This smells like the dictator phenomenon where the dictator is surrounded by yes-men because everyone fears retaliation.
Somebody had to have known but was too afraid for their job to speak up. I've been in this situation where it's better to just pretend you don't know about the problem than to raise the flag even if it's better for the overall organizations.
I remember being on a big call. The VP of manufacturing asked if anyone thought there were any issues or obstacles with the plan going forward. I had major reservations but kept silent because fuck all that noise. I'm not gonna be the one to speak up on a call like that. Amazingly, a breath of fresh air spoke up and said as much. That no one would speak up in a meeting like that with all those people on the line. So the VP revised his open question and said if we wanted to email him our concerns we could do that. I did just that. Still not a damn thing happened and they still went forward with their shitty decisions and I left not too long after. But for a brief shining moment, I spoke up. I was ignored. But I spoke up.
As a worker bee I’ve never really benefited from speaking up. At best, nothing happens. It feels like there’s only the potential for retaliation or blowback. Why risk it? Not my pig, not my farm. It’s not like I’m gonna get promoted. I’ll do what I’m paid to do but generally I keep my opinions to myself.
Being the squeaky wheel never works out well. You'll almost always face retaliation of some kind. I've always just quietly interviewed elsewhere and moved on down the road to a better position.
I'm very secure in my current job and paid fairly well. So I do not mind speaking up, even in front of a bunch of execs. But I'm also not management, so it's not my job to follow through on the fixes I've proposed. It's a liberating situation.