Earnie Hooks, the L.A.-based indie entrepreneur who says his Artistry Entertainment is behind such companies as InTouch Technologies and Ask For Inc., claims to be pumping millions into a new Internet entity that will bring cable TV, complete with HD capability, to laptops throughout the world. But we're not all that sure where those millions are coming from. Or even if they exist.

Before making his dough in the loan business, Hooks also says he was involved in music, working with such producers as Johnny "J," Shakir Stewart and Jay Z. And there doesn't seem to be much proof of that either.