It was recently brought to my attention that since my original complaint letter against Cheyenne Morrison was made public, he has called me a liar and viciously attacked the websites that published my letter. Of course, he hasn’t offered genuine proof that my complaint against him isn’t true- because he knows I can back it all up with hard evidence. As a successful businessman, why would I risk being taken to court and not being able to prove my claims? And if my story is false, why hasn’t Mr. Morrison sued me to protect the reputation of his “private island business”?
Instead, his response has focused on attacking the websites that have posted the letter and that have nothing to do with my case, instead of on disproving my complaint. In fact, he even offered me his help with buying another island to bribe me into retracting my statements. I obviously declined. But then, it seems that Mr. Morrison has a long history of behaving unprofessionally towards his clients and colleagues. To illustrate, here are just a few of his statements:
“go f*ck yourself, you will be in jail or dead soon”
-Threat made by Mr. Morrison to a former business associate
“He is a parasite and a carpetbagger.”
-Regarding one of his own clients
“If you really want to get the bastard instead of spending money on a plane, hire an industrial spy. Industrial espionage is easy, he's old and he wont expect it. I bet a good hacker could easily get into his database and steal his owners contacts and client contact lists. Hell all you even have to do is go through his office garbage every week and you will find gold. If you get a phone bill, call the phone company pretending to be (the competitor), question the bill and ask for last 3 months bills to be sent to a fax number immediately! Use a fax number in an internet café or etc where it will be anonymous. You should leave this to an expert. ALL the big companies in the world do this. Hell if I was in his back yard I would do it now. I have played nice, but now the gloves are off mate!”
-Describing how he would like to deal with a competitor
In his paranoia, Mr. Morrison claims that there is an orchestrated campaign to ruin his “good name” by a competitor. But many clients, brokers and other members of the international real estate community have all had similar negative experiences with this agent, and their unique identities can easily be verified- and other clients are now coming forward. For obvious reasons I will not be revealing the names or identifying details of these individuals, but rest assured that these are all statements made by real people specifically about Mr. Morrison and original copies are certainly available should they be required in a court of law. So here’s what some of the people who have crossed paths with Mr. Morrison have to say about his character and business practices:
“The man is a self absorbed jackass that consistently lies about himself, his listings, and virtually everything he says TO EVERYBODY. To my knowledge he has never sold a single island, ever. At least not that I have any independent proof of.”
-A colleague
“His shameful and criminal behaviour should be punished and I am sure eventually the authorities will catch up with him and put an end to it hopefully for many years!”
-A colleague
“I was interested in purchasing an Island, with the view to develop luxury villas on them and either sell them or rent them. Unfortunately though, after dealing with this idiot Cheyenne Morrison, he completely put me off the entire idea...he clearly has too much time on his hands, which in turn tells me he is obviously unsuccessful at what he states that he does for a living.”
-A former client
“I stopped answering his emails months ago despite his repeated demands that I appoint him as our agent. We have nothing to do with this man…”
-A colleague
“..Cheyenne is a big problem. Because I visited ***** without paying him his ridiculous proposed fee of $10,000 just so I would be properly introduced to his supposed contacts, almost blackmail….out of spite, he has now changed his listings on (my) island to try to prevent me from selling (my) island.”
-A former client
“I have to tell you that he is a crook and begged me for many months to list my island for sale in *****... I will never deal with this idiot.
I am so glad I am not alone on this and there are others that agree he (is) some piece of work that should be in jail!!”
-An island owner
“A large part of my decision to cease working with Mr. Morrison was his strange behaviour, and the bizarre accusations he would make against his clients and colleagues.”
-A former business associate
Not very flattering assessments. But isn’t Mr. Morrison a successful broker who owns his own prestigious, big-name real estate franchise? Well, that may be how he likes to present himself, but the reality is quite different. Mr. Morrison does not have a full real estate license and is certainly not an accredited broker by far. All he has is an easily-obtainable “salesperson’s certificate” that you can get in about 5 days. And his “Morrison’s Private Islands” franchise does not exist. He’s just a sales associate at someone else’s franchise. I guess now it makes sense that he doesn’t even have his own website, as you would expect if there was any substance to his big talk.
