Even traditional ponzi schemes:
> He set up a network of interlinked companies, including Trendax which was claimed to be an artificial intelligence-driven hedge fund delivering an annual return of at least 25%
The image of a heroic hacker standing up to defend The Cyberspace from The Man always was marketing. That's actually the only thing he's good at- marketing himself. The gov shutting down megaupload was actually the best thing that could've happened to him, it made him authentic and people who don't know better usually believe his crap based on the news coverage.
For anyone interested in this matter (or just wants a good laugh) I recommend finding kimble.txt. It's in german though.