Well, the preferred shares were done by the same company who controls the ATM, so a little front-running would not be a huge shocker. Considering the preferred was done in Feb, it was most-likely being prepared for a month or two by legal. In that time, the company sells 16 million shares for $1.75 to the future owners of the preferred. They pump up the stock using various methods (like this board), sell into the $2.50-3.00 range and make a $20 million profit which they already put into the preferred shares. Now, there's literally a free 10.5% dividend on $20 million that was basically just created out of thin air. Pretty sweet deal and I wouldn't put it past the likes of the MLVs and Darts of the world IMO.
I'll defer judgement until Tuesday but the company would have to have been complicit IMO and I just don't see them jeopardizing the platform with a shady move like that. Makes sense though.