Consumer Law, Warranties Writer seeks legal advice: contract issue

[Norton]

Hello ladies and gentlemen.

I am a writer currently working on a new novel. My story takes place in Manhattan. The anti-hero of my story is Rob, a con artist who poses as a qualified professional in various fields, finds clients online, meets them and charms them into signing a well-written contract that specifies a large unrefundable deposit, and then motivates his clients to fire him and convinces them to write a contract cancellation agreement which states that the client receives only half of their deposit back.

The way I plan the story, the con artist meets his nemesis in the face of Heather, a resourceful young woman who lost a large sum of money to one of Rob's schemes. She sets up a blog online and publishes her entire email correspondence with Rob the con artist. Anyone who googles any of the aliases the con artist is using can see the information that exposes him.

Rob then considers the highest point of his unlawful career: he wants to sue Heather for defamation.

My question: in reality, how vulnerable is Heather to Rob's legal attack?

 

[dee_dub]

Not at all. What she posts is true. It's not defamation.

 

[Norton]

Thank you for the prompt and simple reply.

I have another question related to the previous one. What if Rob offers Heather to return her money?

Earlier in the story he had already persuaded her to sign the agreement, which stated that she had received half of her deposit back, allowed Rob to keep the rest of the money, and had no more claims to him.

If Rob offers Heather to unofficially give her back the rest of the money he took from her, on the condition that she removes from the Internet the information that has exposed him - and Heather accepts his offer and takes the money - how vulnerable can she become to Rob's legally accusing her of extortion or any similar crime?

Thank you very much for your help.

J.Norton

 

[presutin]

Rob can be sued for bribery and Heather can countersue for extortion.

 

[dee_dub]

how vulnerable can she become to Rob's legally accusing her of extortion or any similar crime?

Not at all. Extortion requires the threat of a wrongful act. She's not threatening anything, and what she's doing is not wrong. It is not illegal to post the truth on the internet.

Now, if their original settlement was subject to a confidentiality agreement, he might have something.

 

[Norton]

Thanks again. I think you've pulled me out of a writer's block.

And thank you for the idea of the confidentiality agreement.