Clyde Igarashi hired me as a freelance writer in the summer of 2019 to do a story about a lawsuit he and his wife Michelle Igarashi against several banks and mortgage lenders in a dispute over a property he has in Hawaii.
We agreed that he would pay $3,000 for a finished article, which he would publish as he saw fit. It required a tremendous amount of research. But after I had done about half the work, including reaching out to the defendants in the case, Igarashi ghosted me.
After trying to contact him for the past five months with no response, I have concluded that he hired me in bad faith, hoping to prod his legal adversaries with a phone call from a reporter, with no intention to pay me for my time. I invoiced him only $665. Crickets.
If you know anything about how hard it is to make ends meet as a freelance scribe, you understand what bad karma it is to stiff a writer. Especially if you’re a financial guy, founder of two companies, and a wealthy homeowner like Igarashi.
Warning to anyone thinking about doing business with Clyde Igarashi, Thrustcycle Enterprises, or Vortical Technologies: this is an unscrupulous, dishonorable charlatan whose word and intentions are not to be trusted.