Ok, some of this stuff is horrifying. I take back my claim that nobody is paying bribes; this review fee business (about which there are other articles as well[1]) is just blatant bribery. I don't teach classes anywhere near large enough for this sort of scummy behavior to be profitable for publishers (plus I suspect they wouldn't dare try it in law schools), so I've never seen it, but I guess it does happen.
And, frankly, all involved should be prosecuted, at least if they work for the state.
[1] e.g. (paywalled) https://www.chronicle.com/article/Selling-Out-a-Textbook/254...
And apparently "inducements" such as free textbooks or meals occur fairly often: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13687/do-textbo...