@warzan – I love you guys, but you got the DUST coverage wrong IMHO by taking sides. As a backer who has no prior experience with either company, but who has kept up with everything posted by both sides, it was clear that most/all of your information came from the recent BF email and you further increased your bias by saying you had no reason not to believe them. That is unfortunate.
I’ll try to highlight the main points to give a more balanced view of the situation.

The Background:
1.BF are the suited, booted, natively English speaking, businessmen. They write slick emails that always sound reasonable.
2.Paolo is the Bohemian artist whose Facebook posts/emails are always passionate, but often less coherent.
3.There are many Paolo fanboys and many fewer BF ones.
4.None of the above prove innocence, guilt, truth or lies on either side.
5.The KS freebies have become the main issue, but could equally be a smokescreen by the guilty party (if there even is one).
6.The freebies are the entirety of the KS discount offered to backers. The campaign was otherwise full retail pricing with high shipping costs, paid in advance, but with KS risk. The campaign would never have raised anywhere near the funds it did without them.
7.The KS was run by BF posing as DS (against KS rules) with the full backing of DS.
8.The KS had a hidden agenda to pay off an existing debt which DS and BF were fully aware of and the backers were not.
9.The written contract between BF and DS was poorly written (by BF), did not cover the handling of free items, had some bizarre exit clauses in it which sounded like the business relationship was already shaky (Speculation) and was signed by both sides.
10.It indicated that funds would be used in the following order: a) Immediate payment to DS at the agreed prices for manufacturing the goods b) shipping and KS related expenses c) payment of the existing debt
11.It also showed that there was not an equal split of KS profits, but that DS would only make a small manufacturing profit on primed and BF would retain everything else. (For a $150 army deal, DS would only receive $37.50) The premium sets, which are normally only exclusively available through DS, would see DS get more money, but BF still making a large profit on these unique items. ($300 army box – DS received $180)

The Allegations:
BF allege they made verbal agreements with Paolo during the KS that the free items would be split 50/50, with BF providing the books and DS the minis. BF claim they have done their bit and William Yao of DS has refused to honour the agreements Paolo made. Paolo has already refuted this claim multiple times. DS allege BF are just using this as an excuse not to pay the money owed to them and are holding the money and the backers hostage. They have also made claims that BF are trying to bankrupt DS so they can perform an aggressive takeover of the DUST IP for themselves like they did with Gale Force 9.

Reasons BF might be telling the truth:
1.The passionate language, use of social media and mix of speculation (takeover bid) with facts (as they see them) on the DS side doesn’t really sound like that of a normal business whose word you can trust.
2.BF are a big, established business with many product lines and DS are a much smaller outfit.
3.DS split from their previous distributor FFG for unclear/known reasons (Speculation)
4.The success of the KS and poor initial contract may mean DS are trying to get a much bigger cut of the pie than was previously agreed. (Speculation)

Reasons DS might be telling the truth:
1.There is apparently evidence of prior aggressive/dubious business practices by BF (I have not researched this personally so cannot confirm/deny it)
2.The unequal profit split in the KS contract.
3.BF’s continued disingenuous inclusion of the prior debt as a KS expense (even affecting the amount they are offering for refunds) rather than as something they were legally bound to pay and irrelevant to the KS. They state”We have paid Dust Studio 72.5% of the remaining money, $378,007″ whereas there is only evidence (copies of the international wire payments clearly showing the amount and beneficiaries) they paid DS $141,904 and the factoring bank who were collecting the outstanding debt $220,059.
4.BF mucked up the PM delaying the order info reaching DS, but also forcing two wave delivery with BF taking a hit to their profits with the extra shipping and staff time taken to resolve the issues.
5.There are insufficient KS funds to pay for everything and pay off the outstanding debt, but plenty of profit on both sides when the outstanding debt is ignored, as it must be.
6.BF refusing to pay DS up front and paying the debts off first in direct breach of contract.

Reasons this could all be one big misunderstanding:
1.The original contract is poorly written by BF and DS don’t communicate clearly either. I could well believe things were said during the KS campaign that caused both sides to think the freebies were being paid for by the other. (Speculation)

Why I felt the need to write this:
I am not a Paolo (or BF) fanboy so why did I write this extremely lengthy post (I’d be amazed if anyone is actually still reading at this point!) in response to your coverage. A recent email from DS says they have received an email from BF saying they would review the list and send a PO on Monday. If either side is guilty and believes they have convinced the industry, community and/or the backers that they are in the right, there is an even greater chance everything falls through and the whole thing continues to rumble on. Your coverage was not only unfortunately biased, but ill timed.

Consider you wrist slapped from me and get on with making your awesome videos!