Has the FAA Delivered a Death Blow to SkyPan International and their Drone (UAV, UAS) company?

For those of you flying illegally, take notice. The FAA has not fired a warning shot across the bow for violations of regulations, they have dropped an Atomic Bomb. 

Press Release – FAA Proposes $1.9 Million Civil Penalty Against SkyPan International for Allegedly Unauthorized Unmanned Aircraft Operations

"The FAA alleges that the company conducted 65 unauthorized commercial UAS flights over various locations in New York City and Chicago between March 21, 2012 and Dec. 15, 2014.  The flights involved aerial photography.  Of those, 43 flew in the highly restricted New York Class B airspace."

What is really interesting here is that Skypan received their FAA 333 Exemption April 17th, 2015, after all these alleged violations occurred. (the FAA 333 exemption provides a set of rules to follow for legal operation of drones, uav, uas in the national airspace) I've always heard ignorance of the law is no excuse, this is a great example of that. After the dust clears with all of the upcoming legal battles, will Skypan even have the resources to continue? Looking at the Subpoena from the FAA, the contracts were quite lucrative, but hardly enough to cover $1.9M

Subopena

Macklowe Properties contracted SkyPan for the photo shoots, yielding some impressive photos.