I did something like this, but I started properly mining with a single 6950 towards the end of May last year.
Actually spent the majority of my BTC on other things, but I've still got ~2.2Ghash/s worth of equipment mining (3 7970s in my main PC and a 5830 in the media centre PC under my TV  ) through a hopping proxy, which still gives me a not insubstantial BTC income. I'd have picked up some more hardware with what I've mined over the past few months but with the uncertainty surrounding ASIC introduction I've stayed away from that.

...That's an interesting opinion...

There's apparently been one payout of ~100BTC, so we're almost 0.02% of the way there!...apparently.

A thousand times this.

Ouch.
I still don't think the intersango boys understand how many lives they affected with this whole thing.
Out of curiosity, do you plan to sue? Do you plan to turn up to the London conference? 

Hours? Try days (well, near enough...) 
However, GPUMax could never have mined enough to fill that address with "clean" coins. Even at several hundred gigahash you're talking a <500BTC/day

So the question remains - why is pirate paying over the odds for hashing power for his private pool, and where are the coins coming from to pay GPUMAX?

What does the f stand for? 
Just got paid for the 16th, still waiting for 17th,18th,19th,20th and 21st 

It's GPUMAX.
There was a thread about this some time ago, when GPUMAX hashing power was being directed to a private pool, with 47.5BTC going to some other address for every block.
At the time, Pirate said that this private pool would be "part of the business model" of GPUMAX.

Asides from GPUMAX being a coin laundry I don't really see what use it'd be when mining to a pool under your control...

Indeed.
Back in the first week of august (two lots of 7% interest ago) I calculated that the bare minimum for exposure for just the GLBSE instruments and the PPTs on the forum was 260,000BTC - so that was ignoring all private BS&T accounts and taking low end estimates for a few others.

Also, let me draw your attention to this thread:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=94675.0
Is it possible that pirate could have that many coins? If those are BS&T coins it'd also prove that no investment was taking place, as suspected.

That's a good call.
But, "Trendon Shavers" seems a likely figure to be pirate, and the photos we have of him (via facebook) match the one from vegas.

Could very well be fake but usually when I come up with a fake ID I don't give it a criminal record for check fraud.

Suggesting this is very much unsustainable, which is a pity 
This pool has become the standard backup pool for my hoppers 

Y'know, if giving someone $25k of your money and then ordering them fast food is your idea of payback, I'd quite happily be your enemy 

It's been discussed.
$6000 a day wouldn't have been enought to keep BS&T going.

I'm sitting in #BTCST for the lulz:

"[22:44] <@pirateat40> Wouldn't it be fun to run with the coins though?  I could make history....  If i pay back, I just get forgotten. "

[22:55] <hashking> Pirate, what are you plans for your friend BITLANE
[22:55] <BTCKing> arrr
[22:55] <hashking> *your
[22:55] <BTCKing> lol... bitlane
[22:55] <@pirateat40> Trendon Shavers is a DBA, just to be fair.
[22:55] <ssst> bitlame
[22:55] == simonk83 [~CARLY@unaffiliated/simonk83] has joined #btcst
[22:55] <ssst> bitblame
[22:55] <vite> hashking: love your service, shame pirate is making it a pain for you to pay me the pirate deposit
[22:55] <ssst> bitshame
[22:55] <ssst> bitgame
[22:56] <michaelmclees> pirate, are you admitting you're connected to trendon shavers?
[22:56] <hashking> Thanks.  Pirate will payout.  Don't worry.
[22:56] <_sharpfocus> bitflame?
[22:56] <@pirateat40> hashking, i'm going to roast him a bit more well done than Vandroiy.
[22:56] <hashking> Nice.

[22:58] <ssst> pirateat40, i know your plan
[22:58] <ssst> devalue debt
[22:58] <ssst> buy debt for penny on the dollar
[22:58] <ssst> no debt
[22:58] <+jcpham> I use my nanny for all sorts of things also
[22:58] <dissipate> copumpkin, the 'contract' was he was going to be paid off on Monday with interest.
[22:58] <+jcpham> master manipulators
[22:58] <Joric> price is rising as we talk, we need more FUD
[22:58] <copumpkin> dissipate: not really
[22:58] <BTCKing> pirateat40 what are you going to do with your loot to celebrate
[22:58] == defactomacro [47a54a02@gateway/web/freenode/ip.71.165.74.2] has quit [Ping timeout: 245 seconds]
[22:58] <@pirateat40> ssst, you shall see soon enough.

[22:58] <+_matthew_> lol@theymos uppped his bet
[22:58] <+_matthew_> [ANN] A new bet placed! There are currently 1929.3 BTC in bets against pirate. Only 8070.7 BTC spots remaining! If you think Pirate is a ponzi, a scammer, or for any reason not going to pay within 3 weeks from today, bet (or hedge against) in this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=101751

[23:00] <+jcpham> you could pay bitlane 1 btc per minute
[23:00] <dub> so that it takes months
[23:00] <+jcpham> as the price plummets
[23:00] <+reeses> I should offer bitlane 50%
[23:00] <+jcpham> that's be funny

[23:00] <zveda> hey pirateat40 can I have some money too ?
[23:00] <copumpkin> dissipate: there are varying degrees of burden, and a PM saying "yo stfu I'll do you by monday" is pretty low on the bindingness spectrum in my book
[23:00] <zveda> if u have some left over
[23:00] <dub> then _matthew_ should be beaten to death with whats left of bitlane
[23:00] <dissipate> copumpkin, in fact, BTCST was probably illegal from the beginning. not that i care, but thems the facts.
[23:01] <@pirateat40> zveda, I don't have enough to go around.

I'm actually more surprised that people are still buying BS&T accounts at all...

It's basically impossible to change the hashing algorithm once ASICs arrive, even if it's necessary... How on earth are you going to get half the network to switch if the vast majority of the hashing power can't?

Lets say you end up exposed to the tune of 10000BTC and you lose.
Doesn't it seem a bit crazy to have a bet of over a hundred grand with no method of collection asides a scammer tag?

I'm totally having one of these when they're out  using mining revenue to pay for my spending directly? Yes please 

Apparently so. Trendon's listed as a director, along with those other two...

The other directors also run this company:
http://jqgreetings.com/

For $25000 I'd be pretty pissed too