"For all of this to be a scam, a ruse, a con-job, a flim-flam,
a charade, a grandiose and whimsical dream or mirage requires such a gigantic LEAP of Logic and Reason"
No, it doesn't. It just requires Alonzo Pierce to be a plausible conman.
As of now, that's by far the most likely explanation of what's going on here.
After all, this is the third time that Alonzo Pierce has been CEO of TEMN/TEXX/Emperial Americas/Top Shelf while there has been MegaDilution, crooked lawyers and various paid pimp campaigns going on in the background.
Occam's Razor suggests strongly that in fact this is indeed a "a scam, a ruse, a con-job, a flim-flam, a charade".