Hiring someone as a consultant does not make him a full time employee, just as the PR indicates. "Dr. Phillips will continue to be Adjunct Professor of Wood and Paper Science and Executive in Residence at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC"
Do you think that if Phillips had "the goods", he'd go to work for a pennyless fly-by-night organization rather than hiring on with someone with far deeper pockets?
Furthermore, how again is this benefitting the shareholders of EVFN? You should ask the shareholders of AOOR how it feels to fund another concurrent upstart with DM just to be left in the cold when the jig is up.