I tend to believe the latter. He's a billionaire that can afford to finance his broad claims and some of those claims seem to be baseless.
He got to be a Billionaire by finding investors. never invest all of your own money.
Scam artist? He’s built a product thats used by millions (Pay Pal). He’s put rockets into space (Space X). He’s built an automobile that thousands are driving (Tesla). Real products. How does this constitute a “scam artist”?