As somebody that has held six different US immigration statuses during a span of a couple of decades, I can almost assure you there is no malice behind this and just pure bureaucratic incompetence. I once had a paper that was supposed to arrive in three months take three years. What I learned is that going to the USCIS office after something is due and checking the status will make a difference since, for example, you can spot (common) routing errors with applications.
I disagree. The article itself implies possible malice. It mentions "personal vendetta" (with no supporting evidence or even speculation as to why) as a potential cause of the delay. I would consider a personal vendetta to be malicious.
