I feel for all of the victims of Jpop/DeepRoot etc. That includes employees that no doubt looked past evident problems for their love of pinball.
Hindsight is 20/20 but there was foresight here too which makes it worse.

I was visited by Jpop in 2016 and asked to finish the art for all of the projects I had started with him. (Some never seen to this day) I was trying to be nice but indicating I had no desire. His attempt to persuade (read: manipulate) me was to insult my work on Ghostbusters ('Not your best work'). I told him it was produced in 6 months, and existed, and was real.

Regardless, eventually Robert reached out an I was pretty flippant and probably insulting by saying I NEVER wanted to work with John again and anyone who would want to was crazy. Needless to say, litigation was bandied around and eventually I made it clear I wanted nothing to do with any of the work I had done.

It was clear RM had little clue what he was getting into back then - but it's been how much time now? Seeing the alleged criminality is no big surprise in hindsight.... Narcissistic opportunists tend to take other folks for a ride to their benefit...

I just hope this saga is finally done...? Maybe?

Thanks - that's the way I looked at it. I can't say it enough - but the folks at Stern that I've worked with have the same passion and drive to make something special that I do. George Gomez & Greg Freres in particular have done everything they can to give me the means to produce at the highest level possible. Add incredible teams led by incredible designers and I have to be the luckiest guy in pinball.

(BTW - my secret is that I'm terrified of letting people down - so technically I'm internally miserable and push myself until it's over lol)

Off the record - Can't wait to share the current project some day