 Augustus ' brother , Otto , devised the scheme to corner United Copper , believing that the Heinze family already controlled a majority of the company . He also believed that a significant number of the Heinze 's shares had been borrowed , and sold short , by speculators betting that the stock price would drop , and that they could thus repurchase the borrowed shares cheaply , pocketing the difference . Otto proposed a short squeeze , whereby the Heinzes would aggressively purchase as many remaining shares as possible , and then force the short sellers to pay for their borrowed shares . The aggressive purchasing would drive up the share price , and , being unable to find shares elsewhere , the short sellers would have no option but to turn to the Heinzes , who could then name their price . 
