The word "TAKE" in my story is the word this individual Chris Cook used when explaining what he did with our money. To keep this story 100% truthful and allow him no wiggle room to deny these alligations I will use this word rather than my own.
It is almost unbelievable what this guy has done to me and my family. If I read my story, I would say that there must be more to this guys story, because no one in this day and age would so obviously "take" that that much money from someone and harm them or they'd go to jail. I'm very sorry to say that is not true, at least not yet.
If one has a lot of money and a loyal attorney, it's sad what they can get away with. My research has shown what appears to be about 25 lawsuits Cook has been involved with. This experience along with his College degree in some sort of business education, appears to have given him some unusual business techniques.
This guys M. O with me was to take my money and property by starting it out as a simple business transaction and then claiming he was damaged. When I had little choice but to sue him, he filed a bogus counter suit against me and my wife. (the Jury said it was baseless) Which I hear he has done many times in the past to people who's only real crimes appear to be having trusted another human being and not being familiar with our legal system.
Many get scared (as we did) and settle or go away, some because they simple don't have as dedicated of an attorney as him and go broke in attorney fees trying to get what is rightfully theirs back. What a way to be succesful, uh? We fought back, for us, for his past victims and to prevent anyone else from being victimized in the future by this man
Cook was a friend of 10 years, he even attended our wedding with his wife Natalie Cook Here's my story as short as I can make it... We had a piece of land that we subdivided into 5 lots in order to be able to afford to build a house for ourselves. Cook knew this and wanted our lots. We sold him four of our lots for two Townhouses (that will be a seperate complaint here) part of the deal was he would build our house built for $450,000. And that I would finish the lot improvements that I had started and needed to finish for the lot to build my house.
Two contracts were signed, one for the lots and one to build our house. The building contract asked for a $150,000 down payment to build our house. After I signed the contracts and he signed the contract for the lots, he said this other guy Ruo Hui Chen aka Fay Chen would have to sign the building contract, since he's the one that actually does the hands on work he said. He also said they would use Fay's brothers license to build (we didn't know any better). His brothers name is Ruo Wu chen aka Joe Chen (notice the names? Same first and last name) This guy Joe Chen owns a Construction Company called Cabrillo Construction out of San Francisco. Google it! We got kinda spooked, so Cook signed a personal guarantee to build our house.
So, we gave Cook the $150,000 down payment to build our house, guess what? When we got our permit and it was time to build Cook cut off communication. Through this builder Fay Chen and a few other people he told me if I finished the lot improvements he would build my house. So I did, I finished them. During this time I lost my mother and 3 of my 4 legged friends. Their last days with me were limited, due to my wanting to keep my commitments to Chris Cook so he couldn't have an excuse to renege on our deal and my families home would be built. What a fool I was!
Guess what again? He didn't build our house. He denied that's what the Money was for and claimed to "have spent it". During trial though he admitted to "taking" $100,000 of it. F not telling the truth under oath is perjury. Then Chris Cook and his contractor perjured themselves countless times in their depositions and the court room.
So here we are. During trial the builder claims to have made the contract to build. Untrue! His brother claims to have let him use his license to build. Maybe! Legal?
The trial is over and the Jury needless to say, found unanimously in our favor.
However he is appealing, from what I hear, his attorney is claiming they didn't know he was being sued for not building our house. He is very dedicated and I hear he considers Cook a very good Client.
These are only a few of some quick opinions and a few facts my two years of research has uncovered about these individuals.
1. Chris Cook is not a licenced contractor.
2. Chris Cook "took" over $147,000 dollars of our money.
3. Fay Chen is not associated with the contractors license of his brothers Joe Chen, other than he's his brother.
4. Fay Chen has used this license to build a number of homes for Chris Cook
5. Fay Chen only charges labor to build these homes for Cook.
6. Cook pays for materials.
7. Cooks has used many LLC's to build these homes.
8. If my research is correct, Cook has been involved in at least 25 lawsuits.
9. There are at least 10 people who claim to have been victimized by Chris Cook in some manner.
I will certainly ad to this complaint as time goes by.
I have needed to research this man extensively in trying to prove my claims against him. I have extensive information regarding his history of litigation and real estate transactions. At last count he has or has had at least 18 LLCs' in which he does business under.
I feel this man needs to be stopped. If you've been victimized by him, please let others know.
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