[nradov]

People get away with lesser versions of this type of scam all the time. Buyers don't want the bad publicity so if the loss isn't material then they just write it off and salvage whatever value they can find. You hear rumors about this kind of stuff that never shows up in the news, and when large companies buy startups it's even kind of expected that the financials are at least a little bit fake. This case was particularly egregious because the loss was material enough that even JPMorgan would have to publicly disclose it rather than sweeping it under the rug.