So... is this guy just a complete sociopath or something? Telling everyone what regulations should be (and buying politicans) to ensure consumer protection while simultaneously sifting away 90% of consumer funds ? How does a person lie that much?
Well it seemed to have worked. The scam kept going until the math stopped working, it wasn't regulators or investigative journalists that brought it down. Advising congress and buying formula 1 ads and sponsoring stadium names gave his scheme a certain unearned legitimacy.
This seems to have been a case of XKCD 978, i.e. lazy journalists. https://xkcd.com/978/