I agree. That seems more likely. I doubt we'll be told, but I'd be interested in the specifics. It seems like it might have ethical implications to take over it

I agree. That seems more likely. I doubt we'll be told, but I'd be interested in the specifics. It seems like it might have ethical implications to take over it without the blessing of the owner(s) of the company. After all, I doubt they will be able to get many more customers now that it's widely known that it was compromised by law enforcement. Arguably law enforcement destroyed this company, which the owners might normally not be happy about. It may be as simple as: the business wasn't making money and the owners wanted out, so law enforcement bought it or paid them off. Then law enforcement isn't really "compromising" the company--they're in control of it (whether the employees know or not). At that point they can have the existing devs modify it however they want, or just hire a few new devs.