Probably not in this case, but thinly traded share prices could be used to launder money.

Adam 1 buys shares with clean stake.

Adam 2 pumps share price with dirty money.

Adam 1 sells shares, getting stake back, plus clean profit.

Adam 1 short sells shares.

Adam 2 dumps shares, dropping share price.

Adam 1 cashes in on short.

Adam has laundered dirty 2 money into clean 1 money.

Needs a story to work the market a bit. This could work at a business level too.