Unless I missed somewhere in the article, it is possible that it wasn't a scam and he probably just leveraged his initial stake. When it fell below the margin, he needed the money to avoid the loss.

The article talks about him being persuaded by persons "met on the internet" to "invest" in "crypto". There is absolutely no scenario in which an attractive woman sends you a LinkedIn message with the intent of getting you to make legitimate - albeit leveraged - crypto investments.