The further back in history we go, the murkier and darker it gets hehe. I tried to do my own research into what exactly was "promised" and how official it was, and I wasn't really able to turn up much beyond vague statements that were made in places that nobody could actually verify. I have little doubt that some shady stuff happened back then, as well probably when the sale took place. As you said - if Ned didn't mention any of this to the buyer then that by itself is pretty shady, and if he did - well then the fact they knew and didn't honor it is shady too - lol.
All is well that ends well though, and like I said before - I'm pretty happy how everything turned out. I'm still on good terms with everyone that is important to me, even if we don't talk as often as we used to. Even the stakeholders who stopped voting for me I have no hard feelings about. We all made our own decisions at the time for what we thought was best for the chain + community.