Cheers Chris, at the end of the day with no info being provided...

Cheers Chris, at the end of the day with no info being provided all that there is to go on is 'fact' and associated 'timelines'.
Here's a Wiki on LLCs in the USA - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_liability_company

Members of an LLC (ie: Gold Mining LLC, the Buscar/EON subsidiary) must be US Residents for tax purposes - 50% residency would appear to qualify.

As you say, it could be just a coincidence in timing - however, I'd be quite confident that some of the top20 investors do know what's actually going on....

The 'Cornerstone Investor' for example who approached 180Markets for the unnecessary circa $1.2M CR a while ago at a 20-25% Discount would most likely be in the know, imo.
That CR dilution was done when there was already +$10M in the bank and no obvious or reported need for extra funds.