Ok, let's turn the situation around then. Let's assume you are right, and EVERYONE knew this was 100% a scam and a ponzi.
Then why do the pass through operators get their reputation dinged again?
For the same reason Pirate does.
For servicing the people who wanted to gamble their money on the scam? Uhh, not in my book! They held up their end of the bargain, which was to pay out as long as pirate was paying out.
There is no such thing as "gambling" on a "scam". Gambling and scamming are mutually exclusive.
And I don't see how "knowingly participating in a Ponzi scheme" makes someone a scammer. There are plenty of openly-ponzi "investments" or "services" or whatever you want to call them on this forum. Are you saying that every one of those operators should also receive a scammer tag?
Knowingly participating in a Ponzi makes you a scammer because you are paying the Ponzi operator make you the recipient of fraudulent transfers.
To me, the scammer tag is a result of someone not holding up to their word or contract. Pirate should receive it, since he promised to pay out, and did not. The insured PPT's that didn't pay out should receive it, since they promised to insure their deposits, and haven't paid them out. The uninsured PPT's should not receive it, because they did what they said they would do. They didn't scam anyone.
They did precisely the same thing Pirate did. In fact, they paid Pirate to do what he did!
Now, certainly, I'm not saying that participation in a Ponzi scheme is legal, or morally "good", but I fail to see the connection between that and the scammer tag. As long as the PPT's were up front about what they were investing in and upheld the terms of the agreement they stated, they did not scam anyone.
They scammed everyone else who paid into the Ponzi scheme, just like Pirate did.