How are they possibly not the victims after the distributor orders a vast quantity of product, goes MIA for months, and then proceeds to go "whoops, just kidding, here's your stale product back"?
They are victims, but also they are in business that should know what they are doing. This stuff isn't exactly uncommon if you do some research. And that is why they should have been entirely sure what they signed up for. They were not forced to enter this contract, but instead choose to.