“If you challenge Morrison on this whole matter, he alleges that he does not need a license to sell real estate internationally. The legalities of selling real estate is not the issue at hand. The issue is, why does Morrison fraudulently call himself a broker when he has no official real estate credentials?”
-A colleague
“Morrison advertises on real estate websites as a broker, fraudulently presenting himself to thousands of viewers. Other brokers and agents have been convinced to work with Morrison based on his false credentials. If Morrison didn't pose as a broker, who would do business with him?
-A colleague
A similar claim that Mr. Morrison likes to make is that he is the “World’s Largest Island Broker”. This is how he likes to promote himself (via the self-congratulatory entry he made on his Wikipedia profile):
“Mr. Cheyenne Morrison; a 43 year old Australian, a multifaceted renaissance man most commonly known as the owner of (large franchisor) Morrison’s Private Islands. He is one of the most well-known private island specialists in the world listed among "Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate" and has been voted one of the top 3 private island brokers in the world by Fortune, Forbes, Kiplinger’s and a host other magazines and newspapers.”
This “multi-faceted renaissance man”, as he describes himself, is also an accomplished liar, since he does NOT own a franchise of any kind, and certainly was not “voted” one of the world’s top island brokers by Forbes, unless he views a naive journalist including him in an article as equal to him winning a contest.
About as much truth is contained in the statement on his blog that Morrison’s Private Islands is “the world’s leading private islands firm with listings for 200+ islands valued at over 1.5 Billion USD”, and also that “many of them (are his) exclusive”.
The listings that Mr. Morrison has that are even genuinely on the market are just open listings available to anyone, and it’s doubtful that he has a single exclusive. And it has been established that he lists islands without any sort of permission. The way Mr. Morrison goes about his business is to trawl the internet for islands, make a lot of big talk about himself, and convince the broker or owner to let him market it, or possibly he just lists it regardless. Then he totals up the value of “his” listings and claims this makes him the biggest island broker on the planet.
In fact, it’s doubtful that Morrison’s Private Islands has sold any islands at all. Especially considering that he promised to donate a percentage of all his island sales to a prominent island charity all the way back in Oct. 2005, and they have received exactly NOTHING from him. Then again, I guess he could just be ripping off a charity.
“He has listings on the ******* site that are totally made up…. some sold years ago, some he has on there twice under different names!”
-A colleague
“I have seen numerous articles where he claimed to have closed deals on properties, which I have later realized were absolute bull. His misrepresentations are quite a problem for the business. In fact, one of my clients was very suspicious of a property that fit her requirements because she had read an article in which Morrison bragged about recently selling the island. Completely untrue, this island was quite available and I wonder how many other clients the island owner lost due to Morrison’s lies. It’s such a small industry that one individual can be very destructive.”
- A colleague
“There is an island listed (through Mr. Morrison) that I’ve been keeping my eye on for awhile now. I also happen to know the owner and when I saw the island listed (through Mr. Morrison) I contacted the owner to check on the status of the island. He said he had never even heard of Cheyenne Morrison and never gave him permission to list his island, let alone change the name…”
-A potential island buyer
“The article (on Mr. Morrison) was made up of about half a dozen articles he sent me, via our ******* advertising manager who, like you say, got caught in his charm and smooth talking obviously. Reading the articles and checking out the website all sounds very believable. I have to admit but your experience certainly negates that.”
-A journalist
“I found out that the island was not an exclusive as Cheyenne had said, what a surprise Cheyenne had lied.”
-A colleague
“The idea that this character is anyone of importance in the private island business is pure nonsense. He claims to have a “portfolio” worth over a billion dollars, but that figure is utterly meaningless unless he actually makes sales, which I highly doubt.”
