Overview:
New York Attorney General Letitia James is asking a court to order NovaTech founders Cynthia and Eddy Petion to pay $1.3 billion in damages and disgorgement following a default judgment in 2025. The couple, who fled the country, operated a cryptocurrency investment scheme that allegedly targeted Haitian and other immigrant communities and collected more than $1 billion in investor deposits.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is asking a court to order Cynthia and Eddy Petion, the founders of the collapsed cryptocurrency company NovaTech, to pay $1.3 billion for their roles in an alleged investment fraud scheme that targeted Haitian and other immigrant communities.
The request, announced Thursday, Oct. 22, follows an August 2025 default judgment against the couple, who fled the country, according to a statement released by the attorney general’s office.
The state seeks damages and disgorgement, a legal remedy that requires defendants to surrender money obtained through unlawful conduct.
NovaTech collected more than $1 billion in cryptocurrency from investors between August 2019 and April 2023, but state investigators say less than $26 million was traded on its platform.
When the company collapsed in May 2023, tens of thousands of investors couldn’t withdraw their funds.
The latest legal filing comes as James announced nearly $6 million in settlements with four leading promoters of NovaTech and AWS Mining.
Four promoters of NovaTech and AWS Mining agreed to pay millions and face permanent industry bans after schemes that cost thousands of New Yorkers their savings.
Martin Zizi, Frantz Ciceron, Ricardo Roy Sr., and James Corbett agreed to pay victims a combined $5.98 million.
All four have been permanently banned from the securities, commodities and cryptocurrency industries.
“NovaTech and AWS Mining scammed thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers by telling them they were making a safe investment when in reality, they were victims of a pyramid scheme,” James said in the statement.
The settlements represent a separate recovery from the $1.3 billion being sought against the Petions.
A billion-dollar scheme built on promises of high returns
The Petions launched NovaTech after the 2019 collapse of AWS Mining, another cryptocurrency investment operation they had promoted.
AWS Mining had promised investors monthly returns of 15% to 20%, along with recruitment bonuses. The company ultimately failed to generate sufficient returns to sustain those payments, according to the attorney general’s office.
NovaTech subsequently attracted investors by promising weekly profits of about 2% to 4%, bonuses for recruiting others and the ability to withdraw funds at any time.
“The average 2-4% weekly returns paid to investors were entirely fabricated by Defendants Petion,” according to a motion for monetary relief filed by James. “These weekly ‘returns on investment’ and recruitment bonuses did not come from trading profits but from the funds deposited into NovaTech wallets by other investors… NovaTech was a Ponzi scheme.”
Alleged fraudster allegedly called targets “a cult” and herself a “zookeeper” as NovaTech recruited investors
State officials said the company falsely represented itself as a registered hedge fund broker and claimed to be authorized to trade cryptocurrency in the United States.
Its recruitment efforts focused heavily on immigrant and religious communities, particularly Haitians.
Advertisements in Haitian Creole, religious appeals and WhatsApp group messages were among the methods used to attract investors, according to the state’s 2024 lawsuit.
The schemes affected more than 11,000 New Yorkers, who collectively lost tens of millions of dollars. Investors lived in New York City, Long Island, Westchester, and other parts of the state.
“When asked where the money is going…keep it vague,” Petion is recorded as saying. “They have no idea where that payment processor is sending it. You can be funding a housing project, buying a new car, or filling your swimming pool with bitcoin to swim in.”
