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The commission’s statement in December did not name anyone besides the firm, and noted that there was no monetary penalty imposed on the firm due to “extensive cooperation with the SEC’s investigation, which included self-reporting (the issues) and remediation efforts.”

Simon, Aphria’s newly appointed board chair, was chief executive of Hain Celestial, the company he founded, until he stepped down in November, a planned departure that had been announced in June. He remains a shareholder.

In an interview with the Financial Post on Thursday, Simon said the SEC settlement was not raised in his talks with Aphria before he was appointed chairman on Dec. 27 because it was already a matter of public record and he felt it had been resolved in the best way possible with no financial restatements or penalties.

Not only was the SEC statement available online, Simon said, but he had discussed reaching an understanding with SEC staff to resolve the issue with no financial penalty during a company conference call with Hain Celestial analysts in August.

“It was publicly disclosed. The SEC closed the case,” he told the Financial Post. “It was not raised as an issue (with Aphria).”

According to the SEC’s order against Hain Celestial Group, sales personnel for Hain had offered the company’s two largest distributors sales incentives at the end of fiscal quarters, between 2014 and 2016, to encourage the purchase of sufficient inventory to meet quarterly internal sales targets.