This reminds me of that Woody Allen movie where they open a cookie shop next to a bank to set up cover while they tried to tunnel into the vault. Meanwhile the cookie shop takes off as a successful business and they are stuck in a quandary as to whether they should rob the bank or not...

I think it's borderline ridiculous to think a scam would first start with the heavy engineering required to develop FPGA's just as a trick to hook us for a larger ASIC run. If you think they started out with the intention to scam, well then I think they've realized they've stumbled onto a "more profitable if legitimate" business. Developing FPGA's is not trivial, nor is the amount of engineering that has gone into BFL's already developed products. Not only that, BFL also has competitors- some of whom also are offering pre-orders for ASIC's by the end of the year. A competitor could have at any point scooped BFL by announcing their ASIC's first or developing them earlier.

Besides, by your logic if we actually run away with the idea that this is a really elaborate con- why wouldn't they just use ASIC's as a setup for a even BIGGER scam, like ASICS v.2, or use ASIC v.2 for the even bigger scam ASIC v.3? Certainly after multiple iterations of putting out confirmed, verified, working, high-quality equipment the amount of trust the community would have in them would be through the roof. Just imaging the pre-order volume for ASIC v.5!

To be honest- at this point BFL is a functioning company with R&D costs like any other. If this new revelation explains anything, I think it more  likely explains why they needed to offer pre-orders: with a history of Mail Fraud it might be impossible for BFL to get outside venture capital, or even borrow money from the bank, thus the community pre-order's bankroll the next iteration of equipment.