I can't help myself from wondering about Swartz at the moment, and what effect he may be having on us now and in the future. To take a leaf from Joey Boots' book (know Swartz, be Swartz, hehehe), if I were Swartz, what would I be doing with my large wedge of shares ?

If I were he, with the market crumbling all around me, I would wish to have as much cash about me as possible. There are certainly less speculative plays than PTSC which are likely to available at fire-sale prices in the coming months, and an increasing number of new start-ups to be supported/milked (delete as per your POV). Also, investments his (my ;)) other companies have gone southwards of late (example: PPHM, no government grant, down 75% TTM), and have no immediate prospects of appreciating.

If I were he, also being party to the details of the settlement, I would have a firm idea about how this stock is likely to behave come the April Q. Unless the numbers are jaw-dropping (i.e. greater than $200M to PDS), the PPS will likely reflect the income numbers published. (Recent example : PTSC Jan Q, $7M income, PPS down 20% in 14 days, including a new licence).

Thus, I (Swartz) find myself in a quandry - how to raise capital from PTSC against a falling PPS without dumping my stock and permanently flushing the PPS? Also, how to do this and not get sent to jail for violation of insider trading laws?

One possible answer - PC's alluded to this yesterday, but I think it is worth asking again anyway. Is Swartz shorting this stock ? There is no danger of a short squeeze before April (why would anyone lump into this stock before then), by which time he will be able to cover with his chunk of the float. With the correct broker on the correct exchange, this could easily be disguised as naked shorting, but there is nothing naked about it (hehe, hedged naked shorting - have I invented a new strategy ?).

On the other hand - I (Swartz) could sit on my 15M shares until April, and dump the lot into whatever the pop might be, and kill the company stone dead. The threat of this might give me some leverage with the board (i.e. blind eye) regarding the naked shorting offshore, the only consequences of which are a temporary drop in the PPS (reload anyone) and the wrath of the Agora mob.

In saying all that, I must also state that conspiracy theories are like a**holes - everybody has one, right ?