They seem to share the orderbook with btc-e, and a 'partner' status according to official twitter acc. However, most deposits/withdrawal are set to manual approval - hence the delays. Plus they restrict the order size to 'lots'.
This is correct. I have also seen btc-e publish some news about their new partner site.(Back in June 2016)
https://btc-e.com/news/229
I'm still not entirely certain about said partnership, despite the 'official" news, so I suggest directly asking their support about it if you're so concerned.
I am not sure, but it looks like they are not affiliated. What made you think they are the same company? btc-e is already a trading platform why would they make another trading platform with an ugly interface? Looking and comparing both sites, they are not the same company. I guess, I hope not, you might have been scammed. Maybe open a scam accusation here. Maybe someone could help you out.
