I never heard someone from team ion promising profitability, especially not in short term. Ofcourse everybody wishes so. Thing I did hear directly is that they want to be longterm (vs rushing, hyping and pumping).
I would say that complying with the rules would be preferrable. I know the team is keen on rules at least in the area where the company is based. I know too little to discuss on it. Hopefully others can as it is a very relevant subject to the project indeed, and to all crypto. I think you should take into account how other succesfull projects handled this
I was referring to WildShark, who is obviously a clown but sadly at the same time the most vocal ionomy representative here and is pumping like there is no tomorrow.
I don't think being registered offshore is a legitimate way to bypass AML or securities laws. Long story short, in the US you can offer securities only to "accredited investors" (if you remember Garza's e-mails he was desperately trying to become one but didn't meet the assets/income requirements) or you have to go through a shitload of disclosures if you want to offer it to the general public. And AML requirements are a whole new can of worms.
As for other projects, I would guess that they fall into three major categories - carefully avoid any contact with fiat and don't mention "investment" anywhere; naively try to comply with all rules and get buried in paperwork; or just wing it and hope for the best. We all know how that last one works out :-)
I think I need to mention that I'm not a lawyer even if I may seem to be playing one on the intertubes.