Shareholders are not innocent. Look at it this way: At the time these contracts were launched it was common knowledge that mining, even with FPGA, was not going to be profitable for much longer. Note that is, if you mined yourself with a FPGA. So how did you expect to break even after paying someone a management fee?
ASIC upgrade +
possible expansion using money gathered in IPO. Issuer's intention to screw his shareholders was never clear.
That's vague, isn't it? How much expansion? How much money? When? I wouldn't invest on those vague promises.
Investors trusted the operator and that trust was maybe broken. It is a matter of opinion, because the investors choose to liquidate before any ASIC upgrade or "possible expansion". So maybe it is scummy, but there is not enough to call it a scam.