Did you perhaps miss the part where George RR Martin thanks Mark Newbauer, CEO of MIKP and wholly-owned subsidiary Arowana, for helping him deal with these folks?
It is important to include this part, because otherwise someone might get the wrong impression that somehow Mark had screwed over Martin.
Mark got the IP. Then SEC sent MIKP to the greys. Mark was unable to raise funding. The project languished, and then Mark did right by George RR Martin to help him sort out the IP.
Absent all the BS, things look very different, eh?