updated OP to add Josh Zerlan's DirecTV hacking past:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCOURTS-ksd-2_03-cv-02287Also to add a working theory:
Josh Zerlan seems to know almost nothing about ASIC manufacturing, so how did he get that job? What about this recent post about how Josh appears to be a customer of BFL as well? https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=157329.0
just spitballin' here, but what if josh bought a few minirigs? he runs Eclipse mining pool, and seems to have set up his own mining rigs. Of course he would be a natural BFL customer... so he has some pre-orders, then maybe they talk him into working for hardware or something. I wonder if JZ is even getting paid...
I don't know who the puppetmaster is, but Sonny or that Nassir guy seem top of the list.
my 2x satoshi's
Josh and GigaVPS clearly had advance notice of the plan to announce an ASIC product.
Both of them dumped mining bonds onto GBSLE days in advance of the pre-announce announcement. This gave them both buckets of BTC to buy gear with, and allowed them to sell "stocks" that were hammered down by the news of impending ASIC shipments.
Given the attack dog response from Josh when I pointed out taking credit card payments for products you aren't shipping is against credit card processing rules, I think he was employed by BFL, or invested in BFL, long before he came out of the closet.