Risking a "reputation" on a pokemon forum for 100$ you didn't have previously is pretty common sense, the opportunity cost really isn't that big tbh, since after all, it's a, ya know, pokemon forum :L That also being said, I can guarantee newrof was not the only person being ghosted, he was just dumb enough to get caught, especially this late in the tournament.
My real question here is why the hell is he still trying to act innocent after being caught and a confession had been made from his ghoster, that's just asking for a bigger punishment on a very lenient one tbh.
Because he wasn't in for the prize money, what he wanted was recognition as a player. If you reach the final of a smogon official tournament, you will be seen as a skilled player, but now that people know he got ghosted, nobody will think he's good anymore, so that's why he's so keen on acting innocent. It's easy to see, for example look at
-Snow 's post, Newrof was constantly messaging him each time he advanced a round to get recognition.
As for ''there's always been ghosting'', it's partly true. However, as someone who has both seen ghosting, and played against ghosted players, I can certainly say that ghosting wasn't nearly as prevalent in the past, just the same way that in the past, pretty much every player on the final rounds (I mean top16-32) of a Smogon Tour/OST built his own teams instead of borrowing/stealing/copying them from others. There were exceptions, sure, and of course people tested with their friends to improve the teams, but there was always a sense of ''identity'' in each player's teambuilding and playstyle. And it was considered ''shameful'' to use other people teams.
Overall, the community's mentality has changed over time. Some time ago, people wanted to do well and win tournaments to show how good they were, but they did it by actually improving their play and teambuilding as best as they could. But around 2012-2013 this started to change, and while people still wanted the same (being seen as good players), the mentality of ''win no matter the cost'' started to get established. Since then, all OST tournaments have been involved in shady shit because the majority of the community doesn't play fair anymore.
As for the people saying ''1 guy getting ghosted and 2 ghosters, that's not the majority of the community!'', I'm sad to say this, but ghosting happens much more than you'd think. I have played OST in 4 editions (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015), and the only time I didn't play against AT LEAST 1 person that was getting ghosted was in 2012, when I lost to wilson46 in Round1. That's aside from the times I have seen people admitting ghosting, getting ghosted, or just seen it myself happening in team tours etc.