Non-snarky response to snarky comment:
There is corruption everywhere, of course. The sort of transaction you talk about is common but also inefficient. Many jurisdiction governments just take direct equity stakes in successful or well positioned "commercial" endeavors, often after they become successful, in addition to collecting supra-level "taxes" of various kinds.
That's not what's happening here, referring to Tish James' work against Tether as NY AG. My personal view, having both engaged with her office asking for help on one project and responding to queries from her office on another (neither related to crypto)- she's probably the best case/ideal state attorney general. Her heart and motivations are in the right place- working for the public interest- she's very politically savvy, and she's a very good chess player.
She has some resources- probably has 1000 lawyers working for her, which in law firm terms would be huge. But these are public servants with public servant salaries and budgets without much room for all of the support team and expertise infrastructure that back law firms themselves. The number of matters they are dealing with is probably in the 5-6 figures- dozens to hundreds per lawyer- and the breadth of expertise required spans the entirely of the legal system. Housing, education, finance, commerce, local to global- you name it.
In every case they have to understand the leverage they have, and use it carefully and deftly. This is what was done with tether. A relatively small settlement, but arrived at relatively quickly- has sent an extremely powerful signal. It is like striking a very precise blow with an extremely sharp axe, carving off a key part of the defensive bark on what was likely a wholly corrupt- but until then impenetrable- tree.
Watch as over time more of the bark falls, more documents leak, more complaints arise.