Ventura Capital Partners - very funny email

I wrote an email to "Ventura Capital Partners" asking them about their dubious status.  It went like this:

We have been approached by a consumer in Botswana who was telephoned recently by someone from Ventura Capital Partners. They contacted us asking us to confirm the legitimacy of the company.

I would be grateful therefore if you could respond to a couple of concerns.

Firstly your company name appears on a list entitled "Unauthorised overseas firms operating in the UK" published by the FSA in the UK. The list can be found at:
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/Regulated/Law/Alerts/overseas.shtml

Also, the Grenada Authority for the Regulation of Financial Institutions (GARFIN) issued a press release in May this year stating that you are: "not licensed by GARFIN to conduct any type of financial activity in or from Grenada"

This can be seen at: www.garfingrenada.org/ventura-capital-press-release.pdf

Can you perhaps confirm that you are the same company and if you have any reaction to these warnings?

Here is their reply (my comments are in red):

"Please be advised that we are the same Company listed on the FSA and Garvin websites and have been for some time.

Our Clients have been aware of these warnings for sometime and quite frankly, they have no concerns (can he be serious?) about these warnings because they understand the reasons for not registering with the FSA. As far as Garvin is concerned we do not do any business with residents of Grenada and Garvin has been made aware of this (note that the GARFIN warning says this company is "not licenced to conduct any type of financial activity in or from Grenada). As you can see for yourself there is not one client complaint about our company and I would venture to say if we were doing something wrong you would see client complaints all over the internet (I think the FSA and GARFIN warnings are evidence enough, don't you? However, if you insist, see here, here and here).

Mr. Harriman as far as the consumer who approached you: He was not cold called as you say, but rather was approached by a marketing company who asked this consumer if he would like to receive our free Company Newsletter and if something of interest presented it self, he would like to hear about it at which point he replied yes, if he had replied no he would not have received any correspondence or calls from our Company.

(Interesting point: how do they know which consumer contacted us and what was said?  I didn't give them the person's name.  Actually he said they identified themselves precisely as Ventura Capital Partners.)

Mr. Harriman, I suggest you get all your facts straight (they are) before making accusations as we do not force any person to receive our correspondence or to do business with our Company.

We would appreciate you removing any negative information you have posted on the internet (No) as we do not want to involve our Legal Department.  (Scarey)

Bruce Johnson
Vice President Operations and Compliance"

Another interesting point. Do a Google search for "Bruce Johnson" and "Ventura Capital Partners" and guess what you find. Nothing. Is it possible that he doesn't actually exist?

Meanwhile their phone number is never answered. Are they a real company at all?