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“What will it take to get you to join NetCapital—does $250,000 sound right?” Altholtz negotiated a term sheet with Fanning and CEO Kay, and all three men signed it. In addition to the salary, the deal called for a $15,000 signing bonus and six months’ severance pay if Altholtz were fired without cause, according to a copy of the term sheet.

The August day after Altholtz started work, Fanning met him on Nantasket Beach and handed him the $15,000—a check signed by Fanning’s wife and drawn from a personal account. According to a breach-of-contract lawsuit Altholtz filed in January 2001, Fanning told him “that he had a lot of personal legal problems and that he wanted [Altholtz] to handle his personal legal matters.” Fanning had reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars selling Napster shares. But in the collection cases that had gone to judgment, he owed at least $17,529 for credit-card lending by First USA Bank and $26,759 to Creditrust (though those creditors would have to refile the cases after Fanning objected that he had never been properly served).

Altholtz refused on the grounds that he had been hired to work as a business executive. He continued to work at NetCapital but never received any salary: According to the suit, Kay told Altholtz that he would be paid as soon as NetCapital won funding. After a month with no paycheck, Altholtz stopped work, demanded his six months’ severance, and eventually filed suit. NetCapital claimed it had never made Altholtz a formal offer, and the case was settled for an undisclosed sum in 2002.

NetCapital and NetMovies are housed together behind grimy glass on an oceanfront street in Hull, sharing a block with restaurants that are closed except for weekends, closed except for summers, or just plain closed. Sitting nearby are an old carousel and an arcade from Hull’s better days. NetCapital’s front door stays locked during business hours, and employees there had ushered away people bearing legal papers. When I knocked in the spring of 2002 and introduced myself to Fanning, he shook his head, gave a half-smile, and shut the door without a word. A few days later, his public-relations woman called me. “He doesn’t need a publicist,” she said. “He needs a shrink.”

If her opinion was based on Fanning’s reluctance to follow social norms, she had more information than most of the public. The media had been timid, and Shawn had yet to fault his uncle for anything publicly.

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