“I’ll bet they were referring to emails deleted from email files available on individual workstations, and the emails were still available in some databank if need be.”
The stated intention was that they would be unavailable if somebody subpoenaed them. So, I’d bet they were unavailable, period. (Some of the tippy-top management sent around emails that would make you raise your eyebrows and say, “damn, how stupid to put that in writing.” I think that was why they did it, rather than try to train management not to be stupid.)
I should say. That sounds illegal.