People seem to consistently forget that in order to pull off a scam of this magnitude, they'd need to support of all participating members...managers, execs, designers, engineers, etc.
This.
If the engineers
aren't in on it, then they would have done everything they can to produce working ASICs. If they can produce working ASICs, why would they (BFL higher ups) bother with a scam?
If the engineers
are in on it, their professional career is dead, so the scam would need to support them for the rest of their life. I somehow don't think they have enough in pre orders for that.