CannTrust CEO Loses Job, $6 Million in Options: Cannabis Weekly

CEO Aceto was awarded stock options when hired last year
CannTrust overhauls management after regulatory breach

Employees inspect cannabis plants at the CannTrust Holdings Inc. Niagara Perpetual Harvest facility in Pelham, Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday, July 11, 2018. Canadian pot stocks have had a wild ride in the past year with the BI Canada Cannabis Competitive Peers Index surging about 250 percent from October to December as the road to legalization became clearer in Canada, before dropping by about 36 percent this year.Photographer: Cole Burston/Bloomberg

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By Michael Bellusci and Jacqueline Thorpe

July 26, 2019 at 6:40 PM UTC

Updated on

July 29, 2019 at 10:00 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Peter Aceto didn’t just lose his job as head of CannTrust Holdings Inc.: he likely lost out on about C$8.2 million ($6.2 million) in stock options, among the highest pay packages in the pot sector.

CannTrust fired Aceto, and chairman Eric Paul was asked to resign Thursday after a Globe and Mail report cited internal emails showing the executives were aware that pot was being grown in unlicensed rooms about seven months before Health Canada unearthed the breach.