A more likely scenario is that once upon a time "insiders" owned almost 500 million shares of a nearly worthless stock. They concocted a scheme including a "merger". They put out a bunch of press releases without real substance. They sold all their shares for over $50 million. Someone sold another 100 million shares for over $10 million. The "public" now owns a small lumber business in Canada, if they ever get around to electing new directors.