Ive mentioned it on here before, I spent 10 or so years at the mirror and have a bit of an idea how these places operate and theres no way these people could have done what they did without those at the top knowing.
Those at the top got to the top by doing exactly what their underlings are being done for ! so they knew one way or another how loads of these stories/exclusives etc were obtained.....its inconcievable and preposterous for them to try and claim total ignorance.
they didnt have to ask "did you get this legally " etc, they would have known the various methods used to obtain them and they would have seen the "paperwork" for the backdoor payments and know to a high degree.
Freelancing is one of the oldest tricks in the book for "dodgy " payments, i need a cheque for £x to Jo Schmo...hes a freelancer, nobody questions if he even exists let alone what story it was for.
That ruse is also used to line their own pockets, probably harder now to open the fake accounts to pay the money into though.
These people know all the tricks going so the payments for illegally gained info from old bill etc wouldnt have even been questioned, just nods and winks