After following this all closely I now don't see how anyone could consider this bet won at all. (Earlier I said perhaps).
Two basic things:
1) They did not ship.
Shipping means = stuff was transported in the mail. this did not happen.
2) Luke's unit is a prototype. It is not the final product.They are '2 weeks' away from a final product
The bet referred to final products shipping. Not prototype/dev boards shipping. Ok strike'd out point 2, as I didn't realize the bet just referred to a 'ASIC unit' not the final product.
But you could easily argue Luke could be considered an employee, because he is getting early access to hardware in exchange for assistance.
...just the fact alone that BFL would go to that much trouble to fake fulfilling the bet is also a huge red flag for the company. Would it not be much more lucrative to work on getting the units going? Oh ya. I guess not. Because they already have tons of money.
Really, honestly I feel for all BFL pre-orders makers. They have every right to be totally livid right now.