The CEO was very careful to skirt applicable regulatory laws. He even called his passengers "crew members". In the aviation world, I have some experience harmonizing multiple regulatory authorities. Because of "international waters", there will need to be some agreement and harmonizing of regulations. There's already SOLAS so, I think it can be done.
Technically I believe they were classified as employees that "donated" to the company. Nice workaround Stockton! Let's see how that holds up in court with the obvious gross negligence.