NovaTech: New York Seeks $1.37 Billion From Founders It Says Ran a Crypto Ponzi Scheme

Published Nov. 3, 2026. This is an ongoing investigation. Case statuses are as of Nov. 3, 2026, based on the filings and releases cited below; we will update it as the case moves.

New York's attorney general alleges that NovaTech, a crypto "trading" platform the attorney general says was marketed to Haitian and other immigrant communities, took in more than $1.16 billion in investors' crypto between 2019 and 2023, sent only about $26 million of it to actual trading and paid earlier investors with later investors' money. On Oct. 22, 2026, according to the court filing, the office asked a Manhattan court to order the founders, Cynthia Petion and Eddy Petion, and their companies to pay about $1.37 billion [1][2].

This page is our hub for the case. Our Oct. 23 article covers the four promoters who settled and how the scheme was pitched through prayer groups and WhatsApp: Prayer Groups and WhatsApp Chats: NovaTech Promoters Pay Nearly $6 Million.

Important: This is a civil case. The Petions have not been convicted of a crime in this case. The court entered a default judgment against them in August 2025 after they did not appear or respond to the complaint. The amounts in this article are the attorney general's allegations and requests. As of Nov. 3, 2026, we have found no report of a ruling on the $1.37 billion request [1][2].

The case at a glance

• Case: People of the State of New York v. Nova Tech Ltd et al., Index No. 451633/2024, New York County Supreme Court, Commercial Division, Part 45, Hon. Anar Rathod Patel [1].
• Filed: June 6, 2024 [1].
• Defendants named in the complaint: Nova Tech Ltd, NovaTech Advisors LLC, AWS Mining Pty Ltd, Cynthia Petion, Eddy Petion, Martin Zizi, James Corbett, Frantz Ciceron, NovaPay LLC, Kings Multi Services Agency LLC, Trinity of Success and Positive Vision Marketing LLC [3].
• Laws cited: New York's Martin Act (securities fraud and unregistered sales) and Executive Law § 63(12), plus claims that AWS Mining and NovaTech were illegal pyramid schemes [1].

What the attorney general alleges

The figures below come from an affirmation by the attorney general's senior enforcement counsel, Tanya Trakht, dated Oct. 21, 2026, and filed Oct. 22 (NYSCEF Doc. 134), which relies on records from NovaTech's payment processor, CoinPayments, and its trading-software provider, B2Broker [1]:

• Money in: investors deposited crypto worth $1,160,544,294 into NovaTech's CoinPayments wallet from Aug. 15, 2019, to May 23, 2023.
• Money actually traded: NovaTech licensed "white label" trading software from B2Broker and called it its own platform. It deposited only $25,994,603 for trading from August 2019 to April 2023, and its traders lost $18,189,417 of that.
• Promised returns: about 2% to 4% a week, or more than 140% a year.
• Money to the founders, per the filing: Cynthia Petion authorized at least $134,518,775 in crypto withdrawals to wallets belonging to her and Eddy Petion.
• Money out: $1,149,078,766 was withdrawn from NovaTech's wallet to outside wallets.

The office left out another $68.6 million in deposits it could not confirm came from investors, describing that as "a conservative approach" [1].

The complaint alleges that both AWS Mining and NovaTech were pyramid schemes that paid promoters in crypto for recruiting others, and that NovaTech was also a Ponzi scheme [3]. It alleges that Nova Tech Ltd was registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in September 2019 with Cynthia Petion as its sole director and owner, and that NovaTech Advisors LLC was a Boca Raton, Florida, company the Petions managed [3].

What New York is asking the court to order

Party	Principal	Interest	Total
AWS Mining	$930,195	$525,471	$1,455,666
Cynthia Petion (AWS Mining)	$3,000,000	$1,694,712	$4,694,712
NovaTech defendants, Cynthia Petion and Eddy Petion (NovaTech)	$1,134,549,691	$232,473,894	$1,367,023,585

Source: inquest affirmation, ¶ 46 [1]. The NovaTech principal is $1,160,544,294 in deposits minus the $25,994,603 sent to trading.

