“It was a terrible company people kept sending large amounts of money to, stupidly, really.”
It is amazing to me how people who get conned, often continue to funnel money into the Ponzi games until they go broke and close their doors.
It isn't surprising to me at all. A real Ponzi games (this I don't think was one) continues by fulfilling some of the orders, particularly conspicuous ones: "I had no problem -- wired them $125,000 and received my order within 48 hours and by armored truck".
I have seen hundreds of postings about Tulving over the years. Like I say, I don't really think it was intended to be a Ponzi a la Bernie Madoff but certain aspects of the operation could have evolved in that direction, partly because of actual product shortages in the industry.