What doesn't seem to jibe with the deregistered shares being shares placement agents bought is the fact that a couple of Fife's convertible notes, which have been paid off with shares, are included among the deregistrations.

Also, I'm not sure that Paulson had to buy shares in at least one private placement I've looked at. Maybe somebody else has more knowledge about that but it's not necessarily required for micro-cap placements and, reading through a subscription agreement, I don't see anything that makes me think Paulson had to buy the shares to resell but I could be wrong:

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/11756...dex101.htm