The answer seems to be: almost no money was recovered. Makes me wonder about the origin of "VC" investment, and how it brought Sonny to be in charge of BFL.
He's not in charge of BFL
He's a part-owner. He may not be the only one in charge, but he's definitely one of them.
I'm a part owner of about 500 different companies. I own mutual funds. That doesn't mean I'm in charge or can run off with anyone's money.
Did you read the interview? Again, we just have to take the word of Sonny and the person who did the interview, but for me, anyway, the "standard corporate finance controls are in place" is good enough.
In my personal view it didn't go from "it's a scam" to "it's legit," either.
It didn't start out with "it's a scam," it started out with "BFL is employing someone with a criminal background in an unknown job function," and that is ALL anyone knew about this. Sonny being the CEO, being in charge, violating his parole by accepting funds directly, or having control of the money or company and able to run off with anything, was never anything but speculation.
That "unknown job function" changed to "He's not the CEO, or in control of money, and all funds are protected using standard corporate controls and business banking practices," which, to me, means Sonny's past history, or current involvement, is irrelevant.
However, this only means that I can trust this business as much as I can trust any other online hardware business that has a history of selling products.