at it from an outsider's POV. Hooks may not be ready for prime-time with the business-running thing but something smells fishy about the Steve M/Walks Like A Fish stuff.

In a court of law, all Hooks needs to do is show his date of birth, residence, lease agreement for his current office, all contracts between him & Steve M (and whoever else), and get the property owner of the Fort Walton Beach property to show any lease agreements to the court that may or may not link Hooks to Florida, and all of this pretty much will be proven true or false. If in a court of law Hooks can prove all the above then where does that leave Steve M? And why is Hooks stating in a public forum he is willing to share these documents with people and has given weblinks and contact info, while Steve M/Walks Like A Duck (same guy) are just making allegations based on a single website link that may or may not be accurate without any proof whatsoever? Not taking sides here, just looking at it from an outsider's POV. Hooks may not be ready for prime-time with the business-running thing but something smells fishy about the Steve M/Walks Like A Fish stuff.

Since you seem to like this format: "1) The Hotfrog link is as follows: http://www.hotfrog.com/Companies/Hooks-Enterprises The link to the Hooks Enterprises site is still active, so your statement that the link was 'taken down' is entirely false. " Wow, you spend a lot of time on the semantics of all of this :). When I looked yesterday at the hotfrog link, there was no Hooks Enterprises anymore, however, you are "entirely correct", it appears to be completely in tact today and again linking to James Hooks website. Thank you for the clarification. "2) There are three Hooks Enterprises registered with the state of Florida: http://sunbiz.org/corinam.html" I don't think anyone is saying these are James Hooks, at least that is not what I gathered from any of this. I understood that Hooks and Hooks Enterprises relocated from the Fort Walton Beach, Fl area after running into trouble. From what I can tell, it appears they are currently operating in CA now. I am not a Private Investigator so this is my opinion based on my limited search results. "We paid for these criminal background record searches for every individual linked to all Hooks Enterprises in Florida, and have the receipts to prove it. These results yielded nothing. " Again, my contention here with this is, what matters is where you do the search. A general search of Florida doesn't mean squat. You have to generally hire law enforcement and/or a private investigator to generate real and accurate results. All I am saying is for people to go to an attorney/law enforcement official and do a true check on this guy and company before sending any money off. In truth, I would recommend that for everyone they were going to enter into business with so this is really no different. "Again, Mr. Mauriello's continued assertion that James Hooks is a 25 year-old with a criminal history is entirely, 100% false, as can be proven in a court of law. " I think you missed some of this - no one here has asserted anything. People are stating opinions about what has transpired. "3) As stated before, the statement 'no relationship with Allied Venture Capital' is a response to Mr. Mauriello's assertion that Hooks Enterprises owned, operated, managed and/or acted as Allied Venture Capital. This assertion was false, and again, we have e-mails, bank receipts, and other legal documents as back-up to show to any legal authority who may wish to pursue our records. " Well, I sure would like to see some of those bank receipts and legal docs for a company you now say doesn't exist. That may clear up much of the dispute here. As an outsider, most of my questions stemmed from this exactly. If Allied Venture Capital does not exist, who created the loan documents? and who funded all those people boasting about being funded on craigslist? Who paid you your commissions? I would love the answers to these questions - this really goes to the heart of the dispute. "Furthermore, as the date has passed since Mr. Mauriello's Cease and Desist Order was certified as delivered, and he has not upheld it, we will be moving forward to the next step. This will be our final word on this subject." You must not be very well versed in the law. When a cease and desist is issued, there is a certain amount of time (from the time it is received via certified mail) that the recipient has time to respond (in writing via certified mail). From what I can tell from your posting here, your timeline is no where near reality. As a side note, you seem to keep touching on the age dispute, there is a lot more at the heart of all this than that. Why do you continue to tiptoe around the real issues at hand?

