Didn't he have a livestream in the 2018 bear market literally crying because he thought he had been such a good bitcoin promoter, but the price just kept dropping, and it wasn't unfair that scammers would just make a shitcoin and be millionaires overnight ?

I don't think he had this planed out from the start, I just thing he's greedy and realized scamming people through shitcoining would be far easier and more profitable than stacking sats and staying humble.