I hate it when people lie about the time it took to accomplish something just to look smart.

I don't think he lies, have a look at his CV (pdf):

http://ap.resume.s3.amazonaws.com/alexeyp-resume.pdf

Human brain capabilities differ, just like computer processors. Failing to realize that is stupid.

Right, but brain capability is not a one dimensional quantity, and measurements of it are time-varying and noisy. This suggests that one shouldn't jump to conclusions before careful measurement, and that it is not trivial to compare measurements from different people along just one axis.

That's some pretty Python code...

What they did to you is the right thing. I can't imagine rewarding a stupid employee who wiped my data and left my company.

If your company is too stupid to have backups in place that's your own damn fault. The fact that he blew the data away is irrelevant. It can happen to anyone.

And you think screwing someone out of money they're contractually owed is ok? I'm sure you'll do well..