OSC v. Nova Tech Ltd. and Cynthia Petion (2023)
Judgment entered
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In 2023 Ontario Securities Commission staff alleged that Nova Tech Ltd and its chief executive Cynthia Petion sold units of a "PAMM" trading product to Ontario investors through an online multi-level marketing campaign without registration or a prospectus, and kept selling after a cease trade order. The tribunal's December 2024 order imposed permanent bans, a $2.5 million penalty and $31,000 of disgorgement.
The record
| Agency | OSC |
|---|---|
| Release number | 2023-20 |
| Date filed | 2023-08-25 |
| Date resolved | 2024-12-03 |
| Court | Capital Markets Tribunal (Ontario) |
| Status | judgment |
| Asset class | crypto, fx |
| Criminal parallel | No |
| Bars imposed | trading ban |
| Defendants | Nova Tech Ltd. ; Cynthia Petion |
| Techniques |
What was ordered
- Civil penalty
- —
- Disgorgement
- —
- Prejudgment interest
- —
- Total relief
- —
- Alleged gain
- —
- Penalty as published
- C$2.5m
What is alleged to have happened
Staff alleged that Nova Tech and Petion sold units of a "Percentage Allocation Management Module" through a website, social media and videos, with the site showing returns of about 3% a week, without registering and without a prospectus, then continued selling in breach of a February 2023 temporary cease trade order after the company froze withdrawals.
The tribunal's order of December 3, 2024 bans both respondents from trading and from acting as registrants or promoters permanently, bars Petion as a director or officer, imposes a joint and several administrative penalty of $2.5 million, disgorgement of $31,000 and costs of $193,333.52. In its reasons the tribunal says the respondents were not alleged to have operated a Ponzi scheme and that it did not take the promised returns into account.
No technique tag is applied. The tribunal expressly declines to treat the matter as a Ponzi scheme, discussing the term only to distinguish a case in which one was proven.
Timeline
- 2023-08-24 Statement of Allegations
- 2023-08-25 Notice of Hearing
- 2023-09-28 Reasons and Decision
- 2023-11-09 Other
- 2023-11-30 Reasons and Decision
- 2023-12-22 Reasons and Decision
- 2024-01-09 Reasons and Decision
- 2024-07-19 Reasons and Decision
- 2024-08-12 Reasons and Decision
- 2024-12-03 Reasons and Decision
- 2024-12-03 Reasons and Decision
Primary documents
Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.