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her three-month probationary employment period and hoping for a regular staff job with benefits. “I was pretty freaked out,” she recalled. “I was like, ‘How am I going to get him fired—he owns this place.’” She went to her supervisor, and Bales was told to leave the office for good. “Bill does not understand the concept of ‘no,’” Fikker said. “If he wants to get into a room and there’s no door, he will go through the wall.” Amram said that Sharan probably wanted to get rid of Bales anyway and seized on the incident to make his move. Bales agreed that Sharan wanted him gone beforehand—after all, he had suggested that the directors get rid of Sharan instead. As for the Cherkassky incident, Bales said he merely mouthed an off-color punch line to a joke. Chen said she could see both sides. “Bill’s personality is somewhat erratic,” she said.

Erratic may be a charitable way of putting it, if Bales’s criminal record is any indication. In November 1992, he was charged with driving under the influence, registering an impressive .16 blood-alcohol content. Many young men get arrested for drunk driving: That’s why many states have first-offender programs, which replace convictions and more serious sentences with education and probation. Bales pleaded no contest to the charge and was ordered to spend two days in jail, then join California’s first-offender program and pay monthly fines while on probation. But Bales failed to enroll in the program. And when the judge ordered him to appear at a hearing, Bales skipped that as well. This time, the judge issued a warrant for Bales’s arrest.

The docket sheet summary of the proceedings in the case goes on for eleven pages. Ordered again to first-offender program. Failed to make fine payment. Ordered to come to hearing. Failed to appear at hearing. Arrest warrant issued. Failed to appear at next hearing. Probation extended. Failed to make fine payment. Arrest warrant issued. Bales finally completed the first-offender program and paid the balance of his fine in July 1994. His car troubles continued into his time at Napster: Bales’s California license was suspended in 1999 and remained that way more than two years later.

In 1994, Bales went to work in Massachusetts, taking the job at Individual Inc. After his return in 1996, it took less than a year for him to come to the attention of the police again, when a former girlfriend complained that he was stalking her and tried to break into her apartment.