Can an issuer vacuum up its own preferred at dumpster prices, then nuke the leftovers with a $25 redemption like nothing happened? $RILYP

Alright degenerates, I’m trying to understand whether this is a galaxy-brain capital markets move or just corporate pickpocketing in a necktie.

Using RILYP as the example. Regarded ticker? absolutely, because its what we do here.

Here’s what I think I’ve got so far:

• RILYP = preferred stock, not a bond
• RILYZ = senior note / baby bond
• RILYP has a $25 liquidation preference
• The 6.875% is the dividend rate based on the $25 par, not float, not ownership, not some secret wizard percentage
• So annual dividends are about $1.71875/share
• If the stock is trading around $11.84, the “yield” looks absolutely filthy, like 14.5%
• BUT if dividends are suspended, that yield is basically an Excel hallucination with a pulse
• Yes, it’s cumulative
• Yes, it’s paid in arrears
• Yes, unpaid dividends stack up like dirty dishes in a frat house
• No, “accrued” does not mean cash magically appears in my brokerage account while management is hiding in the bushes

So here’s the part that is melting my brain:

As I understand it, the company has two ways to get rid of this thing:

1) Open-market repurchases
They buy shares from willing sellers at whatever weak-handed raccoons are willing to dump them for.
So if it’s trading at $11–12, they can buy there.
But they can’t force me to sell for that, correct?

2) Formal redemption / call
They exercise the contractual right to redeem it at what I believe is $25/share plus accumulated and unpaid dividends.

So now for the real tinfoil:

What stops them from doing the following absolutely cursed maneuver?

• quietly buying as much RILYP as possible in the open market at crackhead prices
• saying absolutely nothing useful
• pretending any future redemption is just “under consideration”
• letting retail paperhands donate shares at $11–12 because they have the emotional resilience of wet cardboard
• then, after loading the boat, announcing a redemption and blasting the remaining stubborn goblins out at $25 + arrears

Basically:

Can management play dumb and say
“Whoa whoa whoa, that wasn’t a plan, that was just a thought, bro”
even if internally they were:

• discussing redemption
• modeling the cost
• lining up financing
• whispering to lawyers
• and dry-humping a spreadsheet labeled “preferred cleanup strategy_FINAL_v7_REALFINAL.xlsx”

Because that seems like the kind of thing that would make securities law professors start sweating through their Dockers.

My main question is where the line actually is between:

• “just kicking tires” and
• material nonpublic information

Because if management knows there’s a realistic path to redeeming this thing at $25 + arrears, and meanwhile they’re scooping shares from retail at $12 like a coupon-cutting serial killer, that seems… not exactly wholesome.

Also, separate question:

If they’re only buying in the open market and I tell them to kiss my ass and keep my shares, I assume they cannot force me out unless they actually pull the trigger on a formal redemption. Right?

So I’m trying to figure out whether suspended cumulative preferreds trading at half of par are:

• a genuine distressed opportunity
• a value trap wearing lingerie
• or a legal gray-zone carnival game where management gets first peek behind the curtain and retail gets a plastic spoon

Not asking whether RILYP is a buy.

I’m asking whether this setup basically allows the issuer to:

1. let the market price in doom,
2. quietly harvest weak hands,
3. then come back later with the “surprise, it’s $25 now” finishing move on whoever didn’t fold.

Would appreciate input from anyone who knows about:

• preferred stock redemptions
• cumulative dividend arrears
• issuer repurchases
• 10b-5 / MNPI issues
• or just old-school Wall Street rat behavior in its natural habitat

Because right now this whole thing feels less like investing and more like being locked in a room with a magician, a divorce lawyer, and a feral CFO.