That's a completely unrelated hypothetical (and also, would be illegal fraud). There's nothing special about shorting in your imaginary scenario either. You co

That's a completely unrelated hypothetical (and also, would be illegal fraud). There's nothing special about shorting in your imaginary scenario either. You could change your scam to "I own Dominos stock and don't order any pizzas, but I put out articles claiming I ordered a million. People will buy up the stock expecting the profits from the million-pizza-order and I will pocket the money. These long holders are a scam"