The only explanation is we do not have the whole picture.
Financial distinction between 25 or 50 k is minuscule for a company their size. The threat of the event details resurfacing and opening up the unhealed wounds on the front page is real, with enormous consequences.
Yet they chose to risk the latter against accepting the former. A possibility that this was a flop decision by a small, unsupervised group of managers is beyond probable, in my opinion.