It's possible he was played. But fact of the matter is that now after the 'coup', the board has been reduced to 4 from the prior 6. All 4 were against Sam, now

It's possible he was played. But fact of the matter is that now after the 'coup', the board has been reduced to 4 from the prior 6. All 4 were against Sam, now Ilya has switched allegiance. So it's still 3-1. 2 more board members would have to turn to bring Sam back. At this point, I think it's safe to say that all 3 remaining members are still against bringing back Sam - or at least 2 of them staunchly are.