Screw them over? Look at it another way. They shafted you, and others. They're in the habit of it now. They're going to keep on shafting until one day they shaft someone who really can't afford it. They could cause someone some real life tragedy, all in the cause of keeping a non-viable business going.

If you did start them on the chain of bankruptcy, you're doing a favour to all the people they'll screw down the line.

And if they're lying about money woes, you get something.

Better to kill the company before they cause some serious damage to a real person. I understand your reluctance, you probably put some of your heart and soul into it, but in the end it's just a company. You tried, they tried, but it just didn't work out.

Then again, having said all that, if I could detach my emotions from it I'd be a bit more selfish and take the advice elsewhere in the thread to negotiate a partial payment. It's probably your best chance of getting some money. But then again I wouldn't be able to detach my emotions, I'd go after the whole amount on principle and I certainly wouldn't have waited this long.

And the little twist, them buying you iPhones and sending you everywhere? That's people pretending to run a business. That's people being the big men, who think that's what a business should be when it's not. They pissed your paycheck away on frivolities. That was their choice.