The notion that someone that made it through MIT physics, worked for several years at Jane Street, and actively cultivated the persona of a genius can't understand that making a million tokens, selling one of them to yourself for a dollar, and then calling yourself a millionaire is nonsense, is frankly preposterous.
And then there's also the question of actual deposits, which would still have to be sent to somewhere - intentionally - and given as those were represented, afaik, as deposits and not buying shares in a high-risk hedge fund, that alone constitutes separate fraud, regardless of how he tried to cover it up afterwards.
If I tell you "if you give me $1000 I'll keep them safe and return them to you anytime you want" and then I take these money and go gambling to Vegas, I can't say "I was just not paying attention, sorry". I knew I promised to keep them for you and gambled with them instead.
You’re right, it is preposterous, which is why this is narcissism and not stupidity. The first rule of any fraudster is to never admit the fraud, no matter how obvious. Never apologize for anything, never admit wrongdoing of any kind, and try to deflect and diffuse blame diffuse blame to as many people as possible.
There's a segment of smart people who go through a lot of hoops to make themselves look stupid. Because for one reason or another being stupid is advantageous. Here, apparently, it's a defense against fraud.
