Brian Gorrell and His (Sordid, Scorching, Sensational) Tale of Betrayal

First things first: you said CK owes you money. I take it that he took this from you in several amounts over time?

Yes, over eight months. I sent money every month. 250,000 pesos. Western Union.

Did he ask for it or did you volunteer? You said he had told you it was for the business?

It was a payment schedule he put me on for my part and contribution to our restaurant, for building and such. Every penny I gave him was for our business.

So you had no reason to suspect that something was not right, because all the while you knew it was for the resto?

Absolutely. I was told that Christine and Mario were going in for 100,000 US dollars. I thought, “Wow, great. No problem.” It was for the resto and a travel/tourism booking agency we were to open on Boracay. I was to operate that business and CK would run the resto.

Did they actually invest?

It was a sham!

Did you confront Mario?

I did confront them both. MANY times. I begged, pleaded and cried. I held on to him one night begging him to help me. Christine controlled Mario.

What did Mario say?

He really felt bad about the whole thing.

I am not entirely clear what Christine’s role was in all this. She’s a friend of CK’s. Did she and CK connive against you in getting your money?

Christine was there the night I confronted CK. She had known for eight months that CK had my money. Christine knew while I was still in Australia that CK had a boyfriend in Singapore. She knew I was sending loads of money. I told her I only invested with CK because I was under the assumption that she and Mario were going to be investors.

Which they never were?

They never were. I did not ask them because CK said it was hush-hush. I was under his spell really.

So what did you expect from Christine?

I was led to believe that Christine was the queen. I really did think she would force CK to pay me. I mean, it’s a lot of money. She told me to grow up. Get another job. I heard it all from her. She could not care less that her BFF (best friends forever) took everything from me. Because she had everything.

By coming out with the blog, by naming names, by shaming them, did you actually expect them to pay up now?

I expected the infrastructure that CK had leaned on for so long to encourage him to do the right thing by me. He told me time and time again how they all stick together. Well, I wanted to shake things up a bit. Get the attention of those people who have direct access to him. Help me get a message across. Give me back my money. Simple.

But they tossed me overboard. Shark food.