Perhaps connected family pulling a lot of strings and asking for one-time favors in a coordinated fashion. It almost reminds me of how mr Weinstein was able to deflect from his sexual crimes through connections to power and his own intimidation. He was able to stave of investigation into his crimes for decades. Regular Joes would have had no such perverted ability.

If the perp had been a persona non-grata, you'd bet this would have been all over the place --pitchforks and torches in-hand.