It's a total coinspiracy like most trades on exchanges are.
I have no doubt that it's somewhere between the two. But won't this discussion be low on facts and high on speculation? Licks of a tootsie roll pop.
...reality inbetween and they are by far worse, than I even thought off.
However - I managed to get my little money out of gox, before it imploded - just because I took my uncomfortable feeling seriously.
Beyond that - the gox-experience emphasizes, how vitally cryptocoins depend on secure exchange mechanisms. I think it should be one major goal for future development / design of coins to introduce some integral exchange-functionality.
As the 1st Generation of cryptocoins took over functionalities formely performed by bank institutions, now a 2nd Generation might be needed, which at least provide some safeguard for thier vital exchange functionalities.