These were direct purchases. The individuals were holding the stock certificates in hand. They get the money, Joel gets the certs, certs sent to transfer agent, done deal. Anyone here can request their stock certificates from their broker and hold them in hand. The company can buy more shares outside the market than on the market.

When Joel took over and was cleaning up debt and paying for operations, the company issued shares directly to investors. Not on the open market. I suspect some of the same shares are being bought back. Just like the Billion share note that Joel bought back before the shares were issued for $100k.