-A colleague
So it seems like his current business is just a lot of smoke and mirrors. But what about his illustrious past? He claimed to me that he sold 18 islands in two years prior to founding Morrison’s Private Islands. Well, prior to his current employment as a “sales associate” in Australia, Mr. Morrison was the part owner of a Philippine-based company that was accused of ripping off hundreds of thousands of dollars in deposit money from American clients. Both partners pointed the finger at each other, and Mr. Morrison fled back to Australia. His partner has recently been charged on two separate counts of fraud, with Mr. Morrison testifying against him while claiming total ignorance of the company’s crimes- even though he was a partner in the company and has admitted to being involved in virtually every aspect of their transactions. This is what Mr. Morrison’s former partner had to say about him:
1. An american client file(d) a criminal fraud complaint against him in the CIDG or the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. (FBI equivalent in the Philippines)
2. Selling an island without confirming the price to the seller. He sold it for $50K later to find out from the owner that the island is not for sale and it is impossible for him to sell for $50K because the owner bought it for $100k! That time I asked Mr. Morisson how did he come up with $50K? He told me that he just assumed the price...
3. He harassed and shouted at our Filipino staff calling them "idiots and lazy."
4. He is badmouthing me and maligning my reputation with my local, national and international real estate boards which I am a member in good standing.
5. He was on the watchlist of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Local authorities were instructed by the DENR to report Mr. Morisson presence in Northern Palawan.”
And his partner also alleges that Mr. Morrison’s extravagant spending habits and lack of actual island sales were why the company was unable to refund these missing deposits:
“Mr. Morrison started making international advertisements which cost for the company tens of thousands of dollars without my approval… I started to worry when bills came in from abroad. When the last deal we made was last June 2004 I terribly became worried. I told him he has to make a sale soon because we have so much bills to pay and he said ‘don’t worry… we gonna make a sale soon’”
One of his former company’s defrauded clients had this to say:
“Could you please advise me, the Philippine authority, and my lawyers any information to which I can contact Mr. Cheyenne Morrison…
Several years ago, I viewed an island (name, location) with Mr Cheyenne, and entered a contract to buy that property…unfortunately, after (most of the payment) was transferred, the agreement was "halted". A couple of months later, my lawyers inform me that the company has stopped, and the directors etc have "fled the Philippines".
In the property market this is not a large amount of money, but at the time this was my life savings, and has brought tremendous stress to me, and my family.”
-A defrauded client
And what was Mr. Morrison’s attitude towards this client?
“My client (meaning his former partner) ripped off a lot of people but as far as I’m concerned he lost his money fair and square”
Some of Mr. Morrison’s clients were a little luckier than the above family (who lost more than US $30K), and merely wasted their time and travel expenses. Here is another of his former clients:
“I was a few hours away to probably losing a substantial deposit I smelt a rat and receded at the last minute feeling some what dubious about its safety only to later learn the Island they were about to sell me was actually not for sale and was owned by the government and was being contested by locals like in your situation with him too!. What really got my goat was I was then accused of being a timewaster!!”
That does sound remarkably similar to my own situation, doesn’t it? Just like the above client, Mr. Morrison tried to get me to buy an island that wasn’t even available for purchase, throwing serious doubt on his protestations that the whole Philippine debacle was his partner’s responsibility. But he didn’t have anyone else to blame this time, so he’s defending himself with lies that I simply didn’t want to pay the full asking price for the island. This is absolute rubbish and I am more than willing to prove it in court. At the very least, I am grateful to not have handed over a deposit to him, as I expect my situation would have ended up similarly to the many clients who had their money stolen.
Which brings me to my final point- why didn’t these clients end up pressing charges against Mr. Morrison, as they did against his former partner? Mr. Morrison was partner in the company, showed them the island, closed the sales, and handled their money. In the developed world, people are convicted of white-collar crimes based exactly on the fact that they took part in a transaction and as a business owner, had a responsibility to know what was going on with the company. So why isn’t he sitting in a Philippine prison cell?