You are wholly mistaken in some of your "interesting" comments. 1) The Hotfrog link is as follows: http://www.hotfrog.com/Companies/Hooks-Enterprises The link to the Hooks Enterprises site is still active, so your statement that the link was "taken down" is entirely false. 2) There are three Hooks Enterprises registered with the state of Florida: http://sunbiz.org/corinam.html The first was filed in 2002, inactive in 2004, by Christopher Hooks. The second was filed in 2008, by Joy B. Geoghagan, and has been active long after Hooks Enterprises was established in California. The third was filed in 2005, inactive in 2006, by Charles Hooks. NONE of these Hooks Enterprises in Florida has any ties to James Hooks in California, and Hooks Enterprises has not once operated an office out of Fort Chipley Beach, Florida. 2) If you do a criminal records search on a site like US-Search, not Google, you can search the name and state of an individual. After you pay for these services, you will find a criminal history for these individuals you look up. We paid for these criminal background record searches for every individual linked to all Hooks Enterprises in Florida, and have the receipts to prove it. These results yielded nothing. Again, Mr. Mauriello's continued assertion that James Hooks is a 25 year-old with a criminal history is entirely, 100% false, as can be proven in a court of law. 3) As stated before, the statement "no relationship with Allied Venture Capital" is a response to Mr. Mauriello's assertion that Hooks Enterprises owned, operated, managed and/or acted as Allied Venture Capital. This assertion was false, and again, we have e-mails, bank receipts, and other legal documents as back-up to show to any legal authority who may wish to pursue our records. We have stated this before, and will state again, that we would be more than happy to provide copies of all documentation in question discussed in this dispute to any party that e-mails [email protected] and signs a non-disclosure agreement, and of course to any legal authority that would like to review the documents pending any criminal or civil suit. Furthermore, as the date has passed since Mr. Mauriello's Cease and Desist Order was certified as delivered, and he has not upheld it, we will be moving forward to the next step. This will be our final word on this subject.

I find some of this story very curious. I too had seen ads for HCW capital but hadn't pursued business with them yet. When I saw this report filed, I did a little searching on my own. The hotfrog "Hooks Enterprise" of Fort Walton Beach, Fl, did appear to be one in the same with the owner mentioned here. There was a direct link to his current website - coincidentally taken down since it was brought up. I find it interesting #1 that it was immediately removed so others couldn't study this themselves and #2 the company "representative" (assumed to be Hooks) references criminal searches with no findings. What everyone here should know is criminal searches do not come up with a google search. They generally require some type of legal authority to truly find a criminal record and they often are not found unless searching in the correct location (ie city, county, state). It is absurd for the company to state that the searches it did turned up nothing. Everyone can form their own conclusion but fact as you like to put it is criminal background searches are not free and require a certain amount of legality to achieve. I did not respond to this initially because I wanted to see where it went first and I don't like what I am seeing at all. Again, PRIOR to this report, when a seach was done for HCW capital (owner James Hooks) numerous ads on craigslist came up that were very odd. They would boast about how HCW capital got them a tremendous amount of financing ($300K - $800K) through ALLIED VENTURE CAPITAL and now HCW capital is saying they had no professional relations with Allied Venture Capital. This smells fishy! How did people all over the country say they got funding from HCW capital through Allied Venture Capital if HCW never had a business relationship with Allied Venture Capital???? and to top it off, now HCW capital is saying they don't think Allied Venture Capital exists??? There are lots of holes in this story!! Who provided the loan documents? They didn't miraculously appear from nowhere - I don't know about anyone else reading this, but I hope no one else loses money to James Hooks, Hooks Enterprise, HCW capital, or whatever business entity he might be operating under. This is all for now.

I find some of this story very curious. I too had seen ads for HCW capital but hadn't pursued business with them yet. When I saw this report filed, I did a little searching on my own. The hotfrog "Hooks Enterprise" of Fort Walton Beach, Fl, did appear to be one in the same with the owner mentioned here. There was a direct link to his current website - coincidentally taken down since it was brought up. I find it interesting #1 that it was immediately removed so others couldn't study this themselves and #2 the company "representative" (assumed to be Hooks) references criminal searches with no findings. What everyone here should know is criminal searches do not come up with a google search. They generally require some type of legal authority to truly find a criminal record and they often are not found unless searching in the correct location (ie city, county, state). It is absurd for the company to state that the searches it did turned up nothing. Everyone can form their own conclusion but fact as you like to put it is criminal background searches are not free and require a certain amount of legality to achieve. I did not respond to this initially because I wanted to see where it went first and I don't like what I am seeing at all. Again, PRIOR to this report, when a seach was done for HCW capital (owner James Hooks) numerous ads on craigslist came up that were very odd. They would boast about how HCW capital got them a tremendous amount of financing ($300K - $800K) through ALLIED VENTURE CAPITAL and now HCW capital is saying they had no professional relations with Allied Venture Capital. This smells fishy! How did people all over the country say they got funding from HCW capital through Allied Venture Capital if HCW never had a business relationship with Allied Venture Capital???? and to top it off, now HCW capital is saying they don't think Allied Venture Capital exists??? There are lots of holes in this story!! Who provided the loan documents? They didn't miraculously appear from nowhere - I don't know about anyone else reading this, but I hope no one else loses money to James Hooks, Hooks Enterprise, HCW capital, or whatever business entity he might be operating under. This is all for now.

