The serious question, "why did it trade at 36c back then if it...

The serious question, "why did it trade at 36c back then if it was a scam" is that at that point in time, 99% of us didn't know it was a scam. We believed ASX announcements were supposed to be accepted as the truth.
(As of course they should be - though on dissection, the wording was always hedged with ifs, buts and maybes)

It wasn't until after that when we learned that Mark Smyth is "apparently / allegedly/ reputed to be"/ run by Malcolm Keith "The Jockey" Johnson, master puppeteer extraordinaire, and his sidekick Anton "The Count" Tarkanyi, with their old run about buddy Christopher Page and others.

Their historical scams are well documented........
They have joint and independent ones - and Smyth was also associated with the Claremont / Meridien Oil scam.

If you want your long term money in a scam / sham / Company being investigated by ASIC, then go for it........but don't keep ramping it to drag in other poor bastards that could unwittingly lose their money too.