This was a case of MMs (or some large holder) waiting for a negative news article to come out this close to the binary event. In my opinion, that article was simply the fuel that the MMs used to trigger a panic.
It was a matter of time before another negative article came out before results. The MMs were just ready to take advantage of it.
While I don't necessarily believe the author of the article was somehow involved in the drop, I also don't believe the article release and subsequent drop were coincidental.