Everybody just assumes that somebody else has done the due diligence. Why else would the company be valued so much? They think. The more the value, the more people jump in assuming others have done the due diligence. So all it takes is a few people with enough money or influence jumping in at the beginning.

This exactly; when your banking or investment app shows the stock, you assume already that it has been vetted by people who know so much more about all this than you.

Managers at GM who signed off on the Nikola stake then had an overwhelming career incentive to hide any bad news, however criminal.

Because it is a gold rush.

There’s a difference between a gold rush and a mad scramble to steal everything possible before the ship sinks.