I don't think you're paying attention to the credentials of the last two batches of testors. This isn't sloppy work. Harold White (NASA) is highly credentialed and esteemed by his peers. The German team in particular is well known for being a bunch of pedantic twits able to rip apart experiments for their faulty methods. They haven't given up on that chore, but their initial conclusions report an inability to find fault in the experiment and are able to comparably reproduce the results.
This device also doesn't have to violate physics, just our current understanding of it. The quantum world for instance while reasonably modeled is largely just that. A collection of models that fit observed behavior. Who says microwaves cannot interact with something from that world? One of the ideas tossed out there (by White IIRC) was that they were pushing against "virtual particles"
Aside from the improbable business side of it, with respect to the technology, both, but particularly Tesla are pioneers in their respective fields. Current day GM vehicles are nothing like a 1905 auto, and in many ways a Tesla is nothing like a current day GM. Your date based argument makes little sense. It is something akin to comparing a stone axe from 1000BC to a modern day chain saw and suggesting that it's nothing new.
He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him. -- Bion