In the case of shorting a stock, the broker is owed shares of the stock by the firm who shorted it. The broker is absolutely still "on the line for it". Its a r

In the case of shorting a stock, the broker is owed shares of the stock by the firm who shorted it. The broker is absolutely still "on the line for it". Its a red line in their books. But in this situation, there's no one going out into the markets to buy a share to repay the broker. The remaining assets the firm has would be liquidated, those would be used to pay off debts, including those owed to the brokerage. I'm not 100% sure how this works, like, if the estate would purchase as many shares owed as possible, or if they would settle in cash with the brokerage, or what. But, regardless, that wouldn't happen until long after the epicenter of this black swan event.