I can only fathom it was some CYA language. Usually it is meant to cover a purchase followed by a sale inside of six months.
Just saw your edit…it would be risky to play games with the Form 4. It shows as a PURCHASE. Money had to change hands…and it would have been the amount shown.
Now if the PR is misrepresenting the transaction as an open market when it was private…well, that is a material misrepresentation.
If that is what it has come to for him than the walls really are closing in.