He was not a genius. He was well-connected and had built up a reputation that was false.
He is no different than the old snake-oil salesman of years gone by.
Stanford the next financial fraud is the same. Telling people what they want to hear even though there is no way he could deliver what he was selling.
Okay, yes. But how can one create a scheme like this for so much money and for so long. It’ almost impossible to believe.