Quite simply, Mr. Morrison told these people that he would work hard to make island sales, so he could pay them back from his commissions. To the people who lost their money- just average, middle-class families with dreams of paradise- this is their last chance of recovering any of their funds. If he had been charged, they would be sure to get nothing. But it is now more than two years after Mr. Morrison left the Philippines- have any of these clients received their money back? The answer is not surprising.
As I have stated, I’m a successful businessman. I wouldn’t risk a lawsuit if I didn’t have hard, factual evidence to back up that Mr. Morrison is a fraud and a liar. In fact, I would feel completely confident walking into court and defending any of my statements on the subject. But I don’t think I’ll have to- and it’s because Mr. Morrison knows he’d lose. The most he can do is claim that there is a conspiracy against him, and try desperately to defend himself by lying about his business with me. I sincerely hope that this has opened the eyes of anyone who was skeptical of my original letter. And to those who continue to give Mr. Morrison the benefit of the doubt, and who will probably buy his stories until he finally wrongs them personally- I offer my condolences.
Click here to read my original complaint letter about Cheyenne Morrison
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
To anyone considering buying or selling an island,
Be warned against working with Australian broker Cheyenne Morrison. This man is a liar and a fraud and far what he presents himself to be. I engaged him to help me negotiate overseas property purchases, and he grossly misrepresented his expertise, misused thousands of dollars of my money, and wasted a year of my own research by breaking our confidentiality agreements. He manages to convince journalists that he’s the “World’s Biggest Island Broker” by associating himself with a prestigious real estate franchisor, when in fact he’s flat broke, lies about islands he has sold and gets his listings off the internet- some of which aren’t even on the market. The “leading” private islands real estate company he says he owns can’t prove a single island sale. Before you let him take advantage of you, take a minute to read my experience with him.
I’m a businessman, so I did my research on Mr. Morrison. He said he owned the world’s most successful private island brokerage under the umbrella of a major real estate company, had large numbers of listings (only later did I find out they were almost all open listings obtainable by anyone), and was prominent in the media. He claimed to have negotiated the sale of over a dozen islands in a single year, to be an “expert” on the area I was interested in, and so well-connected that he even had special security codes to access information from NASA. He agreed to keep all information relating to my property search confidential, including prior research I had gathered such as images and contact details. He seemed trustworthy and I took him at his word. He was in Forbes articles and said he had a prestigious franchise- who wouldn’t believe him?
Before we went to see properties overseas in Tonga, Mr. Morrison confessed that he was broke because a former business partner had stolen money from him, and that he needed me to pay all expenses for the trips, including flights, transportation to the islands, accommodations and meals. He also instructed me to buy expensive camera equipment to take pictures of the properties I was viewing, and demanded thousands of dollars up-front for his “expert time”. This was unusual for a broker and made me a little suspicious that someone so successful didn’t have cent to his name, but I agreed on the condition that all information and images gathered on these trips was my property. This stipulated that under no circumstances could he use it for his own commercial purposes or provide it to third parties. He agreed- in writing.
When we arrived to look at properties, it turned out that the only information he had on the region was copied and pasted from a couple of websites, and he knew next to nothing about local real estate law or geography. The information he claimed he would be getting from “NASA” were just print-outs from a Google search. He was pretty much useless and I was unsuccessful in buying a property. Only much later did I find out that after our trip, he was passing my confidential owner details, images and information on to other people and using it to create listings for his web site.
