Short interest surged through Feb 28th. Who would short them knowing details of the settlement were due by that date? Answer... someone who already knew exactly what was happening.
Short interest overall in this company is pretty low. Just like longs the could very well be taking the wrong side of the bet.
I haven’t excellent idea who the the investor is who increased the short position. Also claims to have a very large long position almost 5% and trades in the stock regularly.