1 Lead Plaintiff Shawn P. Cunix and Plaintiff Elizabeth Alexander (“Plaintiffs”), individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, allege the following based on personal knowledge as to Plaintiffs and Plaintiffs’ own acts, and u pon information and belief as to all other matters based upon the investigation conducted by and through Plaintiffs’ attorneys, which included, among other things: a review of press releases and other public statements issued by Aphria Inc. (“Aphria”), Aphria’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), Aphria’s and SOL Global Investments Corp. (formerly Scythian Biosciences Corp.) (“Scythian”) filings on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (“SEDAR”); media and analyst reports about Aphria; review of information concerning the Canadian cannabis industry; and other information readily available on the internet. Plaintiffs believe that substantial additional evidentiary support will exist for the allegations set forth herein after a reasonable opportunity for discovery.

INTRODUCTION

1.

This is a securities class action on behalf of all persons or entities that purchased or acquired Aphria securities between July 17, 2018 and April 12, 2019, inclusive (the “Class Period”), and were damaged thereby. The claims asserted herein are alleged against Aphria, Scythian, and certain of the companies’ respective senior executives and/or directors and arise under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and Rule 10b-5, promulgated thereunder. Aphria is a cannabis company that has been operating in Canada since 2014. According to its filings with the SEC, Aphria “drives value for shareholders through its international expansion” by “taking its experience and knowledge in the Canadian cannabis industry and applying it to newly federal legal markets.” On July 17, 2018, supposedly in furtherance of this “international expansion” strategy, Aphria announced that it would be acquiring