@chbartist A bit of wisdom to share with you here from South Africa. The first is a saying here; "If you want to lose a friend, lend him/her some money" and the second one is that I feel sorry for your scamming friend. The poor guy does not know what he has done to himself. For the wheel turns and he will have no hiding place when his turn comes. No amount of money in the world will be able to help him.
As a charity we are regularly scammed, but we have lasted now since 2002 and we simply continue on our road to help the poor. Sorry about your loss and I can imagine how you feel about your close friends losses, but life goes on and you show here that you have a strong heart! Blessings!