Dave, I agree with most of your analysis. I am sure once the company gets a total from its new TA, or the suit is filed, whichever is sooner, it will reveal exactly what happened. But we are talking a difference in what appears in the market, to be 20,000 shares that may or may not have been part of the MM's short play. Either way, I would guess the float is about 320K shares or about right now. While based on the public float count, its less than 10% of the public float and minuscule compared with outstanding, not saying that isn't a lot, but its not enough to jump off that cliff that everyone else seems to be pushing the company towards. Yea, its an unfortunate situation that the day traders (not the longs) are pounding into the earth because they live and die by short swings, but you and I both know things like this happen in business, and its up to leadership to get to the bottom of it, and disclose it when they know.
At least we know the damage is limited, and with a 320K share float, this is easily corrected with a little more production and visibility by the company.