Over the weekend, I received a call from a reporter at the New York Daily News. He introduced himself to me, apologized for calling on a Saturday, and then informed me that a former client had been arrested – to which I replied, “Good.”
See, I’d found out quite a bit about him shortly after I’d taken him on as a client and had written one press release for him (on a volunteer basis, no less), for it prompted a call from a detective in New York City who’d said “Your client’s a known crook.” He went on to explain that the client had been arrested in the past on fraud charges, and he said that he was currently under investigation for fraudulent activities. This detective also gave me the name of the lead investigator, a detective who confirmed everything and also sent former arrest records, as well as other solid evidence that this man was in the habit of presenting himself in a less-than-honest fashion. Here’s another link showing the timeline of this guy’s background, very little of which hit the news beyond his immediate area.
What could I do? Nothing beyond helping wherever I could. My hands were tied. While they had evidence that he’d been in trouble in the past, nowhere in his present endeavor, which was what he’d hired me for, had he committed any crime. I could recall the press release – if I could find all instances of it. I managed to get it removed from one site, but it was circulated throughout the Internet at that point. I confronted him, to which he wrote an indignant email to me, and also passed along a veiled threat. At that point, I wrote him off and went on with business.
What happened to me from the time the client was “found out” by me and arrested has been interesting. I occasionally get anonymous emails to the tune of “shame on you!” for “supporting” such a man. I spent a good deal of time defending myself and assuring these people (who were so cowardly they couldn’t even sign their names) that I was indeed aware of it, that I was no longer associated with him, and that law enforcement was already on to him.
But why shame on me exactly? One guy, who was brave enough to sign his name, said I didn’t do a thorough enough background check. Uh, while I agree that in this case it would’ve been a great idea, how many of us have the time or money to do that? For a press release? I did obtain the client’s paperwork showing nonprofit filings, and I did search the Internet. I turned up nothing. However, the detective on the case sent me links to older articles (that didn’t appear on my searches), showing arrests. But shame on me? Really? Isn’t that aiming the venom in the wrong direction? With this dude, the signs were not readily visible. My typical searches turned up nothing. He provided proof that he had a nonprofit. He even sent me to a site where some dude wrote him a song in honor of his foundation. It seemed it was all above board. To find out it wasn’t enough stung, but to have others acting like I was the criminal was uncalled for. I trusted someone on his word (with a little back up, thankyouverymuch). Apparently, that’s reason to be treated in like fashion to the criminal.
So this begs the question – when you’re dealing with a new client, just how much do you have to know about his or her past? Is it becoming our jobs to conduct thorough investigations before taking on a client?
Yikes, Lori! I’m glad you’re not working with him anymore, but it sounds like you did due diligence. As writers, we don’t have time to launch comprehensive background checks on everyone. Nor is that even part of our jobs.
We really don’t know how far our responsibility in these cases should go, Susan. Do we? Short of a costly and time-consuming background check, what steps can we take beyond a cursory search and asking for some documentation?
I’m so sorry you’re going through this!
If a client wants me to write something asking for money, I generally do a bit more research, but you saw his 501c(3), so I don’t know what more you could have done.
It’s not like you just accepted him at face value — this is a professional grifter, who knows how to set up the scam.
WOW! I’ve heard some crappy things in this world, but this takes the cake. I’m so sorry that you ended up on the receiving end of some of the fallout from this sorry excuse for a human’s actions.
I have yet to do any work for non-profits, however after reading your tale, I’d be very cautious about taking the chance, unless it is a nationally recognized company.
Well, it’s good to know this guy has officially been outed. But I wouldn’t feel bad about working with him. I don’t think it’s part of our job description to research our clients. If they’re doing something illegal (unless of course we’re knowingly promoting such activity), I think that’s the cops’ job.
Thanks for this compelling tale. I had actually heard of this fellow (I think that a number of news media exposed him), but had no idea that someone who I “know” had dealt with him.
I have a feeling that a background check wouldn’t have shown that anything was amiss until after they caught him.
Hang in there.
I don’t know… I think that we do what we can with what we have. I sure don’t want to have start writing off background checks on every potential client I get an inquiry from – I wouldn’t have a profit if I did that. But then again it would have saved me the agony and stress of dealing with people who want my work for free (my long time struggle with client #1 and a new client).
Wow, that’s just horrific. I’ve had clients that I wish someone would arrest, but nothing like this. There is nothing more than you could have done- you handled it perfectly well.
In most cases, it’s just not possible to do a thorough background check, particularly when you have a lot of clients. Short of keeping a private eye on retainer, there’s only so much you can do.