New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a motion in New York County Supreme Court seeking approximately $1.37 billion from Cynthia and Eddy Petion, the founders of the collapsed crypto trading platform NovaTech. The request includes damages, disgorgement, and interest following an August 2025 default judgment issued after the couple fled the United States and failed to respond to state lawsuits. The Petions are permanently banned from the securities, commodities, and crypto industries.
The scheme primarily targeted Haitian immigrant communities through prayer groups, social media, and WhatsApp chats, utilizing advertisements in Haitian Creole and religious messaging to lure investors. More than 11,000 New Yorkers were among hundreds of thousands of global victims who deposited roughly $1.16 billion in cryptocurrency into NovaTech’s wallet between August 2019 and May 2023. According to payment processor data, at least $134.5 million was transferred to wallets controlled by the Petions. The state alleges that only just under $26 million was sent to a trading provider during this period, with about $18.2 million lost, while weekly payouts and recruiting bonuses were funded by new investor deposits.
In addition to pursuing the founders, James announced settlements totaling nearly $6 million with four top promoters: Martin Zizi, Frantz Ciceron, Ricardo Roy Sr., and James Corbett. These individuals agreed to pay funds for victim benefit and accepted permanent bans from relevant financial industries. The legal action follows initial suits filed in June 2024 against NovaTech and AWS Mining, as well as SEC charges alleging a $650 million fraud. Before NovaTech, the Petions were key promoters of AWS Mining, which collapsed in 2019; filings indicate Cynthia Petion admitted to earning at least $3 million from that prior scheme.
This case illustrates the severe enforcement risks associated with exploiting tight-knit cultural and religious networks for fraudulent investment schemes. By leveraging trust within Haitian communities via prayer groups and localized messaging, the Petions bypassed traditional due diligence barriers, resulting in massive capital extraction. The scale of the alleged fraud, exceeding $1 billion in deposits, highlights how unregistered entities can masquerade as legitimate hedge funds or brokerages to attract retail investors seeking high-yield returns.
From a regulatory perspective, the pursuit of $1.37 billion against fugitive defendants underscores the limitations of domestic enforcement when perpetrators flee jurisdiction. While the default judgment and industry bans serve as strong deterrents and formal records, actual asset recovery remains challenging without international cooperation. The settlement with individual promoters suggests a strategic bifurcation in enforcement: securing immediate restitution from accessible actors while maintaining long-term pressure on primary architects. This approach may become more common in cross-border crypto fraud cases where full recovery from principal offenders is uncertain.
