Does he? This is the portion I was basing my comment on : "The app has been sitting on TestFlight for 3 years now, it has around 200 beta users, and if anything, the only reason I can think of, is that Apple thinks I decided to unofficially deploy the app with TestFlight without going through the formal review."

In order to allow external testers, not on your company Apple account, you have a sort of mini review. It’s not the same as a full review although I don’t know the difference.