New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking a $1.37 billion judgment against the operators of NovaTech and its predecessor AWS Mining, two successive cryptocurrency investment schemes that allegedly defrauded hundreds of thousands of investors worldwide out of more than $1 billion.
The alleged founders, Cynthia and Eddy Petion, have not appeared in court and fled the country, according to the Attorney General's office.
"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 a statement. "These scammers targeted immigrant and religious communities with the promise of a better life but instead robbed them of their life savings."
How the Schemes Operated
Both schemes recruited heavily in Haitian and other immigrant communities through prayer groups, WhatsApp chats, and advertisements in Haitian Creole.
AWS Mining sold cryptocurrency mining contracts promising 15 to 20 percent monthly returns and 200 percent returns within 15 months. The scheme collapsed in 2019. The Petions then launched NovaTech, which was marketed as a registered hedge fund broker promising weekly trading returns of two to four percent, equivalent to more than 140 percent annually.
Financial Details
Prosecutors allege the promised returns were fabricated. Records from B2Broker, which supplied NovaTech's white-label trading platform, show that of the more than $1 billion investors deposited between 2019 and 2023, only approximately $26 million was ever actually traded. NovaTech's traders lost $18.2 million of that amount. Returns to earlier investors came from newer deposits rather than from trading activity.
When NovaTech collapsed in mid-2023, tens of thousands of investors were unable to withdraw their funds.
Judgment Details
In addition to the primary judgment amount, the Attorney General is seeking $134.5 million that the Petions allegedly withdrew to their own wallets from the investor account controlled solely by Cynthia Petion, plus $4.7 million tied to the earlier AWS Mining scheme.
A default judgment entered in August 2025 already bars the couple and their companies from operating in the securities, commodities, and cryptocurrency industries.
Separately, four of the scheme's top promoters have agreed to pay nearly $6 million in disgorgement to victims and accepted the same industry bans.
