“…Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words.” Jean-Paul Sartre

Reminds me of this XKCD (ht/@xkcd.com):

I think the company is already essentially bankrupt and he's spitefully trying to run out of cash before the lawsuits by former employees resolve themselves so he doesn't need to pay them out