Well, common sense has to play a role as well. Is there anyone who thought Patrick Harnett & Pirate were doing honest dealings? I certainly hope not. Pirate came out and said not to trust him several times as well as hinting that he was engaging in illegal activity.
Well, if OG had common sense and didn't trust pirate, why did he encourage people to deposit as much as possible and leave it there for the extra bonus?
https://web.archive.org/web/20140429234623/https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=75843.0 post 16
Six days later he increased the profit for people who left larger deposits there.
When he and pirate agreed to close down and split profits, all OG had to do was pay out a small fund he set up just to scam.
Now the shills he paid are doing their job. :/