It isn't necessarily only about cooking the books. Didn't some passenger carrier make some bad moves in the recent past, ostensibly to make a merger approval look that much more appealing? But then when the merger did not happen, they were in worse shape than when they started.
By the way, it isn't about the gov't trying to influence the market. It is about the gov't enforcing its laws. What happens to the market is secondary unless it is a matter of national security / stabilizing the economy / etc. If there was an attempt to skirt US law, then the law needs to be enforced - the ends do not justify the means.