Regarding illegality, I don't think any of us have much right to complain. Do Canadian businesses move to Panama for increased governance and regulatory control?  I figured some shady shit was happening and when they continued normal operations I figured they'd done alright.

It is honestly embarrassing to admit that I was the mark, but I'm happy to say I figured it out before too long and saved most of my money. Have since realized that any investment where "investors" are literally begging for updates is not an investment at all. I've bailed almost 99% on NEO, CBTC, CFIG, HIF, AM and later invested that in drk/xc/etc (not trying to start a holywar) and been very happily rewarded. Developers with real products, it turns out, often provide updates, because they are actually DOING SOMETHING that they can and want to tell other about.