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Commitments and Contingencies
 6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2024
Loss Contingency [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies Commitments and Contingencies
(a)Commitments
There have been no material changes in the information regarding commitments as disclosed in the Company’s Annual Report.
(b)Contingencies
The Company is subject to various legal proceedings in the ordinary course of its business and in connection with its marketing, distribution and sale of its products. Many of these legal proceedings are in the early stages of litigation and seek damages that are unspecified or not quantified. Although the outcome of these matters cannot be predicted with certainty, the Company does not believe these legal proceedings, individually or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse effect on its financial condition but could be material to its results of operations for a quarterly period depending, in part, on its results for that quarter.
(i)Class action complaints relating to restatement of 2019 interim financial statements
On March 11 and 12, 2020, two alleged shareholders of the Company separately filed two putative class action complaints in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York against the Company and its Chief Executive Officer and former Chief Financial Officer. The court consolidated the cases, and the consolidated amended complaint alleges violations of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and Rule 10b-5, promulgated thereunder, against all defendants, and Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act against the individual defendants. The consolidated amended complaint generally alleges that certain of the Company’s prior public statements about revenues and internal controls were incorrect based on the Company’s disclosures relating to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors’ review of the appropriateness of revenue recognized in connection with certain bulk resin purchases and sales of products through the wholesale channel. The consolidated amended complaint does not quantify a damage request. The defendants moved to dismiss on February 8, 2021. On November 17, 2023, the court entered an order granting the motion and dismissed the case with prejudice. On December 1, 2023, the shareholder plaintiffs sought reconsideration of the dismissal, requesting that the court instead dismiss the action without prejudice and permit the plaintiffs to seek leave to further amend the complaint. The reconsideration motion is pending.
On June 3, 2020, an alleged shareholder filed a Statement of Claim, as amended on August 12, 2020, in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, seeking, among other things, an order certifying the action as a class action on behalf of a putative class of shareholders and damages of an unspecified amount. The Amended Statement of Claim named (i) the Company, (ii) its Chief Executive Officer, (iii) former Chief Financial Officer, (iv) former Chief Financial Officer and Chief Commercial Officer, and (v) current and former members of the Board as defendants and alleged breaches of the Ontario Securities Act, oppression under the Ontario Business Corporations Act and common law misrepresentation. The Amended Statement of Claim generally alleged that certain of the Company’s prior public statements about revenues and internal controls were misrepresentations based on the Company’s March 2, 2020 disclosure that the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors was conducting a review of the appropriateness of revenue recognized in connection with certain bulk resin purchases and sales of products through the wholesale channel, and the Company’s subsequent restatement. The Amended Statement of Claim did not quantify a damage request. On June 28, 2021, the Court dismissed motions brought by the plaintiff for leave to commence a claim for misrepresentation under the Ontario Securities Act and for certification of the action as a class action. The plaintiff appealed the Court’s dismissal of the motions only with respect to the Company, the Chief Executive Officer, and the now former Chief Financial Officer; the remaining defendants were dismissed from the matter with prejudice and the Company and all individual defendants agreed not to seek costs from plaintiff in connection with the dismissal of the motions. On September 26, 2022, the Court of Appeal for Ontario reversed the Superior Court’s dismissal of the leave and certification motions, granted the plaintiff leave to proceed to bring a claim for misrepresentation under the Ontario Securities Act, and remitted the certification motion back to the Superior Court. On April 11, 2023, the plaintiff filed a Fresh as Amended Statement of Claim, which reflected the dismissal of the defendants for which an appeal was not sought, the removal of the claims for oppression under the Ontario Business Corporations Act and common law misrepresentation, as well as shortening the proposed class period. On October 10, 2023, the Superior Court certified the action on behalf of a class of persons or entities who acquired shares in the secondary market, including on the TSX and Nasdaq, during the period from May 9, 2019 to March 30, 2020, other than certain excluded persons.
(ii)Regulatory reviews relating to restatements
On October 24, 2022, the Company announced regulatory settlements as follows:
SEC Settlement
On October 24, 2022, the SEC issued an Order Instituting Cease-and-Desist Proceedings Pursuant to Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21(c) of the Exchange Act, Making Findings, and Imposing a Cease-and-Desist Order (the “Settlement Order”) resolving the Restatements.
The Company agreed to settle with the SEC, without admitting or denying the allegations described in the Settlement Order. The Settlement Order fully and finally disposed of the investigation of the Company by the SEC into the Restatements without the payment of any civil penalty or other amount.
The Settlement Order required the Company to cease and desist from committing or causing any violations and any future violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act, Sections 10(b), 13(a), 13(b)(2)(B) of the Exchange Act and Rules 10b-5, 13a-13, 13a-15(a), 13a-16 and 12b-20 thereunder.
As a result of the Settlement Order, the Company (i) lost its status as a well-known seasoned issuer for a period of three years, (ii) is unable to rely on the private offering exemptions provided by Regulations A and D under the Securities Act for a period of five years and (iii) is unable to rely on the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 for a period of three years.
OSC Settlement
On October 24, 2022, the Ontario Capital Markets Tribunal approved a settlement agreement (the “Settlement Agreement”) between the Company and the staff of the Ontario Securities Commission (the “OSC”), resolving the Restatements.
Pursuant to the terms of the Settlement Agreement, which fully and finally disposed the investigation of the Company by the OSC, Cronos agreed to pay a total of C$1.34 million to fully settle the matter, and acknowledged that it had failed to comply with the requirement under Section 77 of the Ontario Securities Act to file interim financial reports in the manner set out therein and had acted in a manner contrary to the public interest.
(iii)Litigation and regulatory inquiries relating to marketing, distribution, import and sale of products
On April 17, 2023, a group of plaintiffs led by the Green Leaf (Ale Yarok) political party filed a Statement of Claim and Request for Approval of a Class Action on behalf of a purported class of Israeli cannabis consumers in the District Court of Tel Aviv, Israel, against 26 cannabis-related parties, including three Cronos Israel entities. The Statement of Claim alleges that the defendants violated certain laws relating to the marketing of medical cannabis products, including marketing to unlicensed cannabis consumers. The lawsuit seeks a total of ILS 420 million. The Cronos Israel defendants moved to dismiss the action on August 13, 2023. The court granted the motion (and similar motions filed by other defendants) on May 16, 2024, dismissing the plaintiffs’ petition for class certification without prejudice and their individual claims with prejudice, and ordering the plaintiffs to pay ILS 10 thousand to each of the defendants for costs. On July 14, 2024, the plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court of Israel seeking to overturn both the dismissal of plaintiffs’ individual claims and the award of costs. The appeal is pending.
On January 18, 2024, the Company was notified that the Trade Levies Commissioner of the Israel Ministry of Economy and Industry initiated a public investigation of alleged dumping of medical cannabis imports from Canada into Israel. On July 9, 2024, the Commissioner announced a preliminary determination proposing to impose an anti-dumping duty on Canadian licensed producers. The Company would be subject to a proposed duty of 369%. The Commissioner determined not to impose a provisional duty at this time pending the conclusion of the Ministry’s investigation. The Company previously responded to requests for information from the Ministry and is providing additional information. The Company cannot predict the outcome of the investigation.
We expect litigation and regulatory proceedings relating to the marketing, distribution, import and sale of our products to increase.