No way to know what's going on behind the scenes, but it was very obvious to me that AF and The Street were representing some other parties that wanted to weaken NWBO - even perhaps a company in negotiations with NWBO?. Maybe those parties decided it was time to call off the dogs? Lots of possible reasons for AF to exit stage left.
Everything that was said about him, recently, has been said before, over and over and over again. There was nothing new to cause his abrupt withdrawal... at least nothing new here, I suspect.