I find some of this story very curious. I too had seen ads for HCW capital but hadn't pursued business with them yet. When I saw this report filed, I did a little searching on my own. The hotfrog "Hooks Enterprise" of Fort Walton Beach, Fl, did appear to be one in the same with the owner mentioned here. There was a direct link to his current website - coincidentally taken down since it was brought up. I find it interesting #1 that it was immediately removed so others couldn't study this themselves and #2 the company "representative" (assumed to be Hooks) references criminal searches with no findings. What everyone here should know is criminal searches do not come up with a google search. They generally require some type of legal authority to truly find a criminal record and they often are not found unless searching in the correct location (ie city, county, state). It is absurd for the company to state that the searches it did turned up nothing. Everyone can form their own conclusion but fact as you like to put it is criminal background searches are not free and require a certain amount of legality to achieve. I did not respond to this initially because I wanted to see where it went first and I don't like what I am seeing at all. Again, PRIOR to this report, when a seach was done for HCW capital (owner James Hooks) numerous ads on craigslist came up that were very odd. They would boast about how HCW capital got them a tremendous amount of financing ($300K - $800K) through ALLIED VENTURE CAPITAL and now HCW capital is saying they had no professional relations with Allied Venture Capital. This smells fishy! How did people all over the country say they got funding from HCW capital through Allied Venture Capital if HCW never had a business relationship with Allied Venture Capital???? and to top it off, now HCW capital is saying they don't think Allied Venture Capital exists??? There are lots of holes in this story!! Who provided the loan documents? They didn't miraculously appear from nowhere - I don't know about anyone else reading this, but I hope no one else loses money to James Hooks, Hooks Enterprise, HCW capital, or whatever business entity he might be operating under. This is all for now.

I find some of this story very curious. I too had seen ads for HCW capital but hadn't pursued business with them yet. When I saw this report filed, I did a little searching on my own. The hotfrog "Hooks Enterprise" of Fort Walton Beach, Fl, did appear to be one in the same with the owner mentioned here. There was a direct link to his current website - coincidentally taken down since it was brought up. I find it interesting #1 that it was immediately removed so others couldn't study this themselves and #2 the company "representative" (assumed to be Hooks) references criminal searches with no findings. What everyone here should know is criminal searches do not come up with a google search. They generally require some type of legal authority to truly find a criminal record and they often are not found unless searching in the correct location (ie city, county, state). It is absurd for the company to state that the searches it did turned up nothing. Everyone can form their own conclusion but fact as you like to put it is criminal background searches are not free and require a certain amount of legality to achieve. I did not respond to this initially because I wanted to see where it went first and I don't like what I am seeing at all. Again, PRIOR to this report, when a seach was done for HCW capital (owner James Hooks) numerous ads on craigslist came up that were very odd. They would boast about how HCW capital got them a tremendous amount of financing ($300K - $800K) through ALLIED VENTURE CAPITAL and now HCW capital is saying they had no professional relations with Allied Venture Capital. This smells fishy! How did people all over the country say they got funding from HCW capital through Allied Venture Capital if HCW never had a business relationship with Allied Venture Capital???? and to top it off, now HCW capital is saying they don't think Allied Venture Capital exists??? There are lots of holes in this story!! Who provided the loan documents? They didn't miraculously appear from nowhere - I don't know about anyone else reading this, but I hope no one else loses money to James Hooks, Hooks Enterprise, HCW capital, or whatever business entity he might be operating under. This is all for now.

