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Private Island Broker Cheyenne Morrison Defrauds Client

By Islomaniac | August 12, 2007

I once warned Private Island Broker Cheyenne Morrison, the man who has called me everything from an impostor to a parasite, that he had built a castle out of cards. It turns out that I may be right, as it appears that the pedestal that Mr. Cheyenne Morrison has placed himself on is about to come crashing down.

A man named Bryan Comerford sent me an e-mail telling a disturbing tail about his interactions with Mr. Morrison. Mr. Comferford, a successful businessman solicited the help of Cheyenne Morrison in order to help him find and purchase his dream island. In the end, Cheyenne Morrison defrauded Mr. Comerford. Mr. Morrison took his money, lied to him and used Mr. Comerford generosity for his own personal gain.

I have attached the letter Mr. Comerford sent me and it includes all the details. I would recommend that everyone reads it, but most importantly if you are interested in buying or selling an island it is crucial that you read this letter. Mr. Comerford has been gracious and brave enough to provide all of his contact information, so if you have any questions or concerns go ahead and contact him.

Finally, I do not want to pass judgment on Cheyenne Morrison, he already has God, Karma and the Judicial system to deal with. Instead I have a message for all journalists who may end up reading this post and the attached letter. Mr. Morrison was able to defraud this client because you continued to herald him in the media as “the world’s largest island broker.” He told you a good story and it went down like fine wine. I have read article after article about Mr. Morrison and virtually all were filled with blatant lies, lies that could have been detected if the journalist had taken just five minutes to check a few facts. It is now the eleventh hour, and the story we finally get to hear is Mr. Comerford’s. His story is a factual tale about the real Cheyenne Morrison, the Cheyenne Morrison that you will not hear about on CNN, BBC, or in the New York Times.

Click on “read the rest of this entry” to read Mr. Comerford’s letter or read it at Private Islands Online

Consider this before working with Mr. Cheyenne Morrison:

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
Petone
Wellington
New Zealand
0064-274-519-530
bryan.comerford@gmail.com

 

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Topics: Island Features, Island Fraud, Island Advice, Islands in the News, Islands and Politics, Private Island Experts, Miscellaneous |

9 Responses to “Private Island Broker Cheyenne Morrison Defrauds Client”

  1. Waterfront Agent Says:
    August 12th, 2007 at 4:52 pm

    Unbelievable! Thank you so much for sharing this information with the world. There are only a hand full of people who sell islands internationally so you’re warning may save many island buyers a lot of money. Hopefully more people Cheyenne Morrison has defrauded will come forward.

    The Island World thanks you.

  2. Islomaniac Says:
    August 13th, 2007 at 3:31 am

    Don’t thank me, I just republished the letter, thank Mr. Comerford. It takes a great deal of courage to do what he has done. Hopefully it will inspire other people who have been defrauded by this individual to come forward.

  3. whitehaven Says:
    August 14th, 2007 at 4:54 pm

    Ay even in his home territory I can’t say this bloke has a good reputation. Never met him but I know a few who have, and they thought he was a bit of a buffoon, really. Seemed like an ordinary chap, but to hear him tell it he was always days away from being a multi-millionaire!

    Figured him for just a harmless dreamer, so sorry to hear he’s actually dangerous. Desperation can do that to some.

    I’ve passed Mr. Comerford’s letter on to those who might need to read it. Brave fellow, good on him for warning people.

  4. Islomaniac Says:
    August 14th, 2007 at 6:20 pm

    “harmless dreamer” I think thats what he wanted people to believe.

  5. livid Says:
    August 14th, 2007 at 10:10 pm

    Wow I am stunned, I remember reading about Mr. Morrison in several publications. He came off as kind of a blow heart but I never would of thought this was possible.

  6. Forbes Says:
    August 15th, 2007 at 4:53 pm

    Grow Up Kids

  7. Veritas Says:
    August 15th, 2007 at 6:06 pm

    “Grow up?”

    I guess someone at Forbes is a little embarrassed about not doing their homework. I would be too, if I claimed in an article that some broke guy working out of a cheap motel was one of the world’s top island brokers! Funny how Morrison also says Forbes “voted” him one of the three top island brokers in the world on his Luxury Real Estate profile. To their credit, at least that looks like a lie…. but I wonder how many people Morrison has been able to fool using the credibility he got from these articles:

    http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/2006/03/03/expensive-private-islands-cx_sc_0303home_ls.html

    http://www.forbes.com/2007/01/31/most-expensive-islands-forbeslife-cx_mw_0201islands.html

    It’s not hard to find out that “Coldwell Banker Morrison’s Private Islands” doesn’t exist as a company, and he doesn’t even have a real estate license. Seriously- you’d think that journalists would be more careful to get the facts straight after Jayson Blair….

  8. Centless Says:
    August 17th, 2007 at 1:45 am

    Cheyenne Links
    blogger.com/profile/03713085129085236716
    youtube.com/PrivateIslands
    cheyenne.smugmug.com/

    Did this site ever work?
    coldwellbankerislands.com.au/

  9. Islomaniac Says:
    August 17th, 2007 at 2:53 am

    Thank-you for posting those links to various Cheyenne sites. You have to wonder how legitimate can someone be when they don’t even have their own website? Cheyenne relies on free accounts on blogger, youtube and “smug mug” You think journalists would have noticed this.

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