Also the exchange rates are virtually identical right now between the internal market and Poloniex, with 1 Steem netting about .7 SBD. Claims of moving money off to Polo for better rates seem contrived. Of course at Polo you'll have to move it through BTC first and incur trading fees. Granted there is more liquidity there, but why not just pay people back in Steem and let them convert to SBD? Not a single piece of explanation and logic makes sense, it's just a question of if it's purposeful or just insanely poor management and business plan.
Purposeful. He's trying to get investors to keep their mouths shut, they have a small hope they might get paid back some of what he stole.