For the record, he hasn't been operating for "so long". He has just been slimy, that specific sort of "bro"-ness that has the respective nitwits all enamored. Pirate did the exact same thing. In fact, pretty much all the people that fucked "the community" in the ass with a piece of raw pine did exactly the same thing. Buddy-buddy pays for scammers.
And the people who paid them to do it bear no responsibility whatsoever, right? The people who loaned Patrick money made precisely the same mistake Patrick did. (Assuming Patrick is telling the truth about his default problems, which is plausible but not confirmed.)
No. The people who loaned Patrick money made the mistake of trusting Patrick. And Patrick made the mistake of trusting whoever it was claimed to be a PTT.
The people who loaned Patrick money did NOT have a choice of where it was invested. Because Patrick chose how to invest it, and because he offered a risk-free contract (i.e., a set payback amount and period, not a payback based on whether his investments panned out or not), Patrick is liable to his investors for the FULL amount that he promised he would pay.
Patrick could have said "if the investments I am investing this money in default, then you will not be repaid", but he made no such specification in his contract. All he did was promise a certain payback over a certain period of time. And that's exactly what he should be held liable to.