If he's rolled for very very tough $500 MTTs then he doesn't need to crowdfund a couple of grand for "legal funds".
This is a very silly assertion. If he bleeds off his bankroll, how does he make money in the future?
I mean, I'm skeptical of the donation thing. Don't get me wrong. But I'm not more skeptical because he played a poker tournament at the same risk level he's been playing all along. (Less risk than playing 10 mBTC pineapple with me, probably.)
Not at all. To be properly rolled for this MTT, one would need at LEAST a 50k poker BR. If you have a 50k poker BR it's very very very logical that you have plenty in savings for a liferoll (you aren't playing on a 50k poker BR with a 1k life BR right). Thus then, if he is properly rolled for this MTT (which he's played every week for the last three weeks), it's very logical to think that his liferoll is big enough that crowdfunding a couple of grand isn't a factor.
For the record, I do agree with you about the playing-on-his-own-site thing. That is very shady behavior and is a big reason why I stayed out of the bigger MTTs on the site.