I don't see how that's a reply to my comment or justifies the downvotes. My comment was about how "the process is the punishment" and that there is not likely to be any justice in a court trial. The other party has $2 million of other people's money and have no incentive not to use it to bankrupt the OP with the legal process. That's a significant challenge and the OP needs a strategy if he wants to win something.
I didn't downvote (nor upvote) you, but the other party absolutely does not want to blow its $2 million on a lawsuit.
The OP's chances of recovery strictly went up when these company got funding. Compared to before, the OP has everything to gain and nothing to lose -- before, he had already written off this project as a bad project. Now, the company that has gotten funding needs to make sure that everything is on the up-and-up.
Assuming OP's story is true, it's entirely in OP's power to say "we won't license the code, FOAD," which would force an expensive and possibly fatal rewrite of the code at this late date. OTOH, with that leverage, OP can name his price. If he demands too much, the VCs might just pull the plug. If the OP's goal is revenge, mission accomplished. But revenge doesn't put food on your family.
