... and it was (((Cohen's))) idea.

According to the lawsuit, Cohen approached Gustavo about his plan to accumulate shares of BBBY and assume command of the company’s publicly-available shares.

"With control over a significant portion of the public float, Cohen would essentially act as a price support for the stock while Gustavo would act in a similar capacity by controlling the sale of shares by Insiders," the lawsuit says. "Under this arrangement, defendants would profit handsomely from the rise in price and could coordinate their selling of shares to optimize their returns."

Umm ... guys ... in case you don't know ... THIS IS BIG!

There is a market manipulation technique known as "shorting against the box." It is being both long and short in the same stock -- but in two DIFFERENT accounts.

I have long suspected that this was part of the "Hillary made $100,000 in cattle futures" scam several years ago.

This lawsuit claim against Cohen and Gustavo is the same strategy -- with the goal of letting the insiders of BBBY unload their shares to an unsuspecting public ... while these two manipulate market prices to keep the shares high.

I would go further and say that one of the main reasons two people might conspire to do something like this would ALSO be to allow the stock price to stay high, allowing for a secondary stock offering to bring cash into the company (which by the way, was losing its ass and on the verge of bankruptcy).

It seems that the bonds held by BBBY are now in free fall, as creditors are concerned about BBBY filing bankruptcy -- which is almost a certainty at this point.

Bond price collapse, some as much as 99% drop:

https://wolfstreet.com/2022/08/22/bonds-of-bed-bath-beyond-collapse-on-bankruptcy-fears-as-suppliers-with-unpaid-bills-halt-shipments/

Cohen purchased a large stake in BBBY including call options on more than 1.6 million BBBY shares with a strike price between $60 and $80 in what, according to the lawsuit, was a "classic attempt to spark a gamma squeeze, in exchange for Gustavo’s assurance that Insiders would not flood with the market with the stock."

Now ... THIS ... is a conspiracy ... to manipulate stock price.

It also explains the swan dive by Gustavo. Mr. Gustavo knew he was going to prison. And he would be sued into bankruptcy, losing everything he's got.

BBBY stock climbed from $4.38 per share on July 1, 2022, to $30 per share on August 17, 2022. Between March and August, Cohen, Gustavo, and JP Morgan Securities LLC – another defendant in the lawsuit – discussed their plan of hyping the stock and exiting their positions of BBBY shares at some point, according to the lawsuit.

These are very specific accusations against very specific individuals and companies ... which means someone is a whistleblower.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/bed-bath-beyond-cfo-who-leapt-death-accused-pump-dump-inflate-companys-stock-value

I have long been suspicious of the touts on Reddit. I have wondered if they had some sort of direct contact to coordinate their actions with some of these players.

It suuuuure was convenient that Gamestop had that big run up in 2021 ... just in time to get a secondary offering, right when they would have otherwise gone bankrupt. The touts on Reddit were pushing the story HARD ... at just the right time.

Be careful who you follow ...

In other (related) news, a judge has ruled that a lawsuit against Robinhood (brokerage) can go forward for a stock manipulation scheme, which included Gamestop.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/1-robinhood-must-face-u-180058440.html

Maybe it won't be those "big bad hedge fund guys" showing up on the news in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs, but rather the man on the other side ... doing a "pump and dump" on an unsuspecting public.

I wonder if such a person might have sock puppet accounts on Reddit ...