Again, Stephen seems unable or unwilling to state the facts as they stand, nor correct his previous statements. We however do find it curious it took ten calendar days for Stephen to respond online, as we have made multiple attempts to contact Stephen via phone and e-mail to resolve this matter. Note that the following statements, as holds with the previous, are not coming from Mr. Hooks, but a legal representative of Hooks Enterprises. -- STATEMENT: Stephen assets his original fraudulent statement about Mr. Hooks being "a 25 year old scam artist with a two year police history" was based on research he did into a Hooks Enterprises based out of Florida. Research into the "Fort Walton Beach" Hooks Enterprises finds neither a James Hooks as its owner, operator, director, registered agent and/or manager, nor a "two-year police record" for Mr. Hooks, nor any type of police investigation into Hooks Enterprises. A search on Florida's Department of Corporations at http://ccfcorp.dos.state.fl.us/corinam.html finds no James Hooks affiliated with any of the three Hooks Enterprises found. And further research into the owners, operators, directors, registered agents and managers of those three firms finds absolutely no criminal record for any of these individuals. In fact, the only link between the Hooks Enterprises based out of California and any like-named entity in the state of Florida is a listing on http://www.hotfrog.com which shows a different organization with a link to the Hooks Enterprises of California website. A criminal records search for other "James Hooks" and "Hooks Enterprises" in Florida reveals nothing. A search for a "James Hooks" who is 25 years of age in the state of Florida also yields nothing. In addition, we contend that had Stephen truly thought Hooks Enterprises was operating out of Florida, he would have stated the Florida address in his original post and made any reference to the state of Florida, and not the Beverly Hills office of Hooks Enterprises. Mr. Mauriello also made a Craigslist posting in the Los Angeles Craigslist making the same claim of Mr. Hooks as a "25 year old scam artist," but no similar posting was found in Florida and no link to Hooks and any entity or individual to the state of Florida was found within. Thus, as there is no logical explanation why Stpehen would link the State of Florida with Hooks Enterprises, and James Hooks with an unidentified 25 year old who has a criminal record, and he has failed to remove this statement from the original post per the Cease and Desist order submitted to Stephen, it is our contention that Stephen's original statement was libelous in nature with malice and continued intent to do harm and discredit James Hooks as an individual and Hooks Enterprises as a corporation based on false and inaccurate statements. FACT: Mr. Hooks and Hooks Enterprises is no longer affiliated with HCW Capital. Again Stephen continues to state and refuses to retract that Mr. Hooks is an authorized representative of HCW Capital. We have previously agreed to provide an amended copy of the Asset Purchase Agreement by and between Hooks Enterprises and SOP Holdings, which Stephen has refused to review. Should he, or anyone, wish to see the Asset Purchase Agreement, e-mail [email protected] and we will submit a Confidentiality Agreement prior to review of the Asset Purchase Agreement. STATEMENT: It is our understanding the Refund Agreement was delivered to more than one client, as Hooks Enterprises has been contacted by former clients wishing clarity in the SOP Holdings Refund Agreement. FACT: Hooks Enterprises did not supply Stephen with a Refund Agreement. Hooks Enterprises offered him a refund, which he declined to accept. He then signed an Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement on June 12th, 2009. The Amendment states the following: "If the Client has not received funding of no less than $75,000.00 (seventyfive thousand dollars) up to $5,000,000.00 (five million dollars) by July 31st, 2009, and/or should the services offered by the Company not be performed, the Client will be entitled to a refund of its initial fee, minus $499 for the previously-completed business plan, and no further fees will be invoiced." Stephen accepted and agreed to these terms, and signed and faxed this amendment on June 12th, 2009. FACT: The Refund Agreement Stephen received from SOP Holdings also lists a 702 fax number, which Mr. Mauriello listed in his revision. There is an SOP Holdings advertisement for employment in the Las Vegas, Nevada craigslist. There is also an SOP Holdings corporation found in the state of Nevada, which has been in existence for longer than Stephen's relationship with Hooks Enterprises. There is also a phone number at the top of the HCW website whose voice-mail states its meant for past clients of Hooks Enterprises in association with SOP Holdings. One may draw their own conclusions. STATEMENT: Stpehen's earlier contention was that Allied Venture Capital was created, operated and/or managed by Hooks Enterprises. This is the statement we were disputing, which Stephen has failed to retract. We also have come to the same conclusion about Allied Venture Capital's non-existence as any official institution in the State of Texas. FACT: Mr. Hooks and Hooks Enterprises do not rent their Beverly Hills office by the Stepehen's statement implies. -- In closing, while Stephen is entitled to his opinion, an opinion cannot be stated in a public area with malice and false allegations with the sole intent to harm or discredit an individual or organization. There are still several statements in his original post that continue in his reply that he has neglected to retract (such as Mr. Hooks impersonating satisfied and/or dissatisfied clients), and he has made further false or inaccurate statements in his response. The Cease and Desist Order has been delivered to Stephen, and will be awaiting action from Stephen before moving further with other action.

