I think it is fair to demand from John K that he pay 1000 dollars equivalant in Bitcoins for each BTC won -- 2 BTC = 1000 USD current price --, because it was trading at that price or higher in early January when he was supposed to release the funds. He should send 1000 dollars eqv in Bitcoins or 1 BTC minimum whichever has a higher market value to all raffle winners. He is responsible for this delay and it should come out of his pocket. It is not enough to pay in Bitcoins alone but whatever it takes to equal 1000 dollars. Why should we pay from our pockets when it is clearly his fault for this delay?
Was that in the escrow contract? Exactly. This wasn't a contract between you (or any of us) and John K. You can't demand shit. The only possible recourse I can see is Scrat asking for his 2 btc back. John K.'s reputation was the collateral. It's destroyed. You better hope he finds more value in paying than running.
In all fairness, form what the recent posts I've read from John K (recent being earlier this year/late last year), it sounds like he has had real life struggles and health problems preventing him from fulfilling his promises. That being said, I hope future users of escrow services take such things into consideration and make sure that whoever they use has multiple operators for their escrow services so that things like this don't happen again.
I looked back on John K's post history and was able to see that he has released much larger amounts of bitcoins (1000 and more). THat being said, I find it unlikely that he would choose to scam this contest as it is a much lower amount than he has handled in the past.
Hopefully he does return soon, as 5 BTC would be incredibly useful to me right now.
