Thanks for posting this @ura-soul.

There are a lot of lines to read between, here...

Seems increasingly obvious that Ned probably disclosed as little as possible about Steemit, Inc. and its promises and obligations in hopes of securing the most lucrative exit he possibly could. How close he has gotten to fraud we may never know... but if you sell a "beautiful house" and don't disclose the massive crack in the foundation, you may end up with your ass in a sling. Unless, of course, you managed to secure an "as is" deal with no reclamation rights...

Justin sounds like someone who's akin to a "house flipper" who's so used to doing his "usual thing" that he got careless about reading the fine print and interpreting it properly. If you've flipped 50 modern tract houses for a profit... and just assume you can do the same with a historical building, YOU (the house flipper) are kind of an idiot. I think Justin had pretty much ZERO clue as to what a blockchain with consensus witnesses and an active community is. But then... Steem is a pretty unique beast in the blockchain space.

I do believe he's completely sincere in the statement "I just wanna make money!" His intentions may have been as simple as "buy Steemit, throw a few $ million at developing features and social marketing, make it all a big deal, watch Steem rise from 15 cents to $5.00, sell out and pocket a couple of hundred million dollars.

"Money people" tend to think like that, and have very little time for the "complications" of dealing with the human factor, except in terms of how it helps them make money.

At the moment he just seems to be backpedaling a lot, and stalling for time... no doubt pondering whether or how he can come up with enough Steem to displace the 7 consensus witnesses that have made their way to the top.

On the UPSIDE of all this mess, the community at large has learned about the importance of voting for witnesses...