Looking at the timeline posted, the .US registrations by and large appear legit.
I was under the impression the "reserved" .US domains remained reserved indefinitely, but like most others, I never researched the issue further; I have virtually zero interest in .US domains and basically no interest for other ccTLDs either.
With that said, I remember back when most all "dirty" .com/.net/.org domains became registerable again back in July-1999 (there was no explicit notice that was going to happen; one had to read between the lines so to speak) ... I got in there before everyone else and grabbed a bunch - and it wasn't pure luck, but rather staying current on policies (as far back as '97 I had a good hunch as to how they'd likely be allowed again someday), actively tracking the possible affected domains, and being ready to move quickly ...
Opportunities are still out there for folks with the time and patience to do the research and are ready with cash, etc when the right time comes ... and some luck never hurts
Ron