Strategic shorting is used to accelerate a SP decline when panic...

Strategic shorting is used to accelerate a SP decline when panic is rife and the sentiment is negative. The sentiment was unequivocally negative (we can argue why but surely both agree it was) and then the shorting is used at critical points to push it down, creating more panic which either triggers stop loss orders or causes traders to exit and preserve capital. A small amount of shorting used intelligently can have a very strong effect.

The fact it's not a gigantic amount almost makes it less organic, because if the people shorting genuinely believed this project was trash, they would want to short it even more aggressively and make money off that. It indicates that was not their primary concern.

Now I'll humor the other side of the argument which is that perhaps not a lot of shares are available for borrow, but we really have no way of knowing the true figure.

If you take it on it's own, it's just a coincidence.