The disclosures are likely the last thing that is finalized in a paper like that and via disclosure forms. You'd want the disclosures to be up to date. So no, more likely whenever it was actually finalized in printable form.
AF is blowing smoke though. It clearly was not 2018. Also, I think I saw in a link that someone provided earlier in the day that 1) the first reference in 2019, it describes the relationship as Ad Hoc, but later, he adds it to his page in a less delimited manner, so the relationship could have been stepped up by 2020, when they added it to his page; and 2) I believe someone also posted an earlier paper in the middle of 2019 where he did not list NWBO at all.