Decision in brief: Nova Tech Ltd and Cynthia Petion, Enforcement Proceeding, Motion to waive service and other procedural relief, January 9, 2024

In this enforcement proceeding, OSC staff alleges that Cynthia Petion and Nova Tech Ltd. violated Ontario securities law by selling securities without being registered to do so and without having filed a prospectus for those securities. A prospectus is a document that gives investors information about the investment. Petion and Nova Tech also did not stop trading as the Tribunal had earlier ordered them to do.

OSC staff asked that the Tribunal relax some of its procedural requirements, including the requirements to give notice and documents to the respondents, and said the Tribunal should do so for two reasons. First, OSC staff had already done everything reasonable to try to comply with those requirements, and doing anything else wasn’t likely to change the result. Second, the respondents had not participated in the proceeding, including not responding to OSC staff, not participating in the first hearing, and not responding to this request to the Tribunal.

The Tribunal decided that OSC staff did not need to give further notice or documents to the respondents. When a respondent does not participate in the proceeding, the Tribunal may continue without them and without giving further notice. OSC staff had done everything reasonable to find and notify Petion and Nova Tech.