Quebec’s public procurement watchdog says it has asked the province’s anti-corruption police force to look into cannabis producer Hexo Corp. in the wake of a media report linking the company to a man with ties to the Hells Angels.
Quebecor Inc.’s Le Journal de Montréal tabloid reported last week that there are what it called “troubling links” between an Ontario entrepreneur named Josh Hill and Hexo. The Journal published six photos online as part of its report, which it said were mostly taken from Instagram accounts. According to the newspaper, three photos showed Mr. Hill posing with men identified by their reporters’ police sources as being members of the Hells Angels. The winged-skull logo of the outlaw motorcycle gang is visible in the shots, the newspaper said.
Hexo has denounced what it calls “false allegations” circulating about the company and said it operates “at the highest standards of legal and regulatory compliance.”
There is “no business relationship” between Hexo and Mr. Hill, now or in the past, said Sarah Brown, a Hexo spokeswoman. She declined to confirm if Mr. Hill was a shareholder in the company. “We are disappointed by any attempt to tarnish the Hexo name with false accusations,” Ms. Brown said in an e-mailed statement to The Globe. The company has addressed the allegations “with the province and has reassured relevant parties of the misconstrued nature of the reports,” she added.
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