I remember meeting Lemond back in the day, he had just won his second Tour, and he was a great guy. He was honest, open, and eager. He wasn’t “holier than thou” despite his fame, and his “Sports Illustrated” cover, he was an all around great guy. You could talk to him without being pushed away by his security detail, or being forced to make an appointment with his PR people.
In the late 90’s I was racing in Europe (though not especially well), and Lance was the new God of the sport. I and everyone else were huge fans, though there were plenty of rumors from the start. I was in France during the Festina Affair in 1998, when Lance was still recovering from cancer, so I wasn’t naive about what was going on in the sport, but even so, Lance was “The Man.”
Lance was a monster, and I gave him full credit, he wasn’t doing anything that anyone else at the top of the sport wasn’t doing as well. I followed his progress, and was a big fan.
However, I lean toward the OP’s opinion of Trek. The reason is that Trek were not naive, if they didn’t know what was going on the sport, they had no business being involved in it. As a business owner, I tend to see things from the side of companies and corporations, and am comfortable with the fierce competition and dog-eat-dog mentality, it give us the best toys for the best price.
But, there are lines which should not be crossed. Trek did not treat Lemond as they should have. Greg was an honest man, and he said as much as he thought he could get away with honestly, otherwise Lance would have sued him (as he sued others). But Trek took the side of the liar, their Golden Goose. Trek could have left Lemond alone, but Lance wanted him hurt, so Trek hurt him. Trek would have thrown Greg off a cliff if Lance had threatened to make a deal with Cannondale.
Others may see things differently, but the good thing about the free market system (such as it is), we are free to look at a company and its products, and decide for ourselves. My all-time favorite bike was my old Trek 660, but the Trek of those days was not the same company which was dealing with Lance.