But after I returned home and before any of that had come to light, Mr. Morrison persuaded me to give him a second chance. He claimed he had my dream property- a beautiful, surprisingly inexpensive island. If only I would go and see it, it would be the chance of a lifetime. It sounded more than perfect. Still broke, he told me he couldn’t afford to view the island on his own, and required that I pay all expenses including another up-front payment that he promised would be deducted from his commission when I bought the island. Again, he agreed to abide by a strict confidentiality agreement
When we viewed the island, it was ideal and I agreed to negotiate the purchase. A little fact he had neglected to tell me before I agreed to pay thousands in expenses for the trip was that the island’s title was being contested, and the group of locals he was selling it for were just lobbying the government to “reclaim” the island. But Mr. Morrison swore that the title was close to being clear, and that he would reserve the island for me alone. Once I had returned home, I received a call from a boat chartering company alerting me that someone Mr. Morrison’s “office” was showing the island to other clients. Initially I called him and he denied it that he or anyone associated with him were showing the island to other clients, he then said he had every intention of abiding by our agreement. At a later stage after I proved to him he had lied to me he admitted that he told one person who was a Brazilian and then months later changed his story again and told me that this person had never even looked at it. To make a long story short, he’s a bald-faced liar. When the title was finally clear, Mr. Morrison quickly sold the island behind my back to someone else, using the trip I paid for and confidential images and information I owned. That could easily have been his plan all along.
All of the appropriate Australian authorities have been made aware of the way Mr. Morrison operates but are powerless because he only deals with overseas properties and keeps out of their jurisdiction. I’ve written to his employer to let them know that he’s using their name to gain legitimacy, and based on an in-depth look into Mr. Morrison’s past I sincerely hope that they’ll take action to prevent other clients from being ripped off. I found out that not only has he lied about the number of properties he sold, but the Philippine company he was part-owner of has been implicated in the theft of deposit money from multiple clients. Mr. Morrison fled back to his native Australia and was not charged, but there are warrants out for the arrest of his former partner.
I’m sure Mr. Morrison will write a long defence of his behaviour that puts the blame everywhere but himself, even though he is well aware that I can back up my experience with hard evidence. It’s actually very simple to verify that he is a fraud, however: all you have to do is ask him a few simple questions. Does he have a full broker’s licence? (no, but he’ll pretend that his 5 day “sales certificate” qualifies as a full real estate license). Can he prove that Morrison’s Private Islands has actually sold any islands? (I have cast iron proof that Mr. Morrison has lied about islands he has sold). Does he have an office or staff? (he works off a laptop in his cheap apartment). Does “Morrison’s Private Islands” even exist as a company? He’s a smooth talker and manages to fool clients and journalists into his believing his grandiose claims, but I cannot stress enough to avoid this man at all costs. Not only does he hurt clients, but the owners and brokers of listings he tried to sell- under no circumstances would I consider buying a property he advertises, and I doubt I’m the only one. I strongly encourage anyone who has had a negative experience with this individual to contact me, and I will be happy to answer any questions or provide more extensive details.
Sincerely,
Mr. Bryan Comerford
CEO
Opportunities Unlimited
P.O. Box 38-435
Te Puni Mail Centre
PetoneWellington
New Zealand
0064-274-519-530
bryan.comerford@gmail.com
I’m a businessman, so I did my research on Mr. Morrison. He said he owned the world’s most successful private island brokerage under the umbrella of a major real estate company, had large numbers of listings (only later did I find out they were almost all open listings obtainable by anyone), and was prominent in the media. He claimed to have negotiated the sale of over a dozen islands in a single year, to be an “expert” on the area I was interested in, and so well-connected that he even had special security codes to access information from NASA. He agreed to keep all information relating to my property search confidential, including prior research I had gathered such as images and contact details. He seemed trustworthy and I took him at his word. He was in Forbes articles and said he had a prestigious franchise- who wouldn’t believe him?
Before we went to see properties overseas in Tonga, Mr. Morrison confessed that he was broke because a former business partner had stolen money from him, and that he needed me to pay all expenses for the trips, including flights, transportation to the islands, accommodations and meals. He also instructed me to buy expensive camera equipment to take pictures of the properties I was viewing, and demanded thousands of dollars up-front for his “expert time”. This was unusual for a broker and made me a little suspicious that someone so successful didn’t have cent to his name, but I agreed on the condition that all information and images gathered on these trips was my property. This stipulated that under no circumstances could he use it for his own commercial purposes or provide it to third parties. He agreed- in writing.
