Of course he didn't sell it, he used it to focus the attention of forum members on that account, and now the only question is what was his goal with all this.
I don't think that there was any goal, or that even wanted to make people think that account changed hands. He probably just stop giving a fuck about how he is being perceived on the forum, that made some people thinking account changed hands.
However, all this is not important now, because Ratimov, or whatever his name is now, has been banned according to the moderator's statement.
The user Symmetrick has been banned, so haters of this user can breathe a sigh of relief. So discussion of this issue has lost its relevance.
Hm,
bpip doesn't show any changes in account's status.