I said back in November that I thought Tom's company would be the first Bitcion hardware manufacture to go bankrupt, and now my words are appearing to be coming true, but not yet. So let us take a closer look and maybe ask a few questions. With Toms' 5 figure monthly salary, rent on office/production space at about $1500 per month, $100k+ development costs, a refund request rate at about 12 to every 1 that is willing to wait it out and a profit margin in the neighborhood of 500% per unit sold, how long before total bankruptcy ensues?
As far as I know Tom never setup an LLC, Inc. or other type of incorporation. This makes Tom personally liable financially and legally for all debts and felonious activities. I advised Tom in November to seek legal counsel. My guess is right about now he wish he had taken my advice. But no, he was too smug and thought I was just trolling him instead of trying to help him.
I made a thread and several posting trying to raise the level of scepticism about Tom and his offering because I saw numerous problems. My approach was to deal with the issues I saw one at a time but the community and moderators attacked me and removed my postings. The moderators were just too chummy with Tom to allow my questioning of Tom to occur. When I challenged Tom he locked his thread within days and ran away. And now when things get tough for him again, he runs away and dumps responsibility on another to pick up the pieces of his failed life endeavours. Just like when I called him out on the FCC issue he said something like, "but the other do it too", bumping responsibility on others. So I decided to just let the community go down with the ship without providing a life preserver. It leads me to wonder how many more enforcement agencies might begin an investigation into Toms' activities.
I can image how stupid Toms' 'shills' are feeling right about now. I know if I were a customer of Toms' I would be demanding a refund as soon as possible. I doubt that all of Toms' customers will be getting their money back. My advice to those that still wish to buy a product from Tom would be get your refund to be safe and secure, and when the mystery new asian company (if this isn't a continuing con) starts producing an ASIC product and proves it as functional and real, then reorder.
I do believe that Tom tried to produce an ASIC product. I also believe that fairly soon he realized he couldn't so be began to con people into thinking that all was okay because it was the only solution he knew. He lied to himself, he lied to the community and most importantly he lied to his customers. And because if this Tom does deserve the SCAMMER tag.
One thought I had but wasn't going to bring up was suicide, but sense Tom did I will. Tom on irc spoke about cutting his wrists open. Is Tom going to be the first person to commit suicide because of Bitcoin? It is a grim thought but one that has to be asked. Those that attempt suicide often speak of it before attempting it. But maybe this is just a ploy to get attention, to get people to feel sorry for the poor bastard, and not to call him a scammer.
Anyone want to place odds on how long it will be before Tom gets sued or possibly jailed?