They terminate all withdrawals (btc/fiat), so now they can control the crash on their exchange.
As such, they will keep pushing down the price of their GOX btc and buy it up while selling them on other exchanges. They will keep doing it until your btc fund is practically worth nothing and they can happily to allow you to withdraw your coins.
The question is..... are you their pigs getting slaughtered?
Will it matter if nobody ever gets their bitcoins back? What would price mean then?
Exactly.... but they effectively reduce their liability significantly. Pigs will sell their coins (hoping to ride the waves or just panic). Their 40000btc IOU will be worth alot less. They dont want to go to jail after all. A scheme to be legally rich.