As for Zhou's "plan" that is precisely what he said he intended to do, a strategy I find to be immensely immoral.
From the sounds of it Zhou was the only one that had any actual day to day ops knowledge of the system. This was probably the best plan given that right now you are basically trying to put together a puzzle with a million pieces and you don't even have the box to refer too for what the fucking thing is supposed to look like.
17 year old asian kids remember everything.
His plan was to pay the most vocal people 100% of their claimed amount.
Those funds would come directly out of other users pockets.
There are x assets and y liabilities.
x < y
If people are paid 100% of their claims, necessarily those funds are coming out of other users pockets.
Not only is this strategy immoral, but it is arguably illegal.
Of course the intention there is to save face and to give back funds to people most likely to litigate.
I will have no part in anything I believe to be immoral.