Be warned against working with Australian broker Cheyenne Morrison

In the interest of protecting the international real estate community, at this time Private Islands Online is issuing a strong warning against engaging the services of broker Cheyenne Morrison. Click here for an update on this topic. Our company received the following complaint from a former client alleging serious misconduct on the part of Mr. Morrison. After verifying the author’s claims to our satisfaction, we feel it necessary to share his letter to protect the safety and reputation of our industry. We encourage any individual who feels they have been treated unethically by this or any other private island broker to contact Private Islands with details of their issue. We will make every effort to connect you with the appropriate authorities to have your complaint addressed. Cheyenne Morrison


Click here for an update on the Cheyenne Morrison situation


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. Cheyenne 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. Cheyenne 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

 

Private Islands Magazine

Enter your email to sign up for the Private Islands Newsletter.

Newsletter Archive | close ×