So I've noticed something about the flow of the BTC refunds that did show up, which makes me think that the funds were never in fact converted to USD.
This is irrelevant. The price of the product (to buyers, and on the material end) is USD. If Tom or BTCFPGA decided to take the risk of keeping the income in Bitcoin, that risk - and any potential gains/losses - is his.
Except it's not really 50/50 as I've said before; we all expect bitcoin will more likely go up, than down don't we? So it's not quite like you say. In his last email to me, Dave apologized that I lost BTC through that exchange, AND promised that he's working to get everyone back their money, AND if the project still produces, he's pledged to give returning customers a chance to recoup the loss.
Like I said, I count myself extremely lucky that I got the BTC back at all. The arguments about pricing in USD, risk either way BLAH BLAH don't hold any water if we were mis-informed and if no product was actually produced and our money was squandered on beer and gambling for example... (or to pay for plane tickets and a hideout somewhere perhaps)