Oh wow, how bizarre... I didn't think I could hate IGE and friends any more, but now I do. But, I'm not surprised.
I've always believed that the gilselling companies pay SE to look the other way, that would explain why they're so prevailant, and why SE barely does anything to stop them. So, for me it's easy to believe that SE gives IGE and such the opportunity to buy 'cancelled' accounts in order to keep the gilsellers a reason to pay them to turn the other cheek.
What I think is, SE sold your account to IGE for a small profit, used it for a bit of gilfarming, and started to sell it to some lazy bum. When you wanted to unexpectedly reactivate your account, SE simply told you that its not their problem, hence your, for the lack of a better term, f*cked position. But, since your account wasn't officially killed yet, they had to take it back. I bet IGE is a bit sad that they lost one of their toys.