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The report also questioned the value of those assets and the amount of money Aphria had paid to acquire them.

One of the targets of the short report was dealmaker and private equity investor Andy DeFrancesco, who the short sellers suggest masterminded the series of transactions that saw Aphria acquire its Latin American assets.

DeFrancesco, who described himself as a “close confidante and major shareholder” of Aphria, played a key role in the founding of the company in 2014.

But in a series of texts to the Financial Post Friday morning, he appeared to be critical of Neufeld, applauding his decision to depart.

The last five years have been incredible. But to be brutally honest, this journey has taken a toll on my health, family and other priorities Vic Neufeld

“Vic did some good things … in the earlier part of the CEO tenure, but was not the guy to take the company to the next level and doesn’t have the right capital markets experience,” DeFrancesco said. “Clearly there were deals that were highly anticipated that didn’t happen for whatever reason and the CEO needs to take responsibility.”

Neufeld could not be reached for comment in response to DeFrancesco’s assessment of his tenure.

DeFrancesco, who is also the Chairman and Chief Corporate Officer of SOL Global Investments Inc., formerly known as Scythian Biosciences Inc. — where Neufeld was former Chairman of the Board — did not seem to level the same amount of criticism toward Cacciavillani, who co-founded Aphria along with John Cervini. “Cole and John built an incredible foundation so seeing Cole depart is emotional,” he said.