Charlie Holden
INTRODUCTION
Did you know that you can be blackmailed without knowing? That is the worst form of blackmail because unlike the average blackmailer that gives you a condition, this type of blackmailer sets the trap for you and waits for you to fall into it. There are very few such blackmailers in the world today and one of them is David Marchant, the owner, and editor of OffshoreAlert.
Ordinarily, David Marchant is not a journalist. But we can call him one because he publishes newsletters. However, his journalism does not concern you if you are poor. Why? Because poor people do not have what it takes to pay him. His journalism is limited to the wealthy and highly profiled companies that have a good reputation that needs to be protected. He publishes defamatory news about such people and waits for them to call for a deletion of such news. When they finally call, he states what it cost to remove such news. You either pay or watch your reputation or that of your business damaged. This article explains how David Marchant does that perfectly.
DAVID MARCHANT’S BLACKMAILS
It will be incorrect to say the offshore world is free from crimes and fraud. Despite that, the selective investigation of David Marchant is an issue of serious concern. He selects who to investigate and be labeled a criminal. What is David Marchant’s criterion for treating some companies and individuals as criminals even when there is nothing to back up his claims? He personally said that “when I see titles like Lord or Sir in an offshore structure I am investigating, I treat it as a red flag.” He had also said that he “can detect a fraudulent company in 5 seconds.”
Did you notice that before completing an investigation, Marchant had already known the offshore company you should avoid? He is probably the only journalist in the world that completes an investigation once he finds out who is involved. No wonder Marchant writes a lot of unverified claims about high-profile personalities and very successful offshore companies. The journalism that targets the wealthy and successful is not free of blackmail. In 2019, the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos was blackmailed by a media company and this has been the case with most prominent figures including politicians. David Marchant had also brilliantly blackmailed some prominent figures in the past and he had done so intelligently. Two of such blackmails or attempted blackmails are discussed below.
KEITH MITCHELL
In 2004, David Marchant accused the Prime Minister of Grenada, Keith Mitchell of accepting a $500,000 bribe from Resteiner. He later increased the amount to $1,000,000. He claimed Mitchell was bribed by Resteiner in return for a diplomatic position. That was Marchant’s version of the story and it was well polished to look like the truth. When the true story came out, it was clear that Marchant had a hidden agenda.
Keith Mitchell admitted to receiving some money which was about $12,000 to cover his travel expenses. This transaction was not made in secret as there were other persons present at the time of the transaction. To date, there is no proof that Mitchell received that amount of money, and apart from OffshoreAlert, no other news channel had reported the crime.
How did Marchant come about with this information? In the past, Marchant had been accused of paying for information even if they are fake or defamatory as long as they would sell and bring revenue. He pays for genuine information before deciding what to distort to generate revenue. He could have paid someone within the cycle of the Prime Minister who told him about the $12,000 transaction involving Mitchell. To make it serious and defamatory, he changed the amount of the transaction to $500,000 and later $1,000,000 with the hope that the Prime Minister will fall for his little trick. The Grenadian government took serious actions against Marchant and his OffshoreAlert. “Within a few days, the government filed a criminal libel lawsuit in Grenada against OffshoreAlert and its publisher.” Marchant had since stopped reporting the so-called crime because he had no evidence to back up his claims.
The big question is why was the crime detected and reported only by Marchant? Marchant knew that politicians can do anything to protect their reputations and even pay a huge amount of money for that. He also knew that Mitchell’s party will be contesting in the next election and a false accusation against him could be a good way to cash out. If that was not the case, why would a journalist publish fake news without first verifying and confirming the facts? One of the victims of David Marchant and his OffshoreAlert said; “all they do is manipulate falsifying reality profit being aware of the damage they can cause.” That is probably the best way to describe Marchant’s flawed journalism. He manipulates reality to benefit himself.
C-TECH FINANCIAL
C-Tech Financial which was a new company was also accused of committing fraud by David Marchant before they could even start up properly. This is by far the weirdest form of journalism. Accusing a company of committing fraud even when it has not started fully cannot be called an investigation or journalism. It is nothing but a witch-hunt. What could be Marchant’s goal for defaming and criticizing C-Tech Financial at its early stage despite having very few transactions? The calibers of persons that run the company were attractive to him.
The company was run by Dr. Keith Harris who is the Deputy Chairman of Everton Football Club alongside Andrew Mackenzie who was a prominent British businessman. Blackmailing these personalities could be profitable to Marchant and he took his shot. Interestingly, Marchant had not been able to come up with any tangible fraud that has been committed by this company and its officials. This time, his victims acted as if Marchant and his website don’t exist because they know what he was up to.
He handles cases like this as if the victims are his enemies. Someone who had an encounter with Marchant said the following about him; “Mr. Marchant does not understand the difference between reporting the news and “pursuing a vendetta” Once he decided someone is “evil” he feels justified in doing anything, including things which are underhanded, sleazy and illegal, to bring them to “justice”. That would be “his justice” Did you notice the last part? Marchant’s justice is different from the world’s justice. Justice is what brings him money.
MARCHANT’S LITTLE SECRET ON HOW HE GENERATES TRAFFIC TO HIS BLACKMAILS
It is the goal of every blogger to have his news come first on the Search Engine Results Page. To achieve this, they come up with great articles that will be interesting to readers. David Marchant on the other hand had taken a very different path to make sure his news take the first position on Google News. How does he do it? That is probably David Marchant’s top secret and you will definitely want to know this.
