About the question who knew what: I have deleted the email dump, but while I was skimming it, I did see an email in -- August? if not August, then late July or early Sept. -- from Josh Garza to Joe Mordica, with the subject line 'Dan Pease'. In it, Garza basically says: whoa, did you actually tell Dan Pease how our "mining" works? [Scare quotes mine, of course.] Mordica says: yes, he said you wanted me to. Garza says: well, yes, I wanted you to fill him in a bit, but not *that* much. Do NOT do that again!

Since Dan Pease was pretty heavily involved, the idea that he didn't know that the mining was virtual, and that Garza was horrified to learn that he'd been told, says a lot. On the other hand, what it does not say is that Joe Mordica didn't know.