No no. It was a different kind of story; a mining story. NERG announced an "unsolicited tender offer" by a mysterious Russian company that involved something equally mysterious involving a patent. And the deal was said to be worth billions. To anyone who's followed similar tall tales in the past, it was obviously ridiculous.
The regulators evidently made inquiries, and the SEC suspended. The company has made no substantive comment since. I don't know exactly what the role of the IR guy was, but it's possible he did believe the story, and spent his own money publicizing the deal, imagining the stock he'd received would one day be worth a fortune. I think if he'd been aware it was a scam, and had to some extent cashed out before the suspension, he wouldn't be posting now.
It was hypothesized that Steffan Daalsberg was connected to a Daalsberg who'd had scammy connections in the past, but face it: most IR people who specialize in penny stocks have worked for some bad ones. This guy--the only company-related person who's had anything at all to say since the suspension--has always claimed to be a True Believer.
It may even be that the company itself--or at least some of management--was snookered by whoever was really behind the scheme. But we'll never know, unless the SEC eventually follows up with litigation.