New York Attorney General Letitia James has asked a court to order the founders of crypto investment firm NovaTech to pay about $1.37 billion.
The filing, made on Thursday in New York County Supreme Court, seeks the sum from Cynthia and Eddy Petion, NovaTech and related companies. It is made up of about $1.13 billion in disgorgement, the return of money gained, plus about $232 million in interest. The amount is a request, and the court has not yet ruled on it.
The Petions fled the US and did not respond to the state’s lawsuit. In August 2025, a court entered a default judgment against them, which also banned them from the securities, commodities and crypto industries.
How the state says the scheme worked
According to the attorney general, NovaTech falsely presented itself as a registered hedge fund broker licensed to trade crypto in the US, and advertised weekly returns of 2% to 4%.
The state says payouts and recruiting bonuses were paid from new investors’ deposits, in the style of a Ponzi scheme. NovaTech collapsed in 2023, leaving many investors unable to withdraw their money.
The attorney general says the Petions targeted Haitian and other immigrant communities through prayer groups, social media and WhatsApp chats, using adverts in Haitian Creole and religious messaging.
“These scammers targeted immigrant and religious communities,” James said.
The numbers
More than 11,000 New Yorkers were among hundreds of thousands of investors worldwide. Between August 2019 and May 2023, investors deposited about $1.16 billion in crypto, according to the state.
At least $134.5 million went to wallets belonging to the Petions, the state says. NovaTech sent just under $26 million to its trading provider over the whole period, and lost about $18.2 million of it.
Promoters settle
Four of NovaTech’s top promoters, Martin Zizi, Frantz Ciceron, Ricardo Roy Sr. and James Corbett, have agreed to pay nearly $6 million to benefit victims. They are permanently barred from the securities, commodities and crypto industries.
Earlier schemes and cases
The Petions were previously top US promoters of AWS Mining, which promised monthly returns of 15% to 20% before it collapsed in 2019.
James sued NovaTech and AWS Mining in June 2024. Two months later, the US Securities and Exchange Commission charged the Petions and others over what it called a $650 million fraud.
What happens next
A New York judge will now decide whether to grant the $1.37 billion order. Because the Petions have left the US, how much victims can actually recover is uncertain.
