Cryptoupdated 50m ago2 min read
Letitia James Seeks $1.367 Billion From Cynthia And Eddy Petion Over NovaTech Ponzi Scheme
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New York AG seeks $1.37B from NovaTech founders Cynthia and Eddy Petion. Default judgment in Aug 2025; investors deposited $1.16B, with $26M to platform.
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Default judgment seeks $1.37B
New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a court to order NovaTech founders Cynthia and Eddy Petion and related companies to pay $1.367 billion after a default judgment in August 2025. The court filing said investors deposited more than $1.16 billion into NovaTech’s crypto wallets between August 2019 and May 2023, but only about $25.99 million was deposited with B2Broker for trading. The filing alleged NovaTech traders lost about $18.19 million of that trading amount, and New York argued the gap undercut NovaTech’s claims that investor returns were generated through successful crypto and forex trading.
The request also sought roughly $1.135 billion in disgorgement and $232.5 million in prejudgment interest, according to the attorney general’s office. The filing said the attorney general’s office believes the couple fled the country, after the defendants failed to appear in the case.
Where the money went
New York alleged that only about $26 million was deposited with the platform’s trading provider, B2Broker, even though investors sent about $1.16 billion into NovaTech’s Coinpayments wallet. The filing said Cynthia Petion authorized at least $134.5 million in cryptocurrency withdrawals from NovaTech’s Coinpayments account to wallets belonging to herself and Eddy Petion. The prosecution argued that NovaTech generated no legitimate trading profits sufficient to fund promised returns, and that payouts came from money deposited by other investors.
The case described NovaTech as promising weekly crypto trading returns of roughly 2% to 4% while using incoming deposits to fund withdrawals and recruitment rewards. The filing also said more than 11,000 New Yorkers invested in NovaTech and the earlier AWS mining operation, with Haitian and other immigrant communities specifically targeted through prayer groups, social media, and Whatsapp chats.
Promoters settle, victims await
New York announced settlements with four promoters, and the attorney general said the agreements were intended to benefit victims. The settlements totaled nearly $6 million, and the agreements included permanent bans from the securities, commodities, and cryptocurrency industries for Martin Zizi, Frantz Ciceron, Ricardo Roy Sr, and James Corbett. The motion also sought about $6.15 million, including interest, over AWS Mining, which collapsed in 2019.
The filings said NovaTech collapsed in 2023, leaving tens of thousands of investors unable to withdraw their funds. The sources said James sued NovaTech, AWS Mining, and other associated companies in June 2024, and Cointelegraph reported it had not received a response from the New York Attorney General’s Office on how recovered funds would be distributed by the time of publication.