In Eric's defense (and I do this grudgingly) I do not believe that he scammed people intentionally. His biggest problem, in my opinion, was letting his ego cloud his judgment. He took on too much, and spent his money too fast, leaving no backup plans. That and when somebody would irritate him, any work we were doing for them was halted, or put "on the back burner." There is no room for ego in business.
Had more prudent, less emotionally based decisions been made, I would be sitting at Kafe Utza right now eating an orange roll, Eric very possibly could have been elected commissioner, and none of these threads would exist.
If anything, Eric is guilty of 2 things:
1) trying to please everybody. Unfortunately, trying to please everybody is the fastest route to failure.
2) Refusing to admit to his mistakes.