RespireRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (fka RSPI)

[loanranger]

"You have heard of naked shorting right?"
Yep..heard of the bogeyman, too. And Bigfoot and the Easter Bunny.

"going the EM route allowed for less manipulation of the stock price and share structure while they negotiate deals"
The EM route allows for trading, just not by unsophisticated investors. Market activity still needs to be reported and as you can see there isn't any.
We DON'T KNOW the current share structure.
"As of November 14, 2023, the Company had 365,418,647, shares of common stock, $0.001 par value, issued and outstanding" per the last SEC filing.
Outstanding Shares were 949,463,730 as of 11/15/2024 and the transfer agent that provided that number is NOT a Verified Transfer Agent per OTCMarkets.

You believe that that stuff was intentional and provided the Company and its shareholders some benefit...."isolating the sand box"?

You have heard of grasping at straws. right?
A more credible argument for the failure to file and the resultant relegation to the Expert Market is a desire by management to avoid any requirement to be transparent.