Another thought. I just did a quick analysis of my (pretty arbitrary) recommendations in the 100 Greatest Classical Music Works thread. Of a total of 182 recommendations 64 were hi res (35%). Of those 31 (48%) were 24/96 (the most common resolution) and 13 (20%) were 24/44.1 (the second most common). I went through and looked at the 24/44.1 albums to see if I could spot any common denominators such as era, original mastering technology (analog, early digital, modern digital), record label or anything else that might point to some conspiracy theory and could find none. The albums span recordings made from 1955-2014, three mastering eras, and niche independents like ECM, HM, BIS & SDG to majors like DG & Decca (UMG) and Sony. If there is a common denominator I couldn’t spot it!
So while it doesn’t explain this choice of resolution it does offer some evidence that it is not part of some coordinated scam. Just maybe you are being too sceptical this time?