It appears that Ramos and Ramos, and Ramm Investments directly owned common shares at some point and paid large sums for promotions of the stock. I'm not sure they needed convertible securities as they owned the stock. They could have "shorted against the box" if they had to sell before they actually had unrestricted shares, though I'm not sure that would have been legal.
Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. GEORGE SANTAYANA