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Warren Buffett "lost" around $200 billion of his investors money during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Obviously no investor lost a dime unless they sold at the bottom, and any that held are well ahead.

This was to establish that the mere act of losing investor's money isn't fraud. And it's not a question of "intrinsic motivation", it's solely aa question of what they actually did.

Warren Buffett doesn't commit fraud because he tells his investors he's going to invest their money in equities, which has risk. If Berkshire Hathaway goes to zero because he made poor decisions, that's not fraud.

The ponzi scheme was fraud because he was paid to invest the money, but did not do that, instead he spent the money on himself and hid a bunch with his family. How hard is it to understand the difference between doing what you agree to do with someones money and stealing it?