When somebody steals $xxx,xxx from you…

January 15th, 2023

I feel betrayed and conned. 

I trusted Jeff to run a charter business with my catamaran.  We had known him since Q4 in Gulfport. We built a website and collaborated on charter packages and names of adventures.

They were supposed to put a deposit down on the catamaran, when they sold their monohull sailboat. Turns out they sold their boat in the summer and had been lying to us.

Payment was due mid-December: no payment. We had been in contact with them every few days, then nothing. 

They went silent. We got worried. 

Then we found out they had sailed my catamaran to the Bahamas, without my permission!

We poked around on Facebook: they had been lying to us and the boating community for months. 

I went to the Bahamas to get my boat back. They said I had no right to be on the boat. It’s my boat, registered with the US Coast Guard. 

We’re still working to get my catamaran back. Most of my money is tied up in it. We were going to use their payment to get my mom into a better housing situation. 

I worked hard to get the money to purchase this catamaran, and to turn it into a business. They took advantage of me and my situation.

My father died suddenly in September. I was back in Michigan, cleaning out 120 bags of trash from the house over a few weeks… that’s when they were planning and making moves to take my catamaran. 

It feels personal. I trusted Jeff.