New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a motion seeking $1.3 billion in damages and disgorgement from Cynthia and Eddie Petions, founders of NovaTech, following a default judgment in August after they fled the United States.
The lawsuit centers on two related schemes. In June 2024, James sued cryptocurrency trading firm NovaTechFX and cryptocurrency mining company AWS Mining Pty Ltd., accusing them of operating illegal pyramid schemes that targeted immigrant communities, particularly Haitian New Yorkers, through prayer groups, social media, and WhatsApp group chats.
Both operations made false promises to investors. AWS Mining and its promoters promised 15% to 20% monthly gains, 200% returns on investments within 15 months, and bonuses for recruiting new investors. The company generated insufficient returns to fund these commitments and collapsed in 2019.
The Petions subsequently launched NovaTech, again targeting minority and religious communities. They misrepresented NovaTech as a registered hedge fund broker licensed to trade cryptocurrency in the United States and advertised weekly trading profits of 2% to 4%, recruitment bonuses, and promised that investors could withdraw funds at any time.
Between 2019 and 2023, over $1 billion in cryptocurrency was deposited with NovaTech. However, less than $26 million was actually traded before the platform collapsed in May 2023, leaving tens of thousands of investors without access to their digital assets.
Four top promoters have already settled. Frantz Ciceron, James Corbett, Ricardo Roy Sr., and Martin Zizi agreed to pay nearly $6 million in combined settlements and face permanent bans from securities, commodities, and cryptocurrency businesses.
The motion follows an August 2025 default order holding the defendants jointly and severally liable for Martin Act violations and illegal chain distribution schemes.
