It sounds to me like the costs of continuing to deal with this person, along with the almost certain failure of the venture, makes "I just want to get rid of th

It sounds to me like the costs of continuing to deal with this person, along with the almost certain failure of the venture, makes "I just want to get rid of the whole project" equal "I never want to have any dealings with the person again". Better to have a clean and total separation and get on with his life vs. striving to have some fraction of nothing at a continuing time and energy cost (well, till the person gives up on the venture). ADDED: As oddevan puts it elsewhere in this discussion, he was "paid in sanity".