The point of the story is not why they were meeting is as a well-connected financier. Its why were they meeting him, when it was easy to find out he was not.

Do you really think billionaires don't know what kind of business people are in, when they start to talk to them? Even if he could fool a few of them, they would quickly figure out he was just show and no business. The fact that some of the most powerful people continued to visit him for so many years, and even after his crimes started to be discussed, is very strange.