Short Interest
Personally, I do not believe any of the Short Interest numbers whether they come from OTCBB or MM. There is so much manipulation they can do and still stay within the letter of the law. IF the SEC really wanted to stop abusive Shorting they would. For whatever reason, they choose not to.
Whoever is short is playing a dangerous game. Whether it is called a Dividend or not, anybody short shares is responsible for a share issuance attached to those shares, not the Company. When shorts are convinced a share issuance is coming, they will gladly cover their short shares, rather than be responsible for any share issuance attached to their short.
Although will probably be small, there should be some kind of pop in the share price, when/if a share issuance is officially announced.
.