correct, staties can give you ticket for "modified exhaust" dont matter wt brand they are, and you pretty much loss money on the dot because you need to pay to fight for ticket...
and yes, you can always pay someone to cover your inspection, as long as there is no CEL.
i used to have a SE-R specv with header, midpipe weld on hi-flow cat, cat back, got pull over for speeding and modified exhaust, good that he didnt right me ticket for the exhaust...