The attorney general's filing says Cynthia Petion admitted in a WhatsApp chat to profiting by at least $3 million from AWS Mining; the $3 million principal in the table is the figure used against her for AWS Mining [1].

Where the Petions are

The attorney general's office says the default judgment was issued "after the couple fled the country." That is the office's statement; their current location has not been made public in the sources we reviewed [2].

The separate SEC case

On Aug. 12, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint in federal court in Florida (SEC v. NovaTech Ltd. et al., No. 1:24-cv-23058, S.D. Fla.) against NovaTech Ltd., Cynthia Petion, Eddy Petion and six promoters, alleging a fraudulent scheme that raised more than $650 million in crypto assets from more than 200,000 investors worldwide [4][5]. The SEC's figure differs from New York's $1.16 billion; the two agencies describe the scheme using different counts. These are the SEC's allegations. The SEC's case page lists a motion for, and a clerk's entry of, default in the case, and we have seen no final judgment, so we list the SEC case as pending.

Case status (as of Nov. 3, 2026)

Person / company	Proceeding	Status	Source
Cynthia Petion; Eddy Petion	NY AG civil suit, Index No. 451633/2024	Default judgment on liability (Aug. 2025) with industry ban; request for $1,367,023,585 filed Oct. 22, 2026 (Motion Seq. No. 3); no ruling found	[1][2]
Nova Tech Ltd; NovaTech Advisors LLC; AWS Mining Pty Ltd	Same	Defaulting defendants; damages request pending	[1]
Martin Zizi, Frantz Ciceron, James Corbett, Ricardo Roy Sr.	NY AG action (Roy Sr. is not in the case caption)	Settlements announced Oct. 22, 2026; see our promoters article	[2]
Cynthia Petion; Eddy Petion; Nova Tech Ltd. and others	SEC civil action, No. 1:24-cv-23058 (S.D. Fla., filed Aug. 2024)	Pending; clerk's default listed on the SEC case page, no final judgment found	[4][5]

This table describes civil proceedings, not criminal charges. Statuses can change.

Red flags

• Fixed weekly returns such as 2% to 4% a week.
• Bonuses for recruiting others into the program.
• Claims of being "registered" or "licensed" that you can't verify on FINRA BrokerCheck or the SEC's adviser search.
• A new program from the same promoters after an earlier one collapsed.

What to do if you invested

1. New Yorkers can file a complaint with the attorney general's Investor Protection Bureau at ag.ny.gov.
2. Report crypto fraud to the FBI at ic3.gov and the SEC at sec.gov/tcr.
3. Beware of "recovery" offers. People who charge upfront to get NovaTech losses back are often running a second scam.

Sources

1. Affirmation of Tanya Trakht in support of inquest, People v. Nova Tech Ltd et al., N.Y. County Sup. Ct. Index No. 451633/2024, NYSCEF Doc. 134, filed Oct. 22, 2026. https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/settlements-agreements/new-york-v-nova-tech-ltd-et-al-affirmation-2026.pdf
2. Office of the New York State Attorney General, "Attorney General James Secures Nearly $6 Million From Crypto Scammers Who Targeted Haitian Communities," Oct. 22, 2026. https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2026/attorney-general-james-secures-nearly-6-million-crypto-scammers-who-targeted
3. Complaint, People v. Nova Tech Ltd et al., NYSCEF Doc. 2, received June 6, 2024. https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/court-filings/not_assigned_people_of_the_state_of_v_people_of_the_state_of_complaint_2.pdf
4. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Litigation Release No. 26072, "SEC Charges NovaTech and its Principals and Promoters with $650 Million Crypto Fraud," Aug. 12, 2024. https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/litigation-releases/lr-26072
5. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, "SEC v. NovaTech" case page (complaint, summons and default filings), last updated Mar. 13, 2026. https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/sec-v-novatech

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Corrections and updates: If you are named in this article, or represent someone who is, and believe anything here is inaccurate or out of date (including a dismissal, satisfaction of judgment, or change in case status), please contact us at editorandchief@scammers.com. We will review it and update the article promptly.