Blackmail & Extortion: Are These Just Growing Pains?

Live and Learn! This is the mantra that has helped me get through this particularly difficult week, and I'm hoping you'd offer your perspective on this.

The past year has been insane for us. Between forming Cloudhead Art Foundation, buying the arthouse here in Salta, filming for House Hunters International, setting up the art residency and, well, just living life, it's been difficult finding time to breathe.

Just recently, we were blackmailed by an artist we've been working with. She tried to extort money from us. . She threatened to go to immigration and tell them we are working illegally in Argentina We're not, but telling them so might lead to an investigation and cause problems for our residency status. She warned if we didn't pay, she'd go to the press and say bad things about our organization and then report us to the police for stealing her art.

The reality is we've done nothing illegal, so her blackmail didn't hold much bite, but it did make for a rather stressful week. 

I think it's over now. The worst has passed. While we lost out on time and money spent working with her, we did gain some valuable experience and have a much clearer idea of how to work with artists in the future. We will also employ a much more rigorous vetting system before allowing anyone into our lives and organization.

All that said... is this just a sign of putting yourself out there? Is this just the sort of thing that happens when you take risks and chances? That inevitably, we will make some mistakes, that we will encounter challenges and pitfalls?

Or are we doing something wrong?