The CEO has a fair amount of money personally, I wouldn't put it past him to go after me with his personal funds. He's a generally nice guy but a ruthless business person, especially if someone torpedoes his company.
On that note, he has gone without pay much longer than me. It's not like he's been taking paychecks this whole time. But he's also a millionaire and I'm barely getting by after my entire savings went away from all the missing pay checks.