It was compensation for the past 7 years. For overtime.
They don't have 500 employees. Most of those work for SJAP. The "core" of the company (CA/MEIJI) consists of some 30 employees. Call it the corporate segment.
Just the way Solomon has been running the company. We can heavily criticize him for every detail but it's a minor issue, in the bigger picture. He's always short of cash.
I don't know if shares have been sold. Directors would have to disclose it and that didn't happen.