Again, Stephen seems unable or unwilling to state the facts as they stand, nor correct his previous statements. We however do find it curious it took ten calendar days for Mr. Mauriello to respond online, as we have made multiple attempts to contact Mr. Mauriello via phone and e-mail to resolve this matter. Note that the following statements, as holds with the previous, are not coming from Mr. Hooks, but a legal representative of Hooks Enterprises. -- STATEMENT: Stephen states his original fraudulent statement about Mr. Hooks being "a 25 year old scam artist with a two year police history" was based on research he did into a Hooks Enterprises based out of Florida. Research into the "Fort Walton Beach" Hooks Enterprises finds neither a James Hooks as its owner, operator, director, registered agent and/or manager, nor a "two-year police record" for Mr. Hooks, nor any type of police investigation into Hooks Enterprises. A search on Florida's Department of Corporations at http://ccfcorp.dos.state.fl.us/corinam.html finds no James Hooks affiliated with any of the three Hooks Enterprises found. And further research into the owners, operators, directors, registered agents and managers of those three firms finds absolutely no criminal record for any of these individuals. In fact, the only link between the Hooks Enterprises based out of California and any like-named entity in the state of Florida is a listing on http://www.hotfrog.com which shows a different organization with a link to the Hooks Enterprises of California website. A criminal records search for other "James Hooks" and "Hooks Enterprises" in Florida reveals nothing. A search for a "James Hooks" who is 25 years of age in the state of Florida also yields nothing. In addition, we contend that had Stephen truly thought Hooks Enterprises was operating out of Florida, he would have stated the Florida address in his original post and made any reference to the state of Florida, and not the Beverly Hills office of Hooks Enterprises. Mr. Mauriello also made a Craigslist posting in the Los Angeles Craigslist making the same claim of Mr. Hooks as a "25 year old scam artist," but no similar posting was found in Florida and no link to Hooks and any entity or individual to the state of Florida was found within. Thus, as there is no logical explanation why Stephen would link the State of Florida with Hooks Enterprises, and James Hooks with an unidentified 25 year old who has a criminal record, and he has failed to remove this statement from the original post per the Cease and Desist order submitted to Stephen, it is our contention that Stephen's original statement was libelous in nature with malice and continued intent to do harm and discredit James Hooks as an individual and Hooks Enterprises as a corporation based on false and inaccurate statements. FACT: Mr. Hooks and Hooks Enterprises is no longer affiliated with HCW Capital. Again Stephen continues to state and refuses to retract that Mr. Hooks is an authorized representative of HCW Capital. We have previously agreed to provide an amended copy of the Asset Purchase Agreement by and between Hooks Enterprises and SOP Holdings, which Stephen has refused to review. Should he, or anyone, wish to see the Asset Purchase Agreement, e-mail [email protected] and we will submit a Confidentiality Agreement prior to review of the Asset Purchase Agreement. STATEMENT: It is our understanding the Refund Agreement was delivered to more than one client, as Hooks Enterprises has been contacted by former clients wishing clarity in the SOP Holdings Refund Agreement. FACT: The Refund Agreement from SOP Holdings also lists a 702 fax number, which Stephen listed in his revision. There is an SOP Holdings advertisement for employment in the Las Vegas, Nevada craigslist. There is also an SOP Holdings corporation found in the state of Nevada, which has been in existence for longer than Stephen's relationship with Hooks Enterprises. There is also a phone number at the top of the HCW website whose voice-mail states its meant for past clients of Hooks Enterprises in association with SOP Holdings. One may draw their own conclusions. STATEMENT: Stephen's earlier contention was that Allied Venture Capital was created, operated and/or managed by Hooks Enterprises. This is the statement we were disputing, which Mr. Mauriello has failed to retract. We also have come to the same conclusion about Allied Venture Capital's non-existence as any official institution in the State of Texas. FACT: Mr. Hooks and Hooks Enterprises do not rent their Beverly Hills office by the hour, as Stephen's statement implies. -- In closing, while Stephen is entitled to his opinion, there are still several statements in his original post that continue in his reply that he has neglected to retract (such as Mr. Hooks impersonating satisfied and/or dissatisfied clients), and he has made further false or inaccurate statements in his response. A Cease and Desist Order has been delivered to Stephen, and will be pending further response.

