The shorts are being used to exercise warrants. Short at $2.05-$2.10, use cert to exercise with cash from short, deliver share to cover and pocket difference. Slime bag way of making a minimal profit but that's the life of a broker without a big enough book to live on. If he has 250,000 warrants with a $0.10 profit, that's $25,000.00 in the bank. Remember the client bought the shares. The broker kept the warrants.