My friend spent 2 years building a wellness center's entire online presence based on verbal promises of partnership. The owner (Mark) repeatedly assured him they were "partners" and he'd be compensated when business picked up. He created everything from website design and content to physical marketing materials, all without payment based on these promises.

Once the site started bringing in clients, Mark suddenly claimed that my friend isn't doing a good enough job and that he "found someone better." He tried claiming ownership of the website and when my friend denied handing it over without proper compensation for his time and efforts he put into it, Mark copied all the work to a new site and began sending increasingly hostile messages. These range from threats that my friend would "live in a cell" to emotional manipulation saying my friend "made me believe in people again." The messages swing wildly between legal threats, personal attacks calling him a "loser" and "scammer," and then desperate pleas about wanting to salvage the relationship.

I've seen the text exchanges where Mark clearly admitted he promised my friend a share of profits and would "take care of" him once money started flowing. There's even a message where Mark specifically mentions that he shared private financial information with my friend because he trusted him as "a very close friend, brother, teammate."

I actually found out about this whole situation because Mark started badmouthing my friend to others at Hannover Park. And he got his business set up in Hannover Park because of my friend in the first place. When I heard these claims, I reached out to my friend directly, and that's when he finally opened up and showed me everything – the texts, the work he'd done, everything. I was shocked by what I discovered. Mark has been spreading false rumors about my friend while simultaneously trying to get the website for free. Over the course of 2 years, my friend treated him like family. He even created resumes for Mark's son and even his niece, I mean seriouslyyy.

My friend just wants to move on from this nightmare, but I think he's being too passive. I'm pushing him to sue for theft of intellectual property and breach of verbal contract since Mark is now profiting from his work while continuing to harass him. My friend thinks I'm being too aggressive and should let it go, but I don't think it's right for someone to steal two years of work and get away with it, especially while actively trying to damage my friend's reputation.

AITA for insisting my friend take legal action rather than just walking away from this toxic situation?

(Would you guys like to see screenshots of the conversation?)