Assuming he did ask for $50K (and I have no idea if he did) it seems likely this would have been done over the phone or in person, rather than in an easy to cop

Assuming he did ask for $50K (and I have no idea if he did) it seems likely this would have been done over the phone or in person, rather than in an easy to copy email or text. If you are going to make questionable demands, doing it in a deniable hard to prove way seems strictly better. If the "strongest evidence that they're lying" has the easy explanation that there is no hard evidence, I don't think that exonerates him in any way.