Your clarification and points are solid but the flow of events does seem to point the vindication towards the author. Given the many stories in this thread and elsewhere claiming similar cases, it would be reasonable to assume that her claims were justified.

If it weren't the case, Amazon should stand front and center to disarm it. I'm rather surprised that a company that has treated me exceptionally as a customer is not as concerned with repairing its rep as an employer as it seems to be.