This wipe server reached 500-600 online with dualbox restriction first month, previous Gang reached 1000 during siege/epics.
About how it was back in the 2009, Lineage2 as game lost many players in the last 4 years, probably most of the members with who you played back in Epilogue days now stopped playing or joined other MMO/MOBA so you can't blame Gang for that.
About corruption there aren't proofs to confirm what they say, simply because it never happened actually. I can just say that there will always be somebody who will trashtalk without anything in their hands, and this forum is a clear example of that.