New York Attorney General Letitia James has requested that the court order the founders of the failed crypto platform NovaTech, Cynthia and Eddy Petion, to pay approximately $1.37 billion. The requested amount covers damages, disgorgement, and interest. The couple has reportedly fled the United States and did not respond to the state's lawsuit, leading to a default judgment in August 2025 that also banned them from the crypto, securities, and commodities industries.
The scheme allegedly defrauded investors of over $1 billion, targeting immigrant communities, particularly Haitian New Yorkers, through prayer groups and social media. NovaTech falsely claimed to be a registered hedge fund broker and promised weekly returns of 2% to 4%. Between 2019 and 2023, the platform received roughly $1.16 billion in deposits, while only $26 million was sent to a trading provider, with $18.2 million of that lost.
The attorney general also secured settlements totaling nearly $6 million with four top promoters of the scheme: Martin Zizi, Frantz Ciceron, Ricardo Roy Sr., and James Corbett. These individuals are permanently barred from the industry. The funds from these settlements will be used to compensate victims. NovaTech collapsed in 2023, leaving tens of thousands of investors unable to withdraw their funds.
According to the filing, Cynthia Petion was the sole authorized user on the account used to collect investor deposits. At least $134.5 million was transferred to wallets controlled by the Petions. Before NovaTech, the couple promoted AWS Mining, another scheme that collapsed in 2019. Cynthia Petion previously admitted in a chat to earning at least $3 million from her involvement in the AWS Mining project.
