And so you take your first step down the path.. "I'm not sure" is a lie here.
Are you lying to the team when you say, "we're not sure how this happened" rather than just quoting the git blame?
Well, no. The problem is much more complicated than a buggy commit. It's a wider problem with the system. So you say "we don't know, we have to look more into it" and do a post mortem because that is the honest truth.
The same principle applies here. So-and-so highly respected person committed a real-life communication bug that got merged into this IC's production career. But the problem is much more complicated than that. You don't know what the actual problem is until you address it with the leadership team.
As far as the rewards for poorly-motivated actions, we've always got the long term.
If leadership doesn't fix the problem then just resign in protest.
EDIT: It's now occurring to me that there's probably different schools of thought here. Yes, I've resigned in protest on behalf of my workers before.
If my team is getting fucked, then I've either failed my team, or my purpose is meaningless. Either way, get me out.