I would like the opportunity to revise and clarify my earlier post. Let me start by saying that it was my intention to share my experiences with HCW Capital and to give my OPINION as it related to the subsequent performance or lack of performance. The featured purpose of HCW Capital,s service was to help small business acquire funds for growth. The Craigs List advertisement did not feature business plan writing or corporate acquisition and development. It featured the ability to acquire business lines of credit up to 5 million dollars. James Hooks wants to get into the semantics of his contract, but it is clear in my opinion he specifically targeted individual business owners in need of financing, not business plan writing or corporate development. My contention James Hooks is 25 years old stems from the fact that after doing due diligence it appears a James Hooks was operating a Hooks Enterprises out of Fort Walton Beach, FL and was also in the mortgage business and this particular business was noticed by the authorities. IN MY OPINION this appears to be James Hooks. If this is not James Hooks I stand corrected. The number to the Fort Walton Beach Hooks Enterprises has been disconnected. Mr Hooks stated in his rebuttal I was justifiably upset because the services I paid $1,999.99 were not performed.IN MY OPINION the business plan provided me is completely worthless because the business plan is written for a corporation that does not exist. The contractual responsibility for setting up the corporation lied with HCW Capital. The corporation was to be set up within 120 days. This IN MY OPINION is a breach of contract. Mr Hooks stated " (three of whom spoke with Mr. Mauriello previously)" I spoke with James Hooks and which ever operator was manning the phones at the executive suite and no one else. The virtual office/executive suite debate is again merely semantics. Here is a definition of an executive suite. Executive Suites Definition: Shared offices with services provided by a management firm. Executive suites help you project the image of a professional operation at a more affordable cost and can be found in most commercial office areas. Some executive suites even rent their facilities by the hour to home based businesses or out-of-towners who need temporary office space. If projecting an image of a professional operation is classified as an executive suite rather than a virtual office I stand corrected. Lastly Mr Hooks said this. FACT: The company has not, nor has it ever, had an official alliance or professional relationship with the entity that called itself 'Allied Venture Capital' with the exception of attempts to receive funding for its clients, and had begun its own internal investigation into its existence, as Mr. Mauriello is aware of as well. I find it rather curious that Mr Hooks would send my personal information and banking information to Allied Venture Capital and then conduct and internal investigation into there existence ? It took me a grand total of 10 minutes to call the Texas Sec of State and Texas Dept of Banking to draw the conclusion Allied Venture Capital does not exist in the State of Texas. Mr Hooks also provided me with a 20 plus page Investment Agreement and a Letter of Execution from Allied Venture Capital stating an estimated funding date of June 1st 2009. The main contact was Chris Walker, email [email protected] Physical Address 3102 Maple Avenue Suite 400, Dallas,Texas, 75201 Toll Free 866-213-2211 Mr Hooks also told me in a conversation he funded clients through Allied Venture Capital and had received $300,000 in commissions. IN MY OPINION the activities of 1. Transferring Paperwork 2. Collecting Paperwork 3. Funding Clients 4. Collecting Commissions do not constitute a " professional relationship " I do not know what does. Mr Hooks did provide me an HCW Capital refund agreement stating if I was not funded $75,000 by July 31st I would receive a full refund MINUS the $499 fee of the worthless business plan. A few days later the alleged asset purchase to SOP Holding took place. The whole situation IN MY OPINION is fishy,thin and suspect. The day after positing my initial Rip Off Report, an email form [email protected] it stated Attn HCW Capital Client: You are eligible for a refund of the purchase price for the HCW Capital product you purchased. Download the attached Refund Agreement. Fill out the form completely and fax back to 702-543-5664, or e-mail in Adobe PDF format to [email protected]. All forms must be received no later than July 31st, 2009. A refund check will be delivered to you upon receipt and review of Refund Agreement. We thank you for your business. HCW Capital An SOP Holdings Company In the fine print of the agreement the refund would take 6-8 weeks to process and I would be obligated to pay for the worthless business plan. Completely unacceptable and unsatisfactory. That is why I charged the credit card back. Mr Hooks has threatened legal action against me for my post. If anyone would like to do business with Hooks Enterprises do so at your own peril

