I'm so sick of people recognizing what Russell is doing (blackmail/extortion), yet not actually doing something about it. If you aren't willing to actually do something about it, it doesn't fucking matter. Russell keeps up with his shitty behavior because people recognize he's doing something literally illegal, tell him explicitly it's illegal...and then proceed to not press criminal charges. He can't learn from the consequences of his actions because nobody fucking gives him the consequences of his actions. Everything he does is in bad faith and for the purposes of manipulation, stop assuming he acts in good faith. Take the kid gloves off and smack him directly in his gimp face with actual consequences.
I don't know how much it'd cost to begin the process to have criminal charges pressed against Russell, and it's possible it's more than $20,000 if you're retaining a law firm as a private business, I doubt it's more than $200,000. It might actually be a cost-saving measure to go ahead and give him exactly the consequences you said you would. Russell trying to fight three civil lawsuits and criminal charges would be really fucking funny, since there's a non-zero chance at least two of the parties involved (i.e. Hardin and ViaTRON) could work together, if Hardin isn't already in communications with them (and he should be).
Russell dealing with Hardin yet again on the criminal front as a witness against him would cause trauma lumps visible from space.
