Brian Gorell Talks About DJ Montano & the Gucci Gang on TV Patrol

Finally Brian Gorell's wish come to reality! ABS-CBN finally talks about it, but TV Patrol didn't mention any DJ Montano, Celine Lopez and Tim Yap.

Who is Brian? Brian Gorell is an Australian who's accusing his former Filipino boyfriend, DJ Montano of swindling him of money totaling US$70,000 that was supposed to be as an investment for a Portuguese restaurant. He created a blog to get his money back. Here's the video of Brian Gorell's interview on TV Patrol:




About the Gucci Gang:

The Gucci Gang controversy is a series of events that involved an Australian blogger Brian Gorrell who published his accusation against his former boyfriend of swindling him of money totaling US$70,000. Gorrell's blog, which was first published on March 4, 2008, has also accused his ex's well-to-do friends, whom he tagged as "Gucci Gang", of attempting to cover up the deed and striking back at him. The blog has since become a major gossip topic in Philippines' capital city Manila, exposing its high-society youths' alleged freeloading lifestyle and addiction to cocaine. It has also tested Philippine and Australian online libel laws, and raised questions about the extent of freedom of speech in blogging.

Gorrell's blog published

After he was forced to flee the Philippines to Australia, Gorrell (a landscape designer) published his blog on March 4, 2008, using Blogger.com. He claimed that he had been sending money to his former boyfriend as a "silent investment" for a restaurant called Bonza in Makati City. He soon realized that the money was used to pay the ex's own debt and that the restaurant was non-existent. Gorrell then narrated that he confronted the former flame about the money at a hotel room in Makati, which resulted in a public altercation. He said he was charged with assault through the help of the ex's friends, but was later dismissed.The blogger then posted entries involving the "Gucci Gang"—consisting of prominent young Manila socialites who are close to Gorrell's former boyfriend including scions of political families and media personalities—accusing them of infidelity, cocaine abuse, cover-up, and crassness.

He stated that the blog was put up when he was told by Philippine lawyers that the soonest Gorrell could recover the money, totaling to US$70,000, is three years. The blogger also wrote that it also aimed to shame his former lover (as well as the Gucci Gang) into paying him back, and would erase the blog from the Internet once the debt is paid. Gorrell said he plans to use the money as treatment for his HIV. As of March 14, 2008, the blog has received 270,000 visits, amounting to 36,600 visits a day and each lasting an average of 52 minutes. Gorrell wrote that he has received over 3,000 e-mails since the blog opened, apart from hundreds of comments.

Legal action

Gorrell claimed that the Gucci Gang chose to attack him instead of paying the debt. On March 11, 2008, the blogger stated in his site that officials from the Philippine consulate in Sydney and Australian Federal Police took away his computer and questioned him. He wrote that he challenged the officials to check the blog's contents for accuracy. The former boyfriend and his family are exploring possible legal actions against Gorrell. He has also contacted the entertainment section staff of Philippine Daily Inquirer, which first published an article about the blog, saying "no comment" and that he would only issue an official statement if Gorrell filed a case "in the proper forum". Gorrell said in an interview that he was not inclined to do so as of the moment, stating that he has consulted three lawyers in Manila and all of them declined to take the case, citing conflict of interest. He also stated that he does not consider taking the case to the Philippines, saying that "the thought of spending years within the Philippine court system is not even an option for (him)".

Meanwhile, a lawyer of socialite and lifestyle columnist Celine Lopez (who was also mentioned in the blog) sent a letter to Gorrell, which states that "(she) is no longer in communication with (Mr. Former Boyfriend) and in as much as she wants to help (him) with (his) problem with the latter, (she) does not have the capacity to assist (him) as she was not privy to the transaction which only (him) and (his ex) can properly resolve". The letter also pointed out that Lopez and her friend Marco Antonio have been persistent in asking the former boyfriend to pay back the debt, but the latter would only provide "vague answers and a series of denials".

Brian Gorell's blog shut-down and reopening

Gorrell closed his blog on March 12, 2008, after several readers commented on the site telling him to stop the "verbal violence" especially those who were not involved. The blogger, however, kept his first post published. He added that the blog "became bigger than (him)". Gorrell also greeted the Gucci Gang to have fun at their "anti-Brian blog" party that same night. However, the blog re-opened a day later with a series of new posts, although the "Comments" section remained disabled. He insisted that he has not been paid. On March 17, 2008, Gorrell published in his blog a receipt from Western Union money transfer as proof that he was sending money to the former boyfriend. He added that it was one of ten such documents in his possession



video by: artilano
infos from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gucci_Gang_controversy