Ahahahahahaha. Oh man. I think you have some reallll hard lessons in front of you about the nature of industries that have lots and lots of money being thrown at them.
I have been a part of this industry for 10+ years at this point, at companies you have heard of. There is a lot -- I mean a lot -- of people who will do and say anything if they think it'll get them something.
Yes, that includes people who have pedigrees. Yes, that includes people with all the traits you mention. It's the nature of being in an industry where money gets thrown around in buckets.
You don't have to be a cynic about people, you don't have to be paranoid, it doesn't have to poison your outlook on life. I work with lots of smart great folk and I don't walk around eying my coworkers suspiciously. You do need to be street smart.
If the start and end of your critical thinking is "well this person said so"? That's not critical thinking, the polite word for that is starchasing. If you don't or can't develop the technical chops to evaluate claims for yourself, you'll never get out of that trap.