In an effort to both correct and clarify the claims of Stephen Mauriello (the original poster of this article), as an authorized representative of Hooks Enterprises, I present the following: FACT: The press release found on the former HCW Capital website at www.hcwusa.com (which Mr. Mauriello did not include, but we will for the interest of full disclosure) has a telephone number listed at the very top for any and all past clients of HCW to contact to inquire about the status of their file. Furthermore, asset purchases do not cancel any agreements between client and company, but merely transfers ownership and essentially responsibility of said agreements. SOP Holdings would still be responsible to perform any and all agreements made. A copy of the Asset Purchase Agreement (an amended version devoid of all strictly confidential information, such as amount of asset purchase) is available upon request. FACT: Mr. Mauriello signed an amendment to his contract on June 12th, 2009, that is still active through July 31st, 2009, stating that he would be refunded all monies, minus the $499 for business plan, should his business not receive funding by that date. This report was filed exactly two weeks after the amendment was signed by Mr. Mauriello. If Mr. Mauriello did indeed file a charge-back on his card per his claim, then this amendment - and thus, the original Professional Services Agreement - would be violated and thus terminated. FACT: Mr. Hooks is not 25 years old, nor does he have a criminal record. This statement made by Mr. Mauriello is completely false and libelous. FACT: Had Mr. Hooks been a "one-man operation," there would not be a receptionist answering the the company phone (with whom he has left messages in the past, per our records), nor would he have been able to speak to Ms. Erin Baxter, who previously acted as Operations Assistant and Executive Assistant to the company. FACT: No company phone lines have been disconnected sans the toll free 866-line, as it was related to HCW Capital as a subsidiary of Hooks Enterprises, which no longer applies after the asset purchase. The number Mr. Mauriello submitted in his report is Mr. Hooks' direct line, which is still active and includes the long-standing number to his office along with a statement regarding the HCW Capital/SOP Holdings transfer. FACT: The office is not a virtual office but an executive suite. Executive suites have physical offices located within, which is the case with the company. Virtual offices do not. FACT: The company has not, nor has it ever, had an official alliance or professional relationship with the entity that called itself "Allied Venture Capital" with the exception of attempts to receive funding for its clients, and had begun its own internal investigation into its existence, as Mr. Mauriello is aware of as well. FACT: The company is not responsible for any Craigslist advertisements made by individuals claiming to be clients, as a few that have been made would be detrimental to the reputation of the company (one referencing the current President of the United States in less than favorable terms, for example). FACT: It is true that Mr. Mauriello's program was not performed as expected, due both to incompetent staff formerly employed by the company (three of whom spoke with Mr. Mauriello previously), and due to various confidential health-related issues which Mr. Mauriello is aware of. Mr. Mauriello was offered a full refund (minus the fee for the completed business plan) by Mr. Hooks prior to his signing the amendment on more than one occasion. While Mr. Mauriello's anger is justified due to the unannounced nature of the asset purchase as well as a lack of funding received for his company, many of his statements are either inaccurate or complete falsehoods, and we would be more than willing to provide copies of contracts, e-mails, and phone records for further review by appropriate parties, as well as speak to Mr. Mauriello directly about this case, as (other than the 866 toll-free number as stated before) all our contact information remains the same. Hooks Enterprises

In an effort to both correct and clarify the claims of Stephen Mauriello (the original poster of this article), as an authorized representative of Hooks Enterprises, I present the following: FACT: The press release found on the former HCW Capital website at www.hcwusa.com (which Mr. Mauriello did not include, but we will for the interest of full disclosure) has a telephone number listed at the very top for any and all past clients of HCW to contact to inquire about the status of their file. Furthermore, asset purchases do not cancel any agreements between client and company, but merely transfers ownership and essentially responsibility of said agreements. SOP Holdings would still be responsible to perform any and all agreements made. A copy of the Asset Purchase Agreement (an amended version devoid of all strictly confidential information, such as amount of asset purchase) is available upon request. FACT: Mr. Mauriello signed an amendment to his contract on June 12th, 2009, that is still active through July 31st, 2009, stating that he would be refunded all monies, minus the $499 for business plan, should his business not receive funding by that date. This report was filed exactly two weeks after the amendment was signed by Mr. Mauriello. If Mr. Mauriello did indeed file a charge-back on his card per his claim, then this amendment - and thus, the original Professional Services Agreement - would be violated and thus terminated. FACT: Mr. Hooks is not 25 years old, nor does he have a criminal record. This statement made by Mr. Mauriello is completely false and libelous. FACT: Had Mr. Hooks been a "one-man operation," there would not be a receptionist answering the the company phone (with whom he has left messages in the past, per our records), nor would he have been able to speak to Ms. Erin Baxter, who previously acted as Operations Assistant and Executive Assistant to the company. FACT: No company phone lines have been disconnected sans the toll free 866-line, as it was related to HCW Capital as a subsidiary of Hooks Enterprises, which no longer applies after the asset purchase. The number Mr. Mauriello submitted in his report is Mr. Hooks' direct line, which is still active and includes the long-standing number to his office along with a statement regarding the HCW Capital/SOP Holdings transfer. FACT: The office is not a virtual office but an executive suite. Executive suites have