In the Shakespearean drama that is the Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker Media defamation lawsuit, the former professional wrestler, Terry Bollea, and the Silicon Valley billionaire revealed as having bankrolled the suit, Peter Thiel, just got some good news. A U.S. judge has denied Nick Denton, the founder of the embattled media company, from receiving legal protection that would have safeguarded him from personal liability in the case. As a result, Denton may file for personal bankruptcy.

Last month, Gawker filed for bankruptcy protection and announced it was putting up the “for sale” sign in order to protect its assets. With a stalking horse bid on the table for just shy of $100 million from digital-media conglomerate Ziff-Davis, Gawker is set to go up for auction in August, in an attempt to avoid paying Bollea—better known by his stage name, Hulk Hogan—the $140 million he was awarded in a Florida court earlier this year. The latest ruling has prompted Denton to explore a similar option, Recode reports. Before the judge’s decision, Denton’s lawyers argued that the British journalist should be shielded from other lawsuits and protected from liabilities while Gawker is undergoing the bankruptcy process because dealing with his personal bankruptcy would be a distraction, The Guardian reports. In a statement to Recode, Denton wrote, “As I’ve said, Peter Thiel’s vendetta against my company may well require me as well as the company to file for bankruptcy protection until the Florida appeals court can rule on the extraordinary $140 million judgment.”

Denton has two assets that could be at risk if he does not file for bankruptcy: his 30 percent stake in Gawker and equity in his apartment. Denton took out a $200,000 loan from Gawker to pay for two meetings with a personal bankruptcy lawyer, according to the The Guardian, citing court proceedings. At the time of Gawker’s bankruptcy filing last month, the company was using two loans, totaling more than $20 million, to keep the lights on. Gawker still plans to appeal the verdict that put it on the hook for $140 million after publishing a sex tape of Bollea, which Denton still asserts his company will win. “This story will conclude with Gawker Media’s popular brands sheltered under new ownership and the importance of a free and critical press reaffirmed by the courts,” he wrote in the statement to Recode. If Gawker does win the appeal, the money from its sale will be returned to Denton and its shareholders; if it fails on appeal, Bollea will pocket the money.

This latest chapter in the ongoing saga—regardless of whether or not Denton successfully files for personal bankruptcy—is a win for Thiel, who has sunk millions into this lawsuit and is reportedly funding others in an act of vengeance after Gawker published an article in 2007 that outed the PayPal co-founder. Once revealed to be behind the case, which will have a long-lasting impact on media and privacy law whichever way the ruling goes, Thiel called his siege against Gawker, “one of my greater philanthropic things that I have done.”