Although I agree that nobody is going to sue anybody in this situation, I'm curious about the technical legalities. Could the "new venture" be viewed by a U.S.

Although I agree that nobody is going to sue anybody in this situation, I'm curious about the technical legalities. Could the "new venture" be viewed by a U.S. court as a continuation of the old venture? Could the acceptance of the $1000 salary in the first two months be construed as a contract of some sort? Also, the OP says in a comment that he requested that a US corporation be formed, so there are probably emails to that effect. Would such a request be considered to mean there was a partnership in place already? Again, I agree with other commenters, there will not be a lawsuit over $2000. But the 50% of the company could be enough incentive if you were successful enough, so the OP might want to get solid on where he stands. It sounds to me that there's a bit of a backstory, maybe enough to make a court look twice.