Ah - I think I see the problem.
There are two subtle issues here which appear to be being called the same thing by both sides and thus causing some confusion.
1) I've been scammed - I don't feel this to be the case as I went into this knowing I could lose my investment.
I'm with you on that one.
2) I'm scamming - This would only be true of people who went into this believing they would never lose anything (this can't be true either as they will have gone into it knowing what I knew) and me expecting my returns to come from those that invested after me (which I didn't).
I can't follow this reasoning at all.
Say I promise you a 10% weekly return if you lend me $500. I have no intention of paying you back. I am trying to scam you.
You say, "I won't have $500 until payday. But if you buy me lunch today, I'll lend you the $500."
If I buy you lunch, now my $500 loan scam, that I still fully intend to carry out, isn't a scam because you might not lend me the $500?
No, not every scam is a sure thing. Otherwise, nothing is a scam because someone might steal the money you scammed.
Did anyone invest believing they wouldn't lose anything?
Did anyone invest expecting their payments would come from others who joined later?
Neither of those are true of me but I can't speak for everyone else.
The operative question is this one: Did anyone invest knowing that this scheme was indistinguishable from one in which interest payments to earlier investors come from later investors and no (or insignificant) legitimate investment actually takes place?
And, by the way, several people have admitted that they thought it was a Ponzi but invested anyway. Necessarily, they expected their payments to come from others who joined later.