However, a spokeswoman for PwC says the accounting firm was not aware that its name was being used and is not affiliated “in any way” with The Negotiator or Jensen.
“PwC has become aware that an organisation trading as The Negotiator is claiming in its promotional material that PwC are its accountants. This is not the case,” she says.
“We have commenced taking steps in relation to the unauthorised use of the firm’s name and the misrepresentations that have been made.”
Alistair Morgan, head of legal in institutional business at Citi, said Citi did not appear to have a banking relationship with The Negotiator and “didn’t generally give permission to use our logo in that manner.”
Jensen told SmartCompany the company had not yet commenced operations and would not until its panel of negotiators and board of directors were in place.
“We work with high net worth individuals and go and negotiate on their behalf on luxury items, yachts, cars or whatever,” he says.
“If we don’t produce any savings for them we don’t get paid. So if [former Westpac chief executive] David Morgan was looking at buying a $4 million boat and he researched and found one for $3.2 million, we have [marine broker] Grant Torrens, who has been in the boat industry, he would try and get a deal below that price.”
While The Negotiator may not have the bank on board, the promotional materials for the business say it is “fully funded”.
Jensen originally told SmartCompany that the person funding the business is Jon McKenney, who Jensen says also came up with the idea for the business.
“He recently purchased a couple of boats and was looking for someone like this out there but, unfortunately, there was nothing. There are brokers but they were specialised in individual industries,” says Jensen.
McKenney was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail in 2002 after pleading guilty to charges brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission relating to his role as a managing director of the Lifestyle property group.
The charges included failing to act honestly, making improper use of his position as a director of a number of companies within the Lifestyle group, and making a false or misleading statement in a document lodged with ASIC.
McKenney and his business partner at the time were found to have obtained and used approximately $5,466,000 from investors for property development projects undertaken by the Lifestyle group.
John Williams, who is an “adviser” to Jensen, has since told SmartCompany that McKenney is “just a friend” of Jensen’s and did not provide any funding for the business.
“They know each other and Jon McKenney has nothing to do with the business at all; the business is Jaydan’s,” Williams says.
However, Williams was unwilling to disclose who had provided the funding for The Negotiator or to provide any information which shows McKenney is not involved.
“No, it’s a private company and there’s no need to disclose it to anybody to be honest,” he says.
Jensen now says McKenney is not involved, but again will not provide information on how The Negotiator is funded.
The Negotiator represents a new venture for Jensen, whose background is in real estate. His LinkedIn profile still lists him as a “sales Consultant at Coronis Realty” in Queensland.
“I’ve spent the last 11 years in real estate, including Sovereign Island, Paddington in Sydney and I run an office in Paradise Point on the Gold Coast,” Jensen told SmartCompany.
Despite his limited experience and the negative response from the invited members of The Negotiator contacted by SmartCompany, Jensen is upbeat about the prospects for the business.
“The response has been quite good so far, it has been very encouraging, at the moment we are just aiming at a select group of people just over 600,” says Jensen.
“We will look at going into the government sector and mining and so forth, but not for the next 18 to 24 months.
“It’s just in start-up at the moment and things are looking great for it.”
Cara Waters is a former SmartCompany editor. Previously, Cara was a senior reporter for the Financial Times’ website and worked for The Sunday Times in London.
