There are people in some less reputable countries who do this kind of stuff for a living. Having 40 systems to run copies of the game on is something many of them already have at their disposal. As far as copies of the game go, many of these guys rely on using compromised accounts - they're not the ones paying for them.

However...

Every time I've heard stories about somebody buying up an entire ward, it's about somebody who's just way too good at making gil in this game, using FCs or what-not with his own alts to do it. They often go to "FFXIV real estate" sites and offer to sell their stuff for ridiculously high prices. These aren't some sweatshop bots - these are guys with way too much free time on their hands, who may or may not be participating in small-time RMT.

My guess is the real big-time botters simply have no interest in the FFXIV housing market.