'CityGuru' under oath in investor fraud case
SEATTLE -- Drew Morrison's reckoning has come slowly. A fast-paced lifestyle of booze, clubs, guns and slick ideas turned into continued court dates and months of missed deadlines from 2015 into the new year.
But the serial entrepreneur's mistakes and omissions caught up. Morrison lost a civil lawsuit last year and was ordered to pay more than $1.3 million in penalties and fines for spending investor money on himself.
Thursday afternoon, Morrison was inside the jury room of the 7th floor of the King County Courthouse sitting across from Bruce Danielson, the attorney who won the investor lawsuit over a failed real estate firm.
Morrison was ordered by the court to sit for the "supplemental exam" to explain under oath what happened to the money and why financial records have been hard to come by.
"It appears that you pocketed the funds," Danielson asked.
"Show me where I pocketed them," Morrison replied.
In the combative two-plus hour hearing that is similar to a deposition, Morrison could not recall basic facts about his housing situation, his sources of money and financial history for the company he founded.
The failed real estate firm morphed over time into CityGuru, an events company that cozied up to charities.
As the KOMO Investigators revealed, few got what they were promised, and some employees weren't paid. The company folded last fall.
Morrison said he has been "couch surfing" for months and has been relying on "good will" of friends to take him in and give him gifts. But he wouldn't reveal much more.
"You don't know who gave you $3000 in cash and you don't know who gave you $2400 in cash that was a loan. Now it's a gift. You don't remember those names?" Danielson asked.
"So is using the word loan a bad thing at this moment?" Morrison replied.
Despite his public image of high society with CityGuru, Morrison said he has no bank account, makes no income and hasn't filed a tax return in four to five years.
The Department of Financial Institutions' also opened an investigation into Morrison's stock dealings for CityGuru.
Yet Morrison also said he had almost no financial control of his own company and blames his bank for bad record-keeping.
Danielson was quick to respond to the allegation.
"They absolutely have no records and as a matter of fact, they disavowed any working relationship with you. They said the only one who has the records is you," he said.
To date, Morrison has not repaid any money to Danielson's client, and has not made good on a promise to give over one thousand dollars to a cancer-survivor's charity.
He returns for a continuation of the supplemental exam next week and is required to bring more proof of his financial history.
