I always marvel at this. These con men ( screw the pronoun he she it stuff) are smart but miss the exit ladder. I remember hearing about a guy named Stanford. Conned a small Caribbean country and thousands of Americans. He had fancy offices around the country, flew around in private jets and made this little Caribbean nation a world cricket center.. When the whole thing unraveled he was found hiding in a girl friend’s apartment. It was pretty clear Elizabeth Holmes technology wasn’t viable, but she strutted around like the reincarnation of Pasteur.
Bernie Madoff also comes to mind. All Ponzi schemes are destined to fail as his was. There should be a point in which the fraudster can tell the jig is up and he activates a pre-planned escape plan. Do they believe their own hoaxes?