Zaudio:
Your question to Joe is bizarre and ill-thought. Joe could not possibly have the answer to that question. Moreover, the fact that Joe may have traded long then short then long then short, etc., while holding core shares does not mean he's involved in an illegal mass fraud conspiracy. The very question as put is inflammatory and offensive. Merely selling short does not entitle retail shorts to closed door minutes of organized criminals.
Think about it: Let's say the CEO of Italia Olive Imports [NYSE IOI] agrees in August 2010 to accept $10 million dollars from Michael Corleone to ruin IOI's reputation by failing to respond to hitpieces and driving the stock into the ground. Corleone goes short with insider information and gets $100,000,000 in puts.
Meanwhile seven months into the plot, our friend Joe Natural along with many retail traders sees the price going down, reads the Pimento Report, and uses his superior trading senses to independently reason that shorting OIO could be profitable. Joe's mere sale of borrowed IOI shares from the flatlands of New Mexico does not then trigger sudden clairvoyant awareness of the private August meeting Joe never attended between the Godfather and the CEO.
The question to ask is not whether any retail short played the role of Vito's youngest son. The question is which hedge fund manager(s) invested on behalf of the five families.
-Andrew
