If btc-e were part of a well-regulated financial system, they would have gone through a liquidation process and creditors would have been paid some % on the $ what they were owed.
This is what happened with BCCI when it was raided and shutdown for massive money laundering.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_Credit_and_Commerce_In...
>Just a month later, BCCI's liquidators (Deloitte, PWC) pleaded guilty to all criminal charges pending against the bank in the United States (both those lodged by the federal government and by Morgenthau), clearing the way for BCCI's formal liquidation that fall. BCCI paid $10 million in fines and forfeited all $550 million of its American assets – at the time, the largest single criminal forfeiture ever obtained by federal prosecutors. The money was used to repay losses to First American and Independence and to make restitution to BCCI's depositors.
Some quote about bitcoin enthusiasts rediscovering the reason for regulations in the financial markets one loss at a time.