There was no one who would be willing to fund their research into a room temperature semiconductor? Even though they had a sample that passed the basic tests?
You make it sound like that is easy while not knowing much about them or their circumstances. There still isn't. Look at their shitty rented lab. Obviously there are aspects to their situation that not everyone here is aware of.
the world is filled with quacks looking for funding for superconductor research, I can definitely imagine that 20 years ago it would have been difficult to find funding for blue-sky research in superconductivity even with a modest amount of evidence in-hand
They had to get other jobs to survive. Somone else forced their hand with the publication. There's nothing incosistent about that.