NovaTech FX and co-founders Cynthia and Eddy Petion, have been fined $110 million by the state of Maryland.

Previously unknown to BehindMLM, charges were filed against NovaTech FX and the Petions by the Securities Division of the Office of the Attorney General.

The the Maryland Securities Division began investigating NovaTech FX is unclear. What we do know is the investigation, as of late 2024, revealed;

Hundreds of thousands of investors across the country and internationally were defrauded out of billions of dollars, including approximately three thousand (3,000) Maryland residents who were defrauded out of an estimated One Hundred Ten Million Dollars ($110,000,000.00). NovaTech was an illegal pyramid scheme.

On December 23rd, 2024, Maryland’s Securities Commissioner issued an order to show cause,

requiring each Respondent to show cause why that Respondent should not be barred permanently from engaging in the securities and investment advisory business in Maryland, why an order to cease and desist from violations of the Act should not be entered against them, and why a statutory penalty of up to $5,000 per violation should not be entered against them.

Named respondents in the order were NovaTech Ltd., aka NovaTech FX, NovaTech Advisors LLC, NovaPay LLC, NovaTrading OU, Cynthia Petion (right) and Eddy Petion.

None of the Respondents responded to the Securities Commissioner’s order.

This eventually prompted a Final Order against NovaTech FX and the Petions on July 9th, 2025.

The order finds NovaTech FX and the Petions violated the Maryland Securities Act.

Respondents, in connection with the offer, sale or purchase of investment contract securities, made untrue statements of material fact or omitted to state material facts, and engaged in a course of business that operated or would operate as a fraud or deceit on a person, in violation of section 11-301 of the Act.

Respondents, in connection with engaging in the business of effecting transactions in securities for the account of others or for Respondents’ own accounts, or in connection with acting as a broker-dealer or agent, engaged in dishonest or unethical practices in the securities or investment advisory business, in violation of section 11-306 of the Act.

Respondents Cynthia and Eddy Petion transacted business as unregistered brokerdealers or agents, in violation of section 11-401(a) of the Act.

Respondents Cynthia and Eddy Petion transacted business as unregistered investment advisers or investment adviser representatives, in violation of section 11-401(b) of the Act.

Respondents NovaTech Ltd a/k/a NovaTechFx, NovaTech Advisors, LLC, NovaPay, LLC and NovaTrading OU employed Cynthia and Eddy Petion as unregistered agents in this State, in violation of section 11-402 of the Act.

Respondents violated section 11-501 of the Act by offering and selling unregistered securities that were neither exempt or preempted as a federal covered security.

As part of ordered sanctions in the Securities Commissioner, NovaTech FX and the Petions were additionally ordered to pay a $110 million civil monetary penalty.

NovaTech FX was an MLM crypto Ponzi that collapsed in February 2023.

NovaTech FX’s regulatory troubles in Ontario began when the Ontario Securities Commission issued a securities fraud warning in December 2022.

As NovaTech FX was collapsing Petion, along with husband Eddie, fled the US for Panama.

Since then;

It is through the SEC’s proceedings that we learned the Petions had fled to Panama.

Martin Zizi, a NovaTech FX promoter who targeted Haitian-Americans, settled with the SEC in August 2024. The outcome of the SEC’s case against the remaining NovaTech FX defendants remains pending.