New York Legal professional Common Letitia James is asking a courtroom to order Cynthia and Eddy Petion, the founders of the collapsed cryptocurrency firm NovaTech, to pay $1.3 billion for his or her roles in an alleged funding fraud scheme that focused Haitian and different immigrant communities.
The request, introduced Thursday, Oct. 22, follows an August 2025 default judgment towards the couple, who fled the nation, based on an announcement launched by the legal professional normal’s workplace.
The state seeks damages and disgorgement, a authorized treatment that requires defendants to give up cash obtained via illegal conduct.
NovaTech collected greater than $1 billion in cryptocurrency from traders between August 2019 and April 2023, however state investigators say lower than $26 million was traded on its platform.
When the corporate collapsed in Could 2023, tens of hundreds of traders couldn’t withdraw their funds.
The newest authorized submitting comes as James introduced almost $6 million in settlements with 4 main promoters of NovaTech and AWS Mining.
Martin Zizi, Frantz Ciceron, Ricardo Roy Sr., and James Corbett agreed to pay victims a mixed $5.98 million.
All 4 have been completely banned from the securities, commodities and cryptocurrency industries.
“NovaTech and AWS Mining scammed hundreds of susceptible New Yorkers by telling them they had been making a protected funding when in actuality, they had been victims of a pyramid scheme,” James mentioned within the assertion.
The settlements symbolize a separate restoration from the $1.3 billion being sought towards the Petions.
A billion-dollar scheme constructed on guarantees of excessive returns
The Petions launched NovaTech after the 2019 collapse of AWS Mining, one other cryptocurrency funding operation that they had promoted.
AWS Mining had promised traders month-to-month returns of 15% to twenty%, together with recruitment bonuses. The corporate finally did not generate ample returns to maintain these funds, based on the legal professional normal’s workplace.
NovaTech subsequently attracted traders by promising weekly income of about 2% to 4%, bonuses for recruiting others and the flexibility to withdraw funds at any time.
“The common 2-4% weekly returns paid to traders had been totally fabricated by Defendants Petion,” based on a movement for financial reduction filed by James. “These weekly ‘returns on funding’ and recruitment bonuses didn’t come from buying and selling income however from the funds deposited into NovaTech wallets by different traders… NovaTech was a Ponzi scheme.”
State officers mentioned the corporate falsely represented itself as a registered hedge fund dealer and claimed to be licensed to commerce cryptocurrency in america.
Its recruitment efforts centered closely on immigrant and spiritual communities, notably Haitians.
Commercials in Haitian Creole, non secular appeals and WhatsApp group messages had been among the many strategies used to draw traders, based on the state’s 2024 lawsuit.
The schemes affected greater than 11,000 New Yorkers, who collectively misplaced tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars}. Buyers lived in New York Metropolis, Lengthy Island, Westchester, and different elements of the state.
“When requested the place the cash goes…hold it obscure,” Petion is recorded as saying. “They don’t know the place that cost processor is sending it. You could be funding a housing challenge, shopping for a brand new automotive, or filling your swimming pool with bitcoin to swim in.”
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