The participants were paid as far as I know. They said the got their bounties but the problem with this token is that its not listed on any exchange and no team member has ever been here talkjng to the investors which is why there is no market to it. If they distributed the bounties, maybe the do have plans somehow.
I believe it is still a problem if the complaint cant still be heard. It is now a common thing among the projects to leave the thread either the announcement or the bounty to the managers. A manager who manages more than 5 projects and know barely nothing about the projects but also looking for money. It shouldnt continue like this and this is because of the ubiquitous crowdfund idea that I know regulation should be forced soon on it