DFY, I'm not suggesting naked shorting, although some have.
I think there has been some amount of garden variety shorting but it may be on the wane. The equity financing I believe was brought to a halt some months back. TNOG has been effectively promoted and has a stronger shareholder base; it just plain has fresh momo. AMEP has had more than its share of detractors, bashers and I believe shorters.
AMEP will over time move up IMO and will be judged appropriately by the energy market. I think you're right, it has been judged to be a POS because its share price doesn't reflect the fundamentals. That's also made it easy to short because the momo was completely dried up, and even half-asleep shorters could whack it enough to keep buyers away.
But that is possibly beginning to change.