When we arrived to look at properties, it turned out that the only information he had on the region was copied and pasted from a couple of websites, and he knew next to nothing about local real estate law or geography. The information he claimed he would be getting from “NASA” were just print-outs from a Google search. He was pretty much useless and I was unsuccessful in buying a property. Only much later did I find out that after our trip, he was passing my confidential owner details, images and information on to other people and using it to create listings for his web site.
But after I returned home and before any of that had come to light, Mr. Morrison persuaded me to give him a second chance. He claimed he had my dream property- a beautiful, surprisingly inexpensive island. If only I would go and see it, it would be the chance of a lifetime. It sounded more than perfect. Still broke, he told me he couldn’t afford to view the island on his own, and required that I pay all expenses including another up-front payment that he promised would be deducted from his commission when I bought the island. Again, he agreed to abide by a strict confidentiality agreement
When we viewed the island, it was ideal and I agreed to negotiate the purchase. A little fact he had neglected to tell me before I agreed to pay thousands in expenses for the trip was that the island’s title was being contested, and the group of locals he was selling it for were just lobbying the government to “reclaim” the island. But Mr. Morrison swore that the title was close to being clear, and that he would reserve the island for me alone. Once I had returned home, I received a call from a boat chartering company alerting me that someone Mr. Morrison’s “office” was showing the island to other clients. Initially I called him and he denied it that he or anyone associated with him were showing the island to other clients, he then said he had every intention of abiding by our agreement. At a later stage after I proved to him he had lied to me he admitted that he told one person who was a Brazilian and then months later changed his story again and told me that this person had never even looked at it. To make a long story short, he’s a bald-faced liar. When the title was finally clear, Mr. Morrison quickly sold the island behind my back to someone else, using the trip I paid for and confidential images and information I owned. That could easily have been his plan all along.
All of the appropriate Australian authorities have been made aware of the way Mr. Morrison operates but are powerless because he only deals with overseas properties and keeps out of their jurisdiction. I’ve written to his employer to let them know that he’s using their name to gain legitimacy, and based on an in-depth look into Mr. Morrison’s past I sincerely hope that they’ll take action to prevent other clients from being ripped off. I found out that not only has he lied about the number of properties he sold, but the Philippine company he was part-owner of has been implicated in the theft of deposit money from multiple clients. Mr. Morrison fled back to his native Australia and was not charged, but there are warrants out for the arrest of his former partner.
I’m sure Mr. Morrison will write a long defence of his behaviour that puts the blame everywhere but himself, even though he is well aware that I can back up my experience with hard evidence. It’s actually very simple to verify that he is a fraud, however: all you have to do is ask him a few simple questions. Does he have a full broker’s licence? (no, but he’ll pretend that his 5 day “sales certificate” qualifies as a full real estate license). Can he prove that Morrison’s Private Islands has actually sold any islands? (I have cast iron proof that Mr. Morrison has lied about islands he has sold). Does he have an office or staff? (he works off a laptop in his cheap apartment). Does “Morrison’s Private Islands” even exist as a company? He’s a smooth talker and manages to fool clients and journalists into his believing his grandiose claims, but I cannot stress enough to avoid this man at all costs. Not only does he hurt clients, but the owners and brokers of listings he tried to sell- under no circumstances would I consider buying a property he advertises, and I doubt I’m the only one. I strongly encourage anyone who has had a negative experience with this individual to contact me, and I will be happy to answer any questions or provide more extensive details.
Sincerely,
Mr. Bryan Comerford
CEO
Opportunities Unlimited
P.O. Box 38-435
Te Puni Mail Centre
PetoneWellington
New Zealand
0064-274-519-530
bryan.comerford@gmail.com
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