I wonder if bad publicity is still publicity here. The hardest step here is to make people know about the "club". Then a charismatic salesman can persuade whatever. I've seen people being persuaded milk is black, bombs are food etc.
The article that Snowden cited:<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/sunil-tulsiani-speaking-event-1.3940271" rel="nofollow">https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/sunil-tulsiani-speak...</a><p>is freely available. Tulsiani's reputation must be known to everyone involved in this organization, which certainly smells like a scam. What did Snowden hope to accomplish by first playing along, and then bringing this old case up again?