Since nobody is advertising David Marchant’s website, he had devised a means to illegally advertise himself by creating fake profiles in various forums. All he does is simply search for forums with very high traffic, create his profile using fake details, and use the profile to insert the links to his articles. Generally, forums, where financial crimes are discussed, have lower traffic than forums that talk about sports, travel, relationships, and video games. Investigations clearly show that Marchant prefers to use his fake profiles to insert the links to his articles in forums where other matters that are not connected to financial fraud are discussed because what matters to him is to generate traffic to his website. There is absolutely no way Marchant’s news will not be on the first page because he spread the links across the internet as if they are lifesaving. The rate at which the links to his defamatory articles are spread across various forums and other guest websites has caused some people to wonder if he had an employee whose job is to search for popular forums and insert the links to his defamatory articles.
One reason why Marchant prefers this method is that it helps him to maximize the damages his defamatory articles can have on his victims. How? He is aware that merely posting his articles on his website that ordinarily should have been on the last page of the Search Engine Results Page, without spreading the links to highly populated platforms will mean only his few subscribers and a handful of internet users will find them. Recall that his goal is to ensure that his victims call to negotiate how defamatory articles about them can be brought down from the internet. This goal will not be achieved if the reputation of the victim is minimally damaged. No matter how calm a person is, he will definitely react if he finds his reputation seriously damaged on the first page of the internet. Marchant had always boasted that he ‘knows the power of the media’ and he is obviously manipulating it to his advantage.
It is important to note that Google and other search engines can be manipulated because they are not humans. The forums where Marchant craftily inserts his links cannot also differentiate a fake profile from a genuine one. Marchant knows this and he uses this system to deceive Google and other search engines as well as the various forums. Although he violates their policies and rules, it is very difficult to find out this trick that he had been using for years because of how careful he is in committing this atrocity.
WHY MARCHANT GETS AWAY WITH HIS BLACKMAILS
He is protected by the same laws that protect genuine journalists
You might wonder why the majority of these persons accused of crimes by Marchant are not taking legal action against him. In the past, David Marchant had mocked some companies that took legal action against him that libel actions taken against his company in foreign countries mean nothing because foreign libel judgments in other countries are unenforceable in the U.S. Danny, who is from the Cayman Island also said this about him: “You say he has never lost a legal battle with regard to libel. As he states in his own press release, it is quite hard for him to lose such a battle when he writes about people who live in other countries and are therefore not able to pursue a case against him. An inability to prosecute doesn’t indicate a lack of will from those who have been subject to his undeserved and slanderous stories.”
Circumstances and jurisdiction do not allow many of these victims to take up legal actions against Marchant. He knew this and he had perfected how to evade legal actions. After all, that was the reason he refused to stay in the U.K. He needed to stay in a place where he can misuse his freedom of speech.
He blackmails differently
The average blackmailer will threaten to expose or publish something defamatory unless you pay him. Marchant is not this type of blackmailer. Marchant claims to be smarter than his victims and it appears so. All he does is publish the information and seat back to see if his victims will call to bring down the news. How did we know this? One victim of OffshoreAlert’s fake news appealed to Marchant and his company to bring down the lies that have been published about him and his company. He said: “Offshorealert, is dedicated to intentionally destroying and defaming the reputation of companies. This website has relentlessly slandered my company without any evidence and lying. Therefore, I had to try to find a solution through my legal managers, which contacted them to withdraw the accusations of his web and they undertook to delete such criticism in exchange for money.” He concluded that “paying only is the way to avoid” being blackmailed by OffshoreAlert.
Could that be why some offshore companies sponsor his Conferences and subscribe to OffshoreAlert? Maybe what Danny said will help to confirm that. He said; “people subscribe just to make sure that they are not the latest lead character in Marchant’s fairy tale world.” This shows that people subscribe to OffshoreAlert for basically two reasons. Either to please Marchant and not be his victim or to observe his moves closely because it is the responsibility of every business to watch out for threats to their business.
CONCLUSION
Nobody uses the word “alleged” like Marchant. He knows that his stories are allegations that are yet to be confirmed. While alleging, he smartly writes his articles to make his allegations look like facts that have been confirmed. If you had read his newsletters and believed everything he had published, then you have been made to believe that some very good people and genuinely wealthy companies are fraudulent. That means you have helped Marchant to achieve his goal of defaming legitimate businesses and reputable persons. A careful investigation of Marchant revealed that the criminal traits in him are the opposite of what a journalist should possess. Do not wait until you become a victim before you find out.
How will you feel if you find out that a false story has been published about you and there is practically nothing you can do to clear your name? What if it is on the first page of the internet? What if you find out that some trusted friends have believed the allegations? Definitely, you will be hurt. That is the same way you will be hurting those that have been defamed by Marchant if you believe his allegations. So the next time you see Marchant’s newsletters see them as blackmails until you hear the other side of the story.
References
http://archive.caymannewsservice.com/2011/08/23/watchdog-launches-website-with-mac-as-lead-story/
https://www.refworld.org/docid/47c566d9c.html
https://www.offshore-initiative.com/another-persp/