I have been looking through a lot of old threads, being newish myself here. I had read the forums a bit while I read the technicals about Bitcoin before actually signing up though.

Seems like PatrickHarnett gets some special consideration among all those called into question, a few others have too. Seems like there is some sort of inner circle action going on here...

Is it because he has been around and operating for so long? It seems like there is a long history with this community continuing to trust someone even as others cast founded suspicions and doubts upon them and their actions. As the many suspicious things pile up until they ultimately disappear from the community with a large wallet of Bitcoins and then all the people who had defended them before lament that they never saw it coming and how surprising it was.

This appears to be fairly self destructive. Or at least, a self-perpetuating atmosphere of scamming even if those in question did not set out to scam anyone in the first place since as the issues pile up it becomes better to just grab everything and run as there is never any penalty for it other than a very late "scammer tag" on this forum. They probably just come back under a new name to start a new business too because why not? No one ever finds out they are a dangerous business partner until it's too late.