[Durt]

IMO - flame away.

The way I see it is that a guy got a royal reaming on the receiving end of something with the Shelby name attached to it.
Take a number. Been going on for years (see: Series I.)
The fact that the victim is also suffering from a serious illness casts a harsh light on the situation, like it or not.
Frankly, I don't care if the fellow or his friend are employing his medical condition to get some sort of "preferrential treatment" (sort of like being first to get a deck chair on the Titanic) or to simply add an embarrassing exclamation point to some absolutely criminal treatment.
If the account is factual, this is serious fraud. If the committments have gotten this far ahead of the finances, and customers are being bilked to keep the enterprise afloat on a day to day basis, time to padlock the place, get out the books, have a serious look at what exactly is actually going on, period, and hold SAI's feet to the fire. Finish Line isn't some mushroom farm operating in a vacuum.
As for anyone assuming the 'high road' over the tawdry use of a terminal illness to garner sympathy, perhaps you could all chip in and have 'ol Shel sign the fellow's coffin should this unhappy story end tragically unresolved. I'm sure he'd cut you a swell deal under the circumstances.
Just don't place any bets on when he might get around to it.