These same scams have existed for hundreds/thousands of years. What really happened is baseline greedy-as-hell VCs became desperate and drunk to keep up with inflation (and take advantage of "free" money) when the fed pegged interest rates way down into the (real) far-negatives. It made the story of SBF et al even more likely.

People sought riskier and riskier investments and did less and less vetting. The real estate situation where you had to waive all inspections and put up massive earnest cash up front was just an analogy for what was going on everywhere. Just to keep up with inflation you basically had to put yourself out there and pray, and people who otherwise would end up as little more than punks at Jane Street sniffed the blood in the ocean.

While SBF is the primary culprit here, the fed's short-sighted policies created incalculable damage to our economic landscape and advantages for scammers. I fear we will disproportionately be seeing more unwinding of these kind of schemes.