Former Fox News host Clayton Morris has left the U.S. while in the middle of several lawsuits regarding real estate deals, according to IndyStar. Morris and his family recently left their $1.4 million home in New Jersey and moved to a coastal resort town in Portugal.
More than two dozen individuals have sued Morris, claiming that he defrauded them in real estate deals in the Indianapolis area. Morris’s wife and business partner, former MSNBC anchor Natali Morris, told IndyStar in an email that they plan to continue to fight the lawsuits from Portugal.
The Morrises have said that their business partner Bert Whalen and his company, Oceanpointe, are responsible for the fraud and investor losses.
“We have and continued to take responsibility for all of our legal challenges that came from our relationship with Oceanpointe. We have answered all of our attorney general requests in all states. We have answered all lawsuits,” Natali Morris said.
Escape to Portugal?
While the Morrises maintain that they are not trying to escape their legal troubles, investors and attorneys worry that it will be more difficult to serve them with notices or contact them when they live outside the U.S.
Others worry the Morrises may also be able to more easily hide assets outside the U.S., though the couple maintains that they never had any money from Oceanpointe and say that they themselves lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in investments with Oceanpointe as well.
“In my clients’ opinion, innocent people don’t flee the country,” Indianapolis real estate attorney Jynell Berkshire said. Berkshire is a real estate attorney representing several investors.
Natali Morris said that the couple’s legal troubles were a main reason for their move to Portugal and that they wanted to get away from negative press and attacks.
The Accusations
Clayton Morris left Fox & Friends in 2017 to pursue real estate with Whalen, The Hill reported. Morris conducted webinars and YouTube videos to recruit investors and is accused with Whalen of misrepresenting the distressed conditions of at least 35 properties.
The investment group is accused of promising to fix up properties when they did not actually do so. Court documents say that fake leases and rental agreements were sent to hide the vacancies.
The alleged business dealings amounted to a Ponzi scheme where new investors were recruited and their investments used to pay dividends to previous investors. The alleged scheme was found out when investors began to get notices from local law enforcement about code violation and buildings being condemned.
Morris co-hosted “Fox & Friends Weekend” from 2008 to 2017 with Dave Briggs and Alisyn Camerota, who both now work for CNN.
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