New York Attorney General Letitia James requested a $1.37 billion judgment against NovaTech founders Cynthia and Eddy Petion following an August 2025 default judgment. The state alleges the couple operated a Ponzi scheme that lured over 11,000 New Yorkers and 200,000 global investors, heavily targeting Haitian immigrant prayer groups. While four promoters agreed to $6 million in settlements, recovering the requested billions remains doubtful as the Petions fled the U.S. in 2022.
Monetary judgment sought against founders
- ▪New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a state court on October 22, 2026 to order NovaTech founders Cynthia and Eddy Petion to pay roughly $1.37 billion, comprising $1.13 billion in disgorgement and $232.5 million in interest
- ▪New York's $1.37 billion monetary request follows an August 2025 default judgment issued against Cynthia and Eddy Petion and NovaTech after the founders failed to respond to the state's lawsuit
Flight and whereabouts of the Petions
- ▪The Petions, Cynthia and Eddy, resided in Wellington, Florida until roughly May 2022, and SEC filings located Cynthia Petion in Panama as of August 2024
- ▪Cynthia and Eddy Petion departed the United States prior to the August 2025 default judgment in the NovaTech case and failed to produce court-ordered investor records
Settlements with NovaTech promoters
- ▪New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the NovaTech scheme settlements totaling nearly $6 million with four NovaTech promoters: Martin Zizi, Frantz Ciceron, James Corbett, and Ricardo Roy Sr.
- ▪All four NovaTech promoters agreed to permanent bans from the securities, commodities, and cryptocurrency industries
Targeting and false representations to investors
- ▪NovaTech falsely advertised itself as a registered hedge fund broker licensed to trade crypto in the United States, promising returns of 2% to 4% weekly
- ▪NovaTech targeted Haitian and immigrant communities worldwide using ads in Haitian Creole, social media, and WhatsApp prayer groups
Misuse and diversion of investor deposits
- ▪Cynthia Petion, the sole authorized user on NovaTech's investor account, authorized withdrawals of at least $134.5 million to wallets belonging to herself and Eddy Petion
- ▪NovaTech's traders lost approximately $18.2 million of the $26 million sent for trading, using incoming deposits from new investors to pay out weekly returns and recruitment bonuses
- ▪Investors deposited $1.16 billion in digital assets into NovaTech's wallet between August 2019 and May 2023, but NovaTech sent only $26 million to its trading provider B2Broker
New York victim losses
- ▪More than 11,000 New Yorkers put money into NovaTech and AWS Mining before NovaTech collapsed in May 2023 and locked investors out of withdrawals
- ▪New York investors lost tens of millions of dollars after putting money into NovaTech and the Petions' AWS Mining scheme
AWS Mining scheme
- ▪New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking $4.7 million from Cynthia and Eddy Petion tied to the AWS Mining crypto mining scheme
- ▪Before launching NovaTech in 2019, the Petions promoted AWS Mining, a crypto mining scheme promising 15% to 20% monthly returns that collapsed in 2019
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