physical offices located within, which is the case with the company. Virtual offices do not. FACT: The company has not, nor has it ever, had an official alliance or professional relationship with the entity that called itself "Allied Venture Capital" with the exception of attempts to receive funding for its clients, and had begun its own internal investigation into its existence, as Mr. Mauriello is aware of as well. FACT: The company is not responsible for any Craigslist advertisements made by individuals claiming to be clients, as a few that have been made would be detrimental to the reputation of the company (one referencing the current President of the United States in less than favorable terms, for example). FACT: It is true that Mr. Mauriello's program was not performed as expected, due both to incompetent staff formerly employed by the company (three of whom spoke with Mr. Mauriello previously), and due to various confidential health-related issues which Mr. Mauriello is aware of. Mr. Mauriello was offered a full refund (minus the fee for the completed business plan) by Mr. Hooks prior to his signing the amendment on more than one occasion. While Mr. Mauriello's anger is justified due to the unannounced nature of the asset purchase as well as a lack of funding received for his company, many of his statements are either inaccurate or complete falsehoods, and we would be more than willing to provide copies of contracts, e-mails, and phone records for further review by appropriate parties, as well as speak to Mr. Mauriello directly about this case, as (other than the 866 toll-free number as stated before) all our contact information remains the same. Hooks Enterprises

In an effort to both correct and clarify the claims of Stephen Mauriello (the original poster of this article), as an authorized representative of Hooks Enterprises, I present the following: FACT: The press release found on the former HCW Capital website at www.hcwusa.com (which Mr. Mauriello did not include, but we will for the interest of full disclosure) has a telephone number listed at the very top for any and all past clients of HCW to contact to inquire about the status of their file. Furthermore, asset purchases do not cancel any agreements between client and company, but merely transfers ownership and essentially responsibility of said agreements. SOP Holdings would still be responsible to perform any and all agreements made. A copy of the Asset Purchase Agreement (an amended version devoid of all strictly confidential information, such as amount of asset purchase) is available upon request. FACT: Mr. Mauriello signed an amendment to his contract on June 12th, 2009, that is still active through July 31st, 2009, stating that he would be refunded all monies, minus the $499 for business plan, should his business not receive funding by that date. This report was filed exactly two weeks after the amendment was signed by Mr. Mauriello. If Mr. Mauriello did indeed file a charge-back on his card per his claim, then this amendment - and thus, the original Professional Services Agreement - would be violated and thus terminated. FACT: Mr. Hooks is not 25 years old, nor does he have a criminal record. This statement made by Mr. Mauriello is completely false and libelous. FACT: Had Mr. Hooks been a "one-man operation," there would not be a receptionist answering the the company phone (with whom he has left messages in the past, per our records), nor would he have been able to speak to Ms. Erin Baxter, who previously acted as Operations Assistant and Executive Assistant to the company. FACT: No company phone lines have been disconnected sans the toll free 866-line, as it was related to HCW Capital as a subsidiary of Hooks Enterprises, which no longer applies after the asset purchase. The number Mr. Mauriello submitted in his report is Mr. Hooks' direct line, which is still active and includes the long-standing number to his office along with a statement regarding the HCW Capital/SOP Holdings transfer. FACT: The office is not a virtual office but an executive suite. Executive suites have physical offices located within, which is the case with the company. Virtual offices do not. FACT: The company has not, nor has it ever, had an official alliance or professional relationship with the entity that called itself "Allied Venture Capital" with the exception of attempts to receive funding for its clients, and had begun its own internal investigation into its existence, as Mr. Mauriello is aware of as well. FACT: The company is not responsible for any Craigslist advertisements made by individuals claiming to be clients, as a few that have been made would be detrimental to the reputation of the company (one referencing the current President of the United States in less than favorable terms, for example). FACT: It is true that Mr. Mauriello's program was not performed as expected, due both to incompetent staff formerly employed by the company (three of whom spoke with Mr. Mauriello previously), and due to various confidential health-related issues which Mr. Mauriello is aware of. Mr. Mauriello was offered a full refund (minus the fee for the completed business plan) by Mr. Hooks prior to his signing the amendment on more than one occasion. While Mr. Mauriello's anger is justified due to the unannounced nature of the asset purchase as well as a lack of funding received for his company, many of his statements are either inaccurate or complete falsehoods, and we would be more than willing to provide copies of contracts, e-mails, and phone records for further review by appropriate parties, as well as speak to Mr. Mauriello directly about this case, as (other than the 866 toll-free number as stated before) all our contact information remains the same. Hooks Enterprises