How Startups and a Government Agency Were Fooled by a Convicted Thief

It's odd the author and the James written about both misuse "weary" for "wary", and the place James supposedly misuses it is in quotes. That makes me question the author's understanding of quotes.

It's more interesting the dispute was about alleged failure to disclose when the relevant paragraph of legalese seems to assess the termination fee for any reason at all:

"5.4 Should for any reason either party withdraw from the negotiations due to information that would hinder an investment being discovered by the Investors or should the Investors withdraw for any reason after the date of this letter, the Investors shall be entitled to recover..."

"We decided we don't like the deal" is a reason. That phrase "for any reason" is the proverbial hole you can drive a truck through.

Looks like he trying to clean up incase his parole officer finds out (given the sentence reduction), anyone know what court originally convicted him in 2007?

Post-YC, startup founders are pretty young. Would you care if a founder had gotten into legal trouble for a business started before their 18th birthday? I don't know -- given that YC looks for 'naughtiness' that might even be a positive.

Just to be clear: I am not talking about myself, or anyone that I personally know. I